Rockin’ and Rollin’
Pro Rodeo Canada
For Immediate Release
Brooks, Lea Park and Rocky Mountain House, AB (June 12, 2012)
Airdire, AB: It was all about Rocky and Rolly at two of the three weekend Pro Rodeo Canada stops. The Team Roping duo—four time Canadian champion Rocky Dallyn (Nanton) and two time CFR qualifier Roland McFadden (Vulcan)–captured top honours at the 40th Anniversary edition of the Rocky Pro Rodeo (4.7 seconds for $1210 each) and at the Brooks Kinsmen Rodeo (5.0 seconds and $1823 each).
“We got together at Stavely for the first time and we split 2/3 there which really helped our confidence,” the veteran Dallyn recalled. “It’s been going well ever since. This weekend Roland was really aggressive at the barrier and he just did a really good job catching and turning. It was pretty easy after that.”
The fortieth year of the Rocky Pro Rodeo was celebrated in the mud and rain that have become unfortunate trademarks of the longstanding event. Despite the conditions, there were several sensational performances to highlight the celebration.
2009 World Champion Jesse Kruse of Great Falls, Montana spurred out a picture perfect 86 point ride on a Wayne Vold stallion called Seven Thirty Seven to take home the $1453 first place cheque in the bronc riding.
Airdrie bareback rider Matt Lait continued his winning ways as his 84 point ride Sunday afternoon on John Duffy’s sensational Bootlace captured top honours and $1429.
Daniel Hansen’s return to action continues to pay dividends for the Caroline bull rider as his 86.5 point ride on a John Duffy outlaw called Little Aylmer was good for a $1637 payday.
Other Rocky Mountain House winners included 2009 Rookie of the Year, Travis Reay (Mayerthorpe) in the Steer Wrestling–3.7 seconds for $2315; Aimee Kaye, whose 17.411 netted the Bluffdale, Texas cowgirl $2087 in barrel racing and perennial champion Curtis Cassidy of Donalda who posted a 7.5 second time for $2141 in the tie down roping. Gunnar Fuchs of Sangudo was the steer riding winner—76.5 points for $387.20
The Rocky Mountain House celebration was highlighted by an opening ceremony on Saturday afternoon that brought back many of the original rodeo committee members from the inaugural 1972 event. Pro Rodeo Canada General manager, Pete Montana, was on hand and paid tribute to the Rocky Pro Rodeo Committee.
“There isn’t a rodeo in Canada that has had to face more challenges than this one and through it all this committee has put together one of the finest rodeo facilities in Canada and one of the really solid rodeos on our roster,” Montana noted. “Lorrie McMeekin and his group deserve a tremendous amount of credit.”
The Brooks Kinsmen Rodeo wrapped up its two performance event on Saturday afternoon. And the Dallyn/McFadden team roping win wasn’t the only stellar performance of the weekend.
Nate Baldwin of Blackfoot, Idaho was another double winner with a 7.8 second run netting the CFR/NFR qualifier $1,837 at Brooks to go with the 7.7 second run and $2,623 he pulled out of Lea Park, the third CPRA weekend stop.
Other Brooks winners included Sunnynook, Alberta’s Michael Solberg in the bareback riding with 81.5 points on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Cheap Seat for $1,074; Rylan Geiger (Duchess, Alberta) who notched an 83 score on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Mystic River for $1,024 in the saddle bronc riding and Manitoba bull rider Zane Lambert who escaped with 85 points on Kesler Rodeo’s Great Escape to earn $1,319.
NFR barrel racer Carlee Pierce of Stephenville, Texas navigated the cloverleaf pattern in a swift 17.295 seconds, to take top honours and a sizable payoff of $1,929 while in the big men’s event it was the long, lean Medicine Hat cowboy, Todd Woodward going to the head of the class with his 4.2 second bulldogging run for $2,054.
Sunshine and big crowds highlighted the weekend at Lea Park where Texas cowgirl Lee Ann Rust continued her domination of Canadian barrel racing so far in 2012. Rust, who began the weekend in top spot in the season standings, blazed through the pattern in 16.121 seconds for the first place cheque of $2,825. When added to her seventh place finish at Brooks ($551) and fourth at Rocky Mountain House ($1251), it made for a nice weekend trip to Canada and extended the veteran Stephenville barrel racer’s streak of consecutive Canadian placings to nine dating back to Falkland, BC.
Other Lea Park winners included Ponoka bareback rider, Jake Vold who won his event with 87 points on Franklin Rodeo’s Flat Out for $3,158; Warburg bull rider, Tyler Panekewitz, whose identical 87 mark on Franklin Rodeo Company’s Drive By earned him $2,770 and Brad Rudolf (Winnemucca, Nevada) who teamed up with the Calgary Stampede’s Company’s Kauai Coconut for 85 points and $3,158 in the bronc riding.Maple Creek, Saskatchewan steer wrestler, William Beierbach, smoked a 3.9 second run to best the field and take home the victor’s spoils– $2,649. And, in the team roping Brady and Riley Minor of Ellensburg, Washington saw their 4.5 seconds run hold up for $1,703 each. The steer riding champ was Chance Barrass (Yellowhead County, AB). He marked a tremendous 80 to win $620.80.
Also of note on the weekend was the performance of Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colorado. The timed event specialist placed three times on this side of the 49th parallel to garner just over $5500 in earnings.
Rodeo action south of the border saw Coleman Kohorst of Okotoks, AB win the second go in Sisters, OR with a 4.4 second run ($1894) and Lindsay Sears split 5/6 in the barrel racing ($1383).
As well, the Alberta High School Rodeo Finals wrapped up this past weekend with a number of familiar names in the winner’s circle. Kyle Lucas and his partner Clint Weston won the team roping title. Kolton Schmidt took top honors in tie-down roping and won the All Around. Layton Green earned the saddle bronc win while Zeke Thurston was runner-up. Sydney Daines earned second spot in the pole bending and fourth in the barrels. A number of these young rodeo champions will be headed to the National High School Finals July 15 – 21 in Rock Springs, WY and the Canadian High School Finals Aug 2-4 in Brandon, MB.
Next up on the Pro Rodeo Canada schedule is the 52nd annual Daines Ranch Rodeo at Innisfail (June 14-17) and the Coronation Pro Rodeo (June 16).
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