ST. PAUL – The Lakeland Rodeo Association’s 2023 circuit began April 29 in St. Paul, and with an additional 17 rodeos adding to their standings, the best of the best in a total of 14 events returned to St. Paul on Labour Day weekend for Showdown 2023.
With points adding up in the first four performances, excitement was at a fever pitch for Sunday’s final go-round, where team roper Walker Balan was called forward to accept the Most Sportsmanlike Competitor award from Brian Pederson during the opening ceremonies. Two added events saw six pint sized cowboys and cowgirls pitted their riding skills aboard rambunctious sheep in the Mutton Busting competition, followed by two tiny trick riders who wowed the audience with their skill in everything from the Hippodrome Stand to the Fender Drag, usually performed by much older riders.
Bareback Riding was first on the Showdown agenda, with season leader Colton Ouellette of Rapid View, Sask. not only leading the pack with two first place scores and a second, but also scoring a 71 in the only successful Sunday ride to win the championship.
Six Novice Horse Riders were next in the chutes, with another season leader. Quaide Skjonsberg of Bluffton, adding a 75-point ride to his other four first place finishes for the win.
Then it was down to the other end of the arena for the Tie Down Roping, where Blake Zieffle of Consort, coming into the finals in third place and into the final go-round 30 points behind Chase Butterfield of Stettler, got the championship tied up in 8.9 seconds after Butterfield’s loop came up empty.
Junior Bull Rider Holden Atkinson of Black Diamond was a bit of a long shot, coming into the finals in fifth spot, but three first place scores of 77, 77.5 and 69 had him far enough ahead of his competitors that Sunday’s buck-off still had him well ahead of the others for the overall win.
Two new events were added to this year’s finals, the first of these the Ladies’ Breakaway Roping, where Nevada Keith of Clyde came into the final round with 140 points, and although Sunday’s only other successful roper, Tegan Poitras of Ponoka, beat her Sunday time by a full two seconds, it was Keith, placing second for another 30 points, who took home the championship.
The Junior Breakaway Roping included both boys and girls, with Wiley Cummings of Viking recording the fastest run of the day, a blistering 2.4 seconds, to add to three other wins on the weekend for the championship.
Another junior event came next, with Rylan Detlaff of Consort coming into the final go with a 15-point lead over Wyatt Wiancko of Castor, that lead enough for the win when Detlaff and Wiancko tied for second and third with 70-point rides in their final performance.
Lisa Trach of Sturgeon County added up four second-place finishes in the Ladies’ Barrel Racing to come into Sunday’s final with a comfortable 40 point lead, and although her time of 13.480 only earned her 10 more points, it was all she needed for the championship, well ahead of season leader Joanne Long of Red Deer County.
Jet Daines of Wildwood came into the Junior Barrel Racing finals sitting fifth for the year, but after a slow start on Thursday night, won the following three go-rounds to go into the final performance 40 points ahead of season leader Jayda Songhurst of Daysland, and added another 40 points with her 13.155 time on Sunday for the win.
Peewee Barrel Racer Jorja Waters of Darwell also had three first place wins to her credit coming into Sunday’s performance, giving her a 30-point lead on season leader Ava Henry of Clyde, and added another first in the final go for the championship.
From the littlest ladies to the strong men, the focus then turned to the Steer Wrestling. Cole Schmidt of Barrhead is no stranger to the LRA finals and this time came in in sixth place for the season, well behind season leader Travis Reay of Mayerthorpe. Two second place times and one third place gave him a slim lead, but with his closest rivals unsuccessful in downing their steers, his 5.2 second run got the job done for the win. Schmidt, who also took part in the team roping, was named this year’s All-Around winner.
Dylan Young of Sturgeon County came into the finals in second place, but it was eighth place competitor Alex Mearns of Durong, Australia who was his closest rival coming into Sunday. Mearns didn’t make it to the eight-second buzzer on Sunday, and Young’s top score of 76.75 sealed the championship victory.
Team Roping was a close competition with only 40 points between the top seven teams. Owen and Dawson Pratt of Enilda had a 20-point lead going into Sunday’s run, but Walker and Carter Balan of Bonnyville stopped the clock more than three seconds faster than their rivals to win this year’s championship.
Then came the final event of the year, with Linden Rohloff of Bezanson, who came into the finals in eighth place, a sure winner with a 50-point lead over Holden Atkinson, who had earlier won the Junior Bull Riding. That lead got the job done, giving Rohloff the championship, although Sunday’s real winners were the bulls, with a score of Bulls 10 - Cowboys 0.
