About 700 people came through the gates in Midale this weekend, enjoying a sanctioned bullriding event on the first Friday night of the August long weekend.
“Most of the guys we had at the bullriding came out of Alberta of Saskatchewan,” said organizer Glenn Wiens. “It’s a dual sanctioned one too, so guys that are amateurs in the Canadian Cowbows Association can actually enter too and get dual points.”
Bull Riders Canada puts on the event with Crossfire Promotions, and Wiens said they did a great job with the crowd and keeping the event moving.
“We probably had the best outdoor crowd to date,” Wiens said. “I think we had 700 people through the gates on Friday night.”
Bengough’s Sean Clark won the event’s round one and pocketed $1,303 for that, while Kronau’s Matthew Lieppi won the Canadian Global Championship’s Round 2 to earn another $1,303. Clark had the best weekend financially with a total of $1,954 in his pocket and a trophy buckle.
The bulls themselves came from the four different stock contractors.
“These guys raise bulls to be bucking bulls. That’s what they do. And there’s a lot of bull power in those pens during that performance,” he said.
The event also had Ash Cooper, one of the most sought after rodeo clowns and entertainers currently working.
“We had wild pony racing during the intermission, and it’s the first year we’ve actually done that,” Wiens said. “We had six teams of three kids age 8-13 trying to ride these wild ponies, so that’s a lot of fun.”
There was also a Saskatchewan Team Roping Association-sanctioned jackpot on Saturday and a barrel-racing jackpot on Sunday.
Among the 240 teams entered in the Bakken Twine Roping event, Clay Brownlee and Travis Gravelle won $3,760.40 in the main event, and the team of Shane Roysum and Murray Linthicum took second place and the $3,088.90 with it. The team of Kavis Drake and Colter Dunn won $2,214.60 in the 132-team second event, with Jordan Sonmor and Kevin Gee finishing second place with $1,845.50.
In the 14 and under portion of the team roping, Colter Dunn and Kavis Drake won first place with $96 and Kavis and Kent Drake won $79 for finishing in second place.
The entire weekend in Midale was busy, with a threshing bee, a slo-pitch tournament and other events going on during the weekend.
