PLENTY OF BULL RIDING TONIGHT IN OYEN
July 21, 2010

If you’re a diehard bull riding fan, the White Lightening Dodge Professional Cowboy Crunch is definitely one to add to your summer schedule.

The one-day bull-a-rama will take over the RCMP Centennial Park Corrals in Oyen, Alta. on July 21, and committee member Randy Girletz is looking forward the event’s 12th anniversary, and the first time it has been sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA).

Girletz explains the event has always been professional but was originally put on by the Canadian Professional Bull Riders (CPB), then the Professional Canadian Bull Riders (PCB), and most recently the PBR, after they bought out the PCB.

“PBR was really good to us; we had no problem with PBR,” he emphasizes, “and the bull riders that we’ve got entered this year are really good, and pretty much the same guys you get with PBR, so we’re really happy.”

The Cowboy Crunch will see 30 bull riders compete on some of “the top bulls in Canada,” Girletz details of the long round, “and then we have six in the finals.”

“And we had 38 guys entered, so we’ve got eight guys that are on the standby list,” he adds.

Those set to compete on Wednesday night reads like a who’s who of Canadian Bull Riding Champions from this decade, namely Scott Schiffner (2001), Jody Turner (2003), Tanner Girletz (2006), Tyler Thomson (2008) and reigning champion Brett Thompson.

“We’ve improved a bunch every year, and I think the riders and the bulls this year are probably going to be the best we’ve ever had here,” Girletz beams. “We usually get a really good crowd, and we usually get some really good 90, 92 point rides.”

In addition to a night packed with bull riding, “there’s a Kids’ Fun Zone for the kids to play in, and there’s going be a kind of straw bale bull for them to sit on and get their pictures taken,” Girletz says. “We’re also going to have an autograph table, and we’re going to have a pig scramble for the kids eight and under.”