Rodeo News

Could This be the Year a Canadian Wins both the Canadian Championship and the World Championship in the Same Year?

By Tim Ellis 
November 04, 2011

For the first time since 2005, a Canadian champion could be in line to win the world championship in the same year. New Mexico's Taos Muncy leads both the Canadian and world saddle bronc standings heading into the CFR and the WNFR. Lee Graves was the last to win both buckles in the same year. Fellow steer wrestlers, Mark Roy (1992) and Blaine Pederson (1994) were also double winners.

The CPRA allows a maximum of five non-Canadians per event to compete at the Canadian Finals. Only one event filled that quota. Three of the five American cowboys in the tie-down roping are atop the standings heading into Edmonton. Texan Timber Moore is number one with a $6,500 lead on Washington's Tyson Durfey and Utah's Jake Hannum. The barrel racing has the next highest number of non-Canadians with four while the bull riding is the only event with an all-Canadian line-up.

 Deb Renger continues to make history. She will compete in the barrel racing at this year's CFR for a record 20^th straight time. Only Cliff Williamson (tie-down roping & team roping) and Bill Boyd (bareback) have more consecutive qualifications. A $20,000 week in Edmonton would move Renger to 3^rd on the all-time CFR money winning list. The Okotoks cowgirl already holds the record for most money won in the barrel racing in one season and her five Canadian championships ties her with Ruth McDougall for second most behind Jerri Duce-Phillips' record 9 titles. 

There will be a new barrel racing champion crowned in Edmonton. The door was left open when defending champ, Rana Koopmans missed the cut. In fact, only three barrel racers in the field have won a Canadian title. Besides Renger, Lisa Lockhart has two buckles while Gaylene Buff won the championship in 2009.

The bull riding will likely be the most hotly contested event. Less than $13,000 separates 1^st from 12^th while the gap between first and third is only $1,200. That's a big difference from last year when eventual champion, Jesse Torkelson went into the CFR as the season leader with a $13,000 lead on the number two competitor. The divide between 1^st and 12^th was almost $22,000.

Curtis Cassidy is poised to become the all-time leader in money won at the Canadian Finals Rodeo. The Donalda cowboy enters the 2011 CFR just a touch over $12,000 behind Rod Hay, who won't compete at this year's finals. Hay is currently the only competitor with over $300,000 in CFR earnings. Both Lee Graves and Kyle Bowers could enter the $200,000 club this year.

It appears Team Roping is becoming a young man's game, at least on the heading side. Eight of the twelve headers at this year's CFR are 25 or younger. Kolton Schmidt is the youngest at 17. However, the heelers are a more veteran group. Eleven of the twelve are 25 or older. Only Jeremy Buhler is younger at 23.

Better Late Than Never

By Tim Ellis 
October 02, 2011 

“Better late than never” is Justin Berg’s new favourite motto. The 24 year-old Marwayne, Alta. saddle bronc rider used the final two rodeos on the CPRA’s regular season schedule to qualify for the CFR. Two cheques from Hanna, Alta. and McCord, Sask. were enough to push Berg inside the top twelve of the Canadian standings. He went into the final weekend needing to win a shade over $400 to have any chance at competing at his third straight Canadian Finals Rodeo. When the cheques were handed out, Berg had won over $1,100 and finished tenth in the standings.

Rocky Dallyn has never missed competing at the CFR since team roping was introduced as a demonstration event in 2000. That streak will continue. The Nanton, Alta. heeler made sure of that when he and partner, Chase Simpson posted a time of 5.9 seconds to win second at Hanna. The $700 cheque moved the defending Canadian champ into 11^th in the standings.

If the CFR was the NHL, team roper, Mike Beers would be a highly coveted free agent. The 1984 world champ had planned to compete in Edmonton with four-time world bareback champion, Bobby Mote as his header, but that plan was derailed in late August when Mote was injured at a California rodeo. One option for Beers could be Kaden Richard, who travelled 1,570 kilometres from Roosevelt, Utah to McCord on the final weekend of the season to compete at his required 15th rodeo to be eligible for CFR qualification. Richard’s brother and team roping partner, Rhen, failed to qualify.

The rodeo world said goodbye to a pair of legends during the 2011 season. The saddle bronc riders regularly voted Franklin’s Airwolf and Calgary Stampede’s Papa Smurf to the CFR pens during the 1990’s. In 1997, Rod Hay won round 3 with an 86.5-point ride on Papa Smurf en route to winning his 5^th Canadian championship. Two years later in Edmonton, Hay placed 2^nd in round 3 with an 84.5-point trip as he captured his 6^th title. Rod Warren has a special place in his heart for Airwolf who helped him win his first bronc riding championship back in 2001. On the final day of the CFR that year, Warren was 85 points to win the round and the trophy by a mere five points. Perhaps the best ride on the Franklin horse at the Finals was in 1997 when Lloydminster’s Ian Freeman was given 88.5 points by the judges.

The Milan brothers have been trying to make CFR history for the past few years now. All three are steer wrestlers and all three have competed at the Finals, but never in the same year. With older brothers, Baillie and Tanner nursing injuries last season, Straws was the only sibling to qualify. From 2007-09, it was Straws who was missing each November. Now in 2011, it will be the eldest of the trio, Baillie who won’t compete. Despite winning a thousand dollars on the final weekend of the season, he missed the cut by just over $800.

 Rocky Dallyn, pictured here at CFR 2010, has never missed competing at the CFR since team roping was introduced as a demonstration event in 2000.

On the Road to CFR   

By Tim Ellis 
July 17, 2011 

Qualifying for the Canadian Finals Rodeo each year had become somewhat of a routine for Cochrane steer wrestler, Tanner Milan. The 28 year-old had competed in five straight CFR’s and was well on his way to a sixth qualification at the midway point of the 2010 season. He was in second place in the Canadian bulldogging standings heading into the Ponoka Stampede when a serious knee injury forced Milan to miss the rest of the year. After months of rehab, Milan lost 50 pounds and was back knocking down steers in winning times. The burly redhead was given another scare in Hand Hills in early June when it was thought he re-injured that knee. Milan is hoping that won’t derail his comeback.

Rylan Geiger won back-to-back Canadian novice saddle bronc championships in 2008-09 and there’s not much doubt around the chutes that he’ll one day win an open title. The Saskatchewan-born Geiger was leading the saddle bronc standings heading into Ponoka with over 17-thousand dollars in earnings. Last year, it took just under $14,000 to make the Finals in the bronc riding.

Kyle Thomson became the fastest cowboy to qualify for the all-around championship, having won the required three cheques in both a roughstock and timed event by the end of April. Thomson won cheques in the steer wrestling and bronc riding at his first three rodeos of the season in Camrose, Medicine Hat and Leduc. He won the all-around buckle in 2002 and 2009.

Bull rider, Denton Edge had a plan coming in to the 2011 season. “I’ve got three kids at home so I decided I was just going to the Tour rodeos and the big ones this year,” proclaimed the 29 year-old shortly after winning his hometown Lea Park rodeo. The plan is working to perfection. In just five rodeos, Edge has won close to $10,000.

Since 1989, there have been just two years in which a Hay has not competed at the Canadian Finals Rodeo. It will happen again in 2011. Elder brother, Denny has retired while Rod will miss the Finals as he recovers from a serious leg injury suffered at the Daines Ranch Rodeo just over a year ago. Except for 2006 and 2010, at least one of the brothers had qualified for the CFR and won 11 saddle bronc championships between them. In fact, in the 1990’s, Duane Daines was the only other cowboy to win the title.

“I don’t think we competed against each other but I think we pushed each other all those years,” said Denny after riding one last horse during a retirement ceremony at the Wildwood Bronc Bustin’. “I don’t think I’d be the bronc rider I was if it wouldn’t have been for him. Going down the road with someone that competitive is what you need to get to the next level.”

We may not have to wait long to watch another Hay compete at the CFR. Rod’s son, Dawson now regularly competes in the boys’ steer riding.

Bull Rider Denton Edge, pictured here at CFR 2010, has won close to $10,000 in 5 rodeos this season.