Above left) Todd Chotowetz of Major, Sask. takes flight during his wild ride on a bull called Pozzy Time on July 18 at the 20th annual White Lightning Dodge Professional Cowboy Crunch Bull-a-rama at the Oyen RCMP Corrals. Chotowetz was bucked off. (Above left) Garrett Green (right) of Meeting Creek, Alta., accepts the championship buckle.
Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
A pair of champions from the 2018 Calgary Stampede put on a good show at a recent professional bull riding event in Oyen. An Alberta rider took top honours.
The 20th annual White Lightning Dodge Professional Cowboy Crunch Bull-a-rama took place on July 18 at the Oyen RCMP Corrals. A big crowd was on hand to watch a field of 20 bull riders and several junior steer riders take on their animals in the ring.
It was the second year for the Ty Pozzobon Memorial Steer Riding competition, an event dedicated to the memory of the late professional bull rider. The Bull-a-rama is presented by the Big Country Agricultural Society and Girletz Rodeo Stock. The Travis Winquist Memorial and UFA Co-op Ltd. helped to support the steer riding event.
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Jett Lambert of Grand Prairie, Alta., the steer riding champion from this year’s Calgary Stampede, won the Ty Pozzobon Memorial with a score of 82 points. Second place went to Tristen Manning of Yellowhead County, Alta. (77) and third place went to Cauy Schmidt of Coronation, Alta. (75).
The big winner on the night was Garrett Green of Meeting Creek, Alta., whose combined score of 170.5 from the long go and short go was enough for first place in the Bull-a-rama. Green was in third place after the long go with a score of 83.5 points, and then he added an 87-point ride in the short go.
Kane Larson of Crossfield, Alta. finished in second place with a combined score of 168 points and Marcos Gloria, a Brazilian rider now living in Edmonton, finished in third place with his combined score of 165 points.
Gloria won the 2018 Calgary Stampede and he had the ride of the night with a score of 89 points in the short go on a bull called Muddy Water. Unfortunately, a score of 76 points in the long go was not enough to earn him a championship buckle. The other three riders to make the short go were all bucked off, and they were two-time PBR Canada champion Zane Lambert (86), Nick Tetz (84.5) and Chris Young (81.5).
Two bull riders from west central Saskatchewan made the trip to Oyen, but they were both bucked off during the long go. JB Moen of Elrose was bucked off by a bull called Dakota Joe and Todd Chotowetz of Major was bucked off by a bull called Pozzy Time. Moen and Chotowetz were both in the top 20 on the Pro Rodeo Canada tour as of this week.
The event in Oyen also included a Calcutta for the short go, and a total of $10,300 was raised in the Calcutta with 75 per cent going to the winner and 25 per cent to the agricultural society. The event also included live entertainment, and fun for the kids including a pig scramble.
Curtis Anderson, a former rider who suffered a severe brain injury in 2002 at an event in Ponoka, Alta., gave a speech to the crowd during the first intermission. Anderson spoke about his long road to recovery after his injury.
Green, 26, the bull riding champion, said he started riding steers at age 12 and he first got on open bulls when he was 14 years old. He said he turned pro at age 19, and he recognized that to win a pro rodeo event, “you’ve got to get lucky and draw the right bull.”
He said he has rode in Oyen every year since he turned pro and he has placed in the money in the past, but it was the first time he walked away with the championship buckle. Green said it felt great to come out on top.
The bull rider said it is a good time of year to pick up a win because the points will help his cause to qualify for the Canadian Finals Rodeo. According to Green, he knew very little about his first bull, Private Ryan, but he had seen a video and the bull did what he expected him to do.
Green said the bull he rode in the short go, Hanna Motors Two Point Oh, has earned a reputation for being a hard bull to ride, but he had seen him at several events this year. He said J.B. Mauney, an American world champion bull rider, successfully rode Hanna Motors Two Point Oh at the 2018 Stampede and it gave him confidence to ride him in Oyen.
Savanna Tye, chairperson of the agricultural society’s Bull-a-rama committee, said the 20th edition of the Cowboy Crunch Bull-a-rama went really well for organizers. She noted that she is too busy to take in much of the action, but it worked out nicely.
“It all went really well,” she said, recognizing that things went smoothly and there were no injuries or re-rides for the steer and bull riders. “We lucked out with the weather and the bulls bucked good. The cowboys rode good. It went well.”
The chairperson said the event gets unbelievable support from its sponsors both in and around Oyen, and also from supporters in surrounding communities. There was an average crowd for the event and organizers are pleased with the result. Tye thanked the spectators, volunteers and sponsors for all of their excellent support.
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