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Barrel racing returned for another year

While it's only a part of most of the rodeo circuit, locally the big event of the summer is the Fountain Tire Barrel Racing X, which took place Saturday and Sunday at the Estevan Exhibition Grounds.
Barrel racing
Presley Spencer of Carnduff walks out on her horse Miss Burgundy Lake (Birdie) Saturday at the Estevan Exhibition Grounds.

While it's only a part of most of the rodeo circuit, locally the big event of the summer is the Fountain Tire Barrel Racing X, which took place Saturday and Sunday at the Estevan Exhibition Grounds.

“It went very smoothly,” said event organizer Lindsay Collins. “We were extremely happy with everything from the sponsors to the number of contestants that came out. It was a great turnout.”

There were about 200 riders involved from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which was a bit larger number than previous years.

“There were some new faces, there were some old faces, some young ones who came back,” said Collins. “It's tough to organize an event in the summertime because there's a lot of events going on. There's actually four other rodeos going on this weekend, so we were a little worried it might hurt our entries but it didn't. We still had a lot of entries.”

The event wasn't just the barrel racing and featured a few favourites returning from previous years.

“We had some excitement in there, with the bareback barrel racing, we auctioned those people off. Then we had bikes racing against the horses and we auctioned them off,” Collins said. “So there was a little bit of an incentive for the spectators. Whoever bought the winning barrel racer or bike racer against the horse, they made some money.”

Last year was the first time they'd done the bike race against the horses and it was such a crowd pleaser they brought it back for this year. There were a lot of people in the grandstands, with most of the stands holding a lot of people.

There was a total prize pool of $18,659 over the weekend in all the events.

Maddy McGee of Deloraine, Man won the 1D Open Short Go with a time of 17.763 seconds to earn $601 for the event. The 2D winner was Carla Fidyk of Pleasantdale, Sask. (18.831, $451). Jennifer Smart of Brookdale, Man. was the 3D winner (19.811, $620).

Winners in Saturday's open 1D event included Estevan's Crystal Dukart with a time of 17.454 seconds, taking home $456. Kia Rosenbaum of Estevan was the 2D winner Saturday (18.462 seconds, $342). The 3D Saturday winner was Linette Lanski of Esterhazy (19.531 seconds, $342).

Sunday, Christine King of Deleau, Man won the 1D with a time of 15.706 seconds to pocket $456.

Tanis Klippenstine of Domremy won the Sunday 2D with a time of 16.727 seconds to earn $342.

Kathleen Schiml of Estevan won the 3D Sunday at a time of 17.721 seconds for $342.

The best time in the pee wee race Saturday was turned in by Dani Levesque of Carnduff (19.091 seconds) in the 1D race, with Adison Warren leading the charge Sunday for the pee wees at 17.492 seconds.

The pee wee A average had a winning time of 61.247 seconds by Mason Douglas of Yellow Grass with Warren being the top in the pee wee B division with a time of 39.846 seconds.

Nicole Lanski of Esterhazy won the 1D pole bending (23.411 seconds, $236), Shauna Peters of Success won the 2D pole bending (24.64, $133), and Lenna Macdonald won the 3D pole bending, (25.526, $177).

Lenna Macdonald had the best time in bareback in both 1D (18.226 seconds) and 2D (19.427). Fidyk had the best time in 3D (20.332).

Nest on the rodeo schedule locally is the annual CCA rodeo on Labour Day weekend.