They're fast. They're fearsome. They go by names like Bint Imperial, Sharlotte Fever, Ciderella and Pope John Brawl. Who are they? Members of Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG), Edinburgh's all-female, flat track roller derby league.
On Saturday May 2 ARRG will take on the country's finest as part of the British Roller Derby Championships Premier League at Meadowbank Stadium. They'll meet their west coast counterparts Glasgow Roller Derby in the Derby Derby, the final game of the day. As well as plenty of skating action there'll also be stalls, cakes, competitions, raffles, entertainment and a kids' craft corner.
Roller derby's a fun, frenetic full contact sport played on quad roller skates (the retro kind) by two teams hurtling round an oval track. There are five players on each side – one jammer (the point scorer), three blockers (attackers as well as defenders) and one pivot (a special kind of blocker). The blockers' job is to do everything they can, within the rules, to stop the other team's jammer, and clear a path for their own.
It can be brutal. Skaters can send their opponents flying by using specific parts of their bodies to shove them out of the way or knock them to the ground. Unsurprisingly, learning how to fall, and stop, in the right way's essential in Derbysville.
ARRG was set up in 2008. They're a not-for-profit, committee-based group that had their first public bout in 2009. They were the first Scottish member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and have battled it out with some of the best teams in Europe and the UK.
If you fancy getting your skates on and giving it a go contact ARRG. Or if spectating's more your style you can buy tickets for the British Roller Derby Championships Premier League.
See more things to do in Edinburgh from Time Out.