It was the biggest event on the roller derby calendar this year and some of our Liverpool Roller Birds flew miles to check out the action.

Toronto hosted the first ever Roller Derby World Cup this month and our league members Nauti-Kill, Rebecca English and Ms’Isle were there to add some LRB love to the event.

You tend to hear our Birds before you see them and they admit they were probably the “loudest” and “proudest” as they cheered on Team England.

Nauti said: “I cheered so vivaciously for them by the third day I had absolutely no voice, so on day four – the day of the finals – I couldn’t shout or even squeak or whisper.”

They also gave some well earned love to our neighbours Team Scotland.

She added: “I also supported Scotland as I know a good few of the skaters quite well. We had to stick together as we border Scotland.”

The atmosphere was “electric” and our Birds described it as “surreal” when they realised what a historical moment it was to be at the first ever Roller Derby World Cup.

Nauti said: “Many of us were walking around and saying ‘I can’t believe we are actually here. We are in Canada!’

“It also felt good, walking around in our Liverpool Roller Birds team tops and having people from literally all over the world, asking about our team – our little team from a small island miles and miles away!”

Surrounded by hardcore fans, as well as players’ family members and friends who had travelled from across the globe to watch the bouts, the Birds could feel the buzz as they walked around the venue.

Of course every team mate has their own favourite players and for Nauti it was Francey Pants from Team France, Nanda from Brazil and Canada’s Smack Daddy.

She said: “They all showed amazing skill and prowess on the track. They had total awareness of the game and the teams they played.”

The game has its roots in the USA and true to form its team skated to victory and won the World Cup. Team USA really wowed the crowds and our Birds admitted that chatting to some of the players was like meeting someone famous.

Nauti said: “They were all lovely and friendly. The likes of Georgia W Tush, Suzy Hotrod, Urrk’n Jerkin’. Quadzilla was very much of a legend to meet too.”

Apart from causing mayhem on the subways when travelling to the bouts in the morning, their highlight was watching Team England on the track.

When asked to sum up the experience in five words, for Nauti those words were: “Epic, historical, proud, awesome and surreal.” We would not expect anything less from the first ever Roller Derby World Cup.

(Hanna-Horror)