CANADIAN WINNERS AT TUCSON AND SAN ANGELO
March 2 , 2010

Canadian rodeo contestants are sharpening their skills south of the border before the Canadian season kicks in, and doing a fine job of it.

Barrel racer Lindsay Sears of Nanton, Alta. took top honours at the 84th Tucson Rodeo in Arizona with 53.57 on three runs, one week after claiming the championship title at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

Sears was narrowly edged out of the title in 2009 by Brittany Pozzi but reclaimed the barrel racing championship she first won in 2008 on Sunday, earning $7,313, moving her into the second place position in the World standings.

Other Albertans that picked up cheques at the Tucson Rodeo, also known as La Fiesta de los Vasqueros (The Celebration of the Cowboys), include saddle bronc riders Kyle Daines (Innisfail) and Rod Hay (Wildwood), bareback rider Matt Lait from Seven Persons, steer wrestling brothers Curtis and Cody Cassidy of Donalda, and fellow bulldogger Travis Reay from Mayerthorpe.

In San Angelo, Texas, Crooked Creek, Alta. cowboy Dusty LaValley claimed the bareback riding championship at the 78th San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo, which wrapped Feb. 27, the same day as Tucson. Picking up $4,136 along the way, LaValley won the average with 243 on three horses.

Logan Hodson (Telkwa, B.C.) and Luke Creasy (Brownfield, Alta.) also picked up cheques in the bareback riding.

Other Canadians toughening up the competition – and getting their own shares of the prize money – in San Angelo included bull rider Kyle German, steer wrestlers Straws Milan and Lee Graves, all from Alberta, and B.C. barrel racer Gaylene Buff.

Today, Rodeo Houston begins at Reliant Park in Houston Texas and runs through March 21. Sears, along with Curtis Cassidy, LaValley, Hodson, and bareback rider Russ Hallaby (Airdrie, Alta.) are all set to compete in the first series of the 19-day, five series rodeo.