TRIP TO DAWSON CREEK, BC AND MEDICINE HAT, ALTA. PAYS FOR STROH
April 20 , 2009

CALGARY, ALTA. – “We didn’t know for sure how the public was going to accept it,” said Terry Cooke, who has been organizing the Dawson Creek Spring Break Up Party with his wife, Kimeal, for the last decade. “We thought if we got good names to sell then it’ll work, and we lucked out.”

The rodeo in Dawson Creek, B.C. has hosted a PBR-sanctioned bull riding competition since 1999. This year – the rodeo’s 10th anniversary – was the first to feature saddle broncs as the main event.

The Spring Break Up Party attracted the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s (CPRA) top saddle bronc riders, selected from all entries received based on the 2008 Canadian standings; and, 22 of those 24 athletes clocked a lot of mileage between the trek to northern B.C. and the Broncs and Honky Tonks Pro Rodeo in Medicine Hat, Alta., near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Shaun Stroh of Dickinson, N.D. made the long journey between the two Canadian cities, and his journey was well worth the cost of travel. Stroh earned $90 for an 81-point ride in the first go-round, followed by a third place cheque for $721 in the second go-round, after a ride worth 72 points. The final round earned him an additional $4,329 after an 86.5 ride on the Calgary Stampede’s Lexicon Rocket. From that win, he went on to southern Alberta where he earned another $243 in Medicine Hat.

2007 Saddle Bronc Champion Dustin Flundra of Pincher Creek, Alta. placed second in Dawson Creek with an 84.5-point ride on Outlaw Bucker’s chestnut mare Miss Congeniality. That trip added $2,886 towards his 2009 earnings.

“We hope that we can keep getting bigger and bigger,” Cooke said of the Spring Break Up Party. “And by bigger, we mean we like to put money in the contestants pockets if we can and we just like to – when we started this thing out, we had $4,000, and we add a little more every year,” he added. “We got $2,000 for the steer riders [this year] and we just want to keep building it and make it into an excellent event.”

Lonnie West was among 14 steer riders who traveled to northern B.C. for a cut of the cash at one of the nation’s richest boys’ steer riding events. He placed first with a 77-point ride and won $911.80 before heading south with fellow steer rider and brother Bryce.

Top honour in the boys’ steer riding at the Broncs and Honky Tonks rodeo was earned by Brock Radford. Although Radford, who hails from DeWinton, Alta. failed to place for any of the cash up north, he won $310.40 after a 77-point ride in the Hat.

Saddle bronc rider Todd Herzog of Penhold, Alta. didn’t quite make the cut in Dawson Creek but he rode to an impressive 86-points on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Paper Clip in Medicine Hat. He placed first there and earned $1,697.64.

Dusty LaValley took top honours in the bareback riding in Medicine Hat, winning $1414.81 for his 86.5-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s four-time CPRA bareback horse of the year Alley Ways.

Hot on LaValley’s heels was Logan Hodson of Telkwa, B.C. who nearly scored a hat trick of cash with money earned in all three roughstock events. He missed out in the saddle bronc, but won $1,170.86 for his 82.5-point ride to second place in the bareback riding, $237.26 for his 84-point ride in the bull riding, plus an additional $245 in day money.

Devon Mezei placed first overall in the bull riding. A 90-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s 1,500 lb beast Monkey Business earned the Okotokian $1,660.79.

Dean Edge lassoed himself a cheque worth $1,989.04 with a 7.8 second run in the tie-down roping, while steer wrestler and fellow Albertan Shawn Gilbert will cash in a cheque for $2,334.96 after turning his steer in 3.7 seconds. Todd Maughan, Todd Woodward and Brock Butterfield tied for second place in the steer wrestling with runs of 4.1 seconds, worth a respectable $1,725.84 each.

In the ladies barrel racing, the newly pro Adel Hansen whipped through the cloverleaf in 13.09 seconds, winning her the first place cheque of $2,483.20.

Team roping duo Matt Fawcett and Levi Simpson won a combined $3,107.64 after their 4.3-second effort in the third performance.