Rodeo championship a tightly contested affair

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The 2015 Strathmore Stampede had a lot of tight competition in the finals on Aug. 3 as it came down to a matter of seconds or a couple of points to determine who brought home a big payday and the famous belt buckles.
Team roping duo of Clay Ullery and Kevin Schreiner took home the top prize, claiming $1759 with a time of 11.4 seconds on a two head.
Ullery said that the Strathmore Stampede was a great week for them and that the momentum and luck was in their favour.
“We’ve been having a great week and just caught another one,” said Ullery. “Strathmore is awesome. We don’t get to stay here all weekend, we were at three other rodeos, but I love coming here and roping for big money and the crowd is always good.”
He felt a little nervous coming in as the steer wasn’t being directed properly at first but once they settled in then everything fell into place.
“We were fast in our first one and our steer didn’t run like he was supposed to, that sometimes puts you off your game,” said Ullery. “But we got by him and it was all good.”
Saddle Bronc Rider, Chuck Schmidt, narrowly won the rodeo with 87.75 points over the next closest rider, Zeke Thurston, who sat at a close 86.75.
The Keldron, S.D. native has been here a few time before and said the horse gave him a real challenge.
“I was expecting the horse to be a little easier but it ended up working pretty good,” said Schmidt. “Pretty up under him and backing up, moving side-to-side and just a lot of action, a lot of stuff to try and get through.”
He added winning at an excellent rodeo meant a lot to him as it helps the riders on both sides of the border in the standings.
Garrett Smith’s first trip to the Strathmore Stampede is one that he will never forget as he was able to walk out with $2,030 for winning the bull riding.
“The weekend was great,” said Smith. “I ended up not making the short end in the bulldogging, I was 6/10 off of making it, but to make it in the bull riding was pretty awesome.”
The 20-year-old Idahoan added that there were challenges throughout the weekend but he made adjustments when he had to.
“You just got to take it step-by-step, it’s kind of hang on, that’s what I’ve been going by now,” he said.
Strathmore and District Agricultural Society General Manager, Herb McLane, thought this year’s Stampede went was a successful one and he was thrilled with the quality of livestock and riders.
“I think the rodeo was fantastic,” said McLane. “We measure success of course in terms of the crowd, the quality of performances, the quality of livestock competition. We had great weather all week and we had very few turnarounds. I think that indicative of the calibre of competition at this rodeo.”