January 13, 2026
Skate, sleep, scream, repeat!
The month long, 3000 mile roller derby of Chicago
3,000 miles, cots on the rink—feminist first or endurance freak show
TLDR: Chicago’s 1935 Transcontinental Roller Derby made history with mixed‑gender teams skating 3,000 miles, won by Clarice Martin and Bernie McKay. Commenters split between empowerment and exploitation, nodding to ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ and joking about cots, contact, and ‘RolleRage’.
Readers stumbled onto this wild slice of sports history and instantly turned it into a modern debate. In 1935, Chicago packed 20,000 fans into an air‑conditioned Coliseum to watch 25 mixed‑gender teams skate a jaw‑dropping 3,000 miles, sleeping on cots between 11½‑hour sessions. Clarice Martin and Bernie McKay took the win, while injuries and exhaustion knocked out most competitors. Some commenters cheered the early moment of women competing under the same rules as men—an equal‑play milestone. Others eyed the grueling setup and went full cynic: month‑long stunt with free medical and cots? That’s not quirky, that’s a burnout factory.
The hot comparison dropped fast: “This is straight out of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”—the bleak dance‑marathon tale. When sportswriter Damon Runyon later amped up the shoving, the thread split again: purists clutched pearls at “violence for ticket sales,” while hype‑beasts called it “WWE on wheels.” Jokes flew: “3,000 miles on skates? My Fitbit just fainted,” and “Air‑conditioned coliseum = the original WeWork.” Even the fan‑mag’s name change—Roller Derby News to RolleRage—became a meme for today’s comment wars. WWII ending the craze had folks sighing, “Guess the only team left was morale.”
Key Points
- •Leo A. Seltzer launched the Transcontinental Roller Derby in Chicago in August 1935 with 25 co-ed teams aiming to skate 3,000 miles.
- •Teams had to maintain continuous skating during 11.5-hour daily sessions, tracked by an electronic map; skaters lived, ate, and received medical care at the venue.
- •Clarice Martin and Bernie McKay won the inaugural event on September 22, 1935; only nine of 25 teams finished.
- •From 1935–1937, the derby toured nationally, drawing average crowds of 10,000 daily; in 1937, Damon Runyon’s suggestions shifted it to a contact, point-scoring team sport.
- •By 1940, the derby appeared in over 50 major cities with more than five million spectators, but WWII enlistment reduced it to a single touring team and led to decline.