Big payday for Strathmore cowboy in Vegas
Laurence Heinen
Times Contributor
Hard work paid off for Matt Gingras at the World Series of Team Roping finale in Las Vegas in December.
Gingras, who lives about 25 km east of Strathmore, and partner David Bearspaw, of Morley, finished fourth at the event held during the Thunder EquiGames at the South Point Equestrian and Events Center in Las Vegas from Dec. 9-12. Their impressive showing earned them $64,000 US in prize money.
“That’s the most money I’ve won in a single shot,” said Gingras, who roped as the header, while Bearspaw was the heeler. “I’m very blessed to have David roping behind me because the guy ropes awesome. He roped really well all week long.”
Known as the richest team roping event in North America, the WSTR finale attracted more than 450 teams competing for a prize pool in excess of $1 million.
On the final day of the event, Gingras and Bearspaw recorded a time of 6.9 seconds. By recording the fastest time of the day and of the event, Gingras and Bearspaw won an additional cheque for $7,000 US. Their quick time also bumped them up from 18th spot after three runs to fourth overall with a combined time of 35.83, just 1.22 seconds out of first place.
“Like I said to David, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have won,” recalled the 26-year-old. “We outroped everybody. We just had one steer that just took us too long to catch and get the job done.”
On the first day of the event, Gingras and Bearspaw recorded a disappointing time of close to 10 seconds.
“We got in the first round and our first steer was really, really bad,” said Gingras. “It came out and ran to the right really, really hard. David had to scoop him off the wall and keep him straight for me.”
Despite the rough start, Gingras and Bearspaw had better times in the second and third rounds to put themselves in position for their heroics on the final day.
Matt’s parents Art and Lorraine and his Uncle Fred and Aunt Renee made the trip down to Las Vegas to watch the event.
“My dad, he was really nervous,” said Gingras. “That morning he was walking around and pacing. He was worse than I was.”
Before their run, Gingras told Bearspaw that “if that steer gives me anything to throw at, I’m going to hit him as fast as I can.”
Prior to mounting his horse, Gingras took a look at the steer they drew and noticed that “he had just enough horn that I could reach at him.”
Once he was in the chute, Gingras just cleared his mind and focused on the task at hand.
“This was my shot,” he said. “I nodded my head and he dropped his head to the right. I could see that horn on my second swing and then on my third swing I let it go. I threw about 25 or 26 feet of rope at him and it worked out. (Bearspaw) just rolled around the corner and roped two feet.”
Gingras recalled looking around the crowd of about 4,000 people and immediately hearing the cheers from his mom and aunt.
“My mom and my aunt were the loudest two people there,” he said. “We could hear them yelling and screaming over the music. It was a pretty good feeling.”
To qualify for the event, Gingras and Bearspaw won the Canadian qualifier at the Claresholm Rodeo in mid August.
The pair has already talked about returning to Las Vegas for the 2011 WSTR finale.
“We get an option to buy in and then we don’t have to go to any qualifiers,” explained Gingras, who wants to improve upon their fourth-place showing. “We’ve decided that we’re going to buy in. We’re at the point where we decided that we’re going to go down there with a little more game face.”
To make the trip down to Las Vegas, Gingras received sponsorship from several people and businesses, including from the Assist Business Centre in Strathmore and from Barry Heinemann, a local oilfield consultant.
“I was very fortunate,” said Gingras. “I got some sponsorship and some fuel money.”
Gingras rounded out the 2010 season with a strong showing at a Boxing Day team roping event at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex in High River. Gingras took home $800 and the High Point Breast Collar from the event.
Born in High River, Gingras lived in Okotoks until about Grade 4 when his family relocated to Cluny, where he lived until he was 18.
Gingras has been around horses his whole life and can remember first learning to rope at a very young age.
“I’ve been roping most of my life since I was about three,” said Gingras, who also trains horses for a living. “There’s pictures of me in diapers on a rocking horse roping a roping dummy. I’ve just been around it all my life.”
His dad confirmed that Matt definitely had a knack for roping when he was a toddler.
“He has worked really, really hard to get where he’s at,” said Art.