ALBERTA ROPERS PLACE IN AVERAGE AT DENVER
January 25 , 2010

By Dwayne Erickson
A couple of Alberta cowboys have taken the first step in putting Canada back on professional rodeo’s world tie-down roping stage. This past weekend, Murray Pole and Dean Edge became the first Canadian ropers in nine years to place in the average at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, the sport’s traditional season opener in Denver, Colo.

Pole, from Erskine, Alta., finished fourth with runs of 8.3, 8.8 and 8.4 seconds for a total of 25.5 on three head and $7,799 in prize money.

Edge, from Rimbey, Alta., had to compete in a two-round pre-rodeo qualifier to make the National Western roster, and tied two in 18.1 seconds for $2,328. Then he caught and wrapped three calves in 8.4, 8.8 and 11.1 seconds at the rodeo itself to cash eighth in the aggregate for another $2,557, giving him a total take of $4,905.

Edge, riding his award-winning bay horse Sid, felt he could have shaved more than two seconds off his time on his last calf.

“He tricked me,” Edge said. “And it took me probably two and a half seconds before I could stick a tie on him.
“Other than that, it was a good start to the year and we should at least break even over the next couple of months,” he said of the season-opening road trip, which winds up at Austin, Texas, on the last weekend of March.

It has been 12 years since a Canadian roper last qualified for the year-end Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at Las Vegas, and Pole and Edge, traveling partners along with Magrath, Alta.’s Logan Hofer, are the first to place in the average at Denver since Mark Nugent in 2001.

“I knew it had been awhile and I was hoping we could break that streak,” said Pole, who set a Canadian Finals Rodeo record last November by tying a calf in 7.1 seconds.

If things go well over winter, the crew hopes to restore Canada’s tie-down roping reputation south of the border, one that blossomed in the 1980s and early ’90s, when Larry Robinson, Cliff Williamson and Joe Lucas were perennial world championship contenders.

But, it won’t be easy.

None of the three won enough money last year to qualify for the two million dollar indoor rodeos at San Antonio and Houston in February and March. And, while Pole and Hofer got into next week’s first Wrangler Tour rodeo at Rapid City, S.D., Edge did not. Following that, they head back to Fort Worth for their second-round calves. Edge was a respectable 9.4 on his first one and Pole was 10.4.

“If I keep winning, I’d like to stay at it,” said Pole, who worked about 20 American rodeos last year. “I only have to be home in April to help my parents calve cows.”

He’s riding a 16-year-old mare that he calls Susie and says he has a lot of confidence in her.

“We got each other figured out now and I know what she’s going to do and how she’s going to do it. She must be feeling well because she’s working really good.”

As has been the case the last couple of years, the Canadian steer wrestlers got their season off to a strong start.

Curtis Cassidy threw three steers in a total time of 14.1 seconds to finish fourth in the average, worth $8,775 and Tanner Milan was a second-best 4.4 in the championship round to end up sixth overall for $3,308.
And, Calgary’s newly crowned World champion, Lee Graves, won the second qualifying round with a 4.2 to earn $2,853. He went into the last day tied for the lead in the aggregate, but couldn’t polish it off. His steer cut to the right in front of the hazing horse and left him no chance at locking onto the horns.

Among the roughstock riders, Justin Berg picked up $3,342 for a second-best 83 in the first round of the saddle bronc riding, and Rod Hay was 79 to split fourth in the second round, which paid $1,114. Collegian Luke Creasy picked off a split of eighth on his second horse in the bareback riding with an 82-point score for $247.