Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/126959
ade oast here ds e d hardme on H) – new nal o , that essiit." THE Roller derby Whip it good Roller derby has been called the 70-Year Fad because it is continuously booming and busting its way through popular culture. Currently the rough-and-rumble sport is experiencing a resurgence that began a decade ago in Austin, Texas, when some feisty gals donned short skateboots (good for ankle range of motion) and aggressive monikers (Hellen Wheels, Chantilly Mace, etc.) and took to the track. Word spread fast. Today there are 450 roller-derby leagues worldwide, including 53 women's and one men's team in B.C. The game is played on flat tracks in gymnasiums or at off-season hockey rinks and involves jammers hip-checking past opponents to score points. Vancouver's Terminal City Rollergirls is a strong league with an all-star squad ranked 12th in the tough, 38-team West division of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. But the sport also thrives in pockets around the province, including Fernie, where the Avalanche City Rollergirls are hosting the Roller Derby Association of Canada's western regionals July 13 and 14. Intrigued? Contact your local league: rollerderbycanada.ca ■ Almost There: The Family Vacation, Then and Now by Curtis Gillespie (2012, Thomas Allen; $25) Award-winning Westworld writer Curtis Gillespie sifts through an amusing collection of memories to explore the meaning of family vacations. And, not surprisingly, a lot of Gillespie's recollections are from family roadtrips, including an epic one in 1973 that saw the eight-member Gillespie clan strap an army tent to the roof of the family station wagon and journey 8,000 km, from Calgary to Mexico City and back. Warning: contains scenes of car sickness, accidental finger dissection and aggressive squirming. MOW Madness Cowboys at Historic O'Keefe Ranch near Vernon tamed a lot of wild rides during the homestead's 110-year run as a cattle empire, but nothing as beastly as a souped-up lawnmower. These mini-monsters now race annually at the ranch's Vintage Car and Motorcycle Show Rally (July 6 to 7), chewing up the dirt oval like angry steers. Mike Clements of the North Okanagan Lawnmower Racing Club says members buy old grass cutters and modify them for the track by removing blades, lowering the suspension, reinforcing the axles and re-gearing the transmission. In other words, this is the poor man's NASCAR, where speed junkies transform a suburban, frontyard trimmer into a 12-horsepower, 60 km/h, entry-class contender for just $500. Note: Extreme riders will want to opt for the outlaw class; engines are bigger (750 cc), the speeds faster (80 km/h.) mowermadness.webs.com; okeeferanch.ca (Armstrong roller derby fashion, O'Keefe Ranch lawnmower racing, Cariboo-Chilcotin motocross) Larochelleimages.ca p14-17_Frshtrx.indd 17 the Community Event Eat my dust Cariboo dirt bikers go full throttle June 2 for the Overlander XC and half throttle June 1 for the Dirty Knobby Family Fun Ride on Roger Patenaude's Williams Lake ranch. thedirtyknobby.com Further south, the two B.C. rounds of the Canadian Cross Country Championship run June 9 in Chilliwack and June 30 in Lytton. worldendurocanada.com Westworld >> S u m m e r 2 0 1 3 17 13-04-18 1:26 PM