A sizable cheer and round of applause came from the grandstands at the Battleford Agricultural Society Exhibition Grounds Sunday afternoon.
Thanks to two strong rides over the course of the weekend, Robby Ethier of Grandora, Sask. took home his first Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association event title after five years of trying.
“I think it won’t really set in for me until later this week. I still can’t believe it,” Ethier said. “It’s been some ups and downs over the last few years on the tour, but to get my first day money Saturday and overall win Sunday was pretty exciting.
“I have a lot of family members and people that I know who were in the crowd this weekend, so the support I got from them as been a huge help.”
With Friday’s action cancelled due to weather conditions, the event was cut down to just two days of racing, which meant that Ethier had to change up his strategy a little bit.
“I ended up riding with the same outfit for two days in a row,” Ethier said. “If it had been a three-day event, I would have had to make a few changes to the set up, but everything worked out well with this group of horses.
“They may not go around the barrels as fast as some of the others, but they got some good speed out there.”
Ethier, along with outriders Tyson Whitehead of Hardisty, Alta. and Tyler McKenzie of Hillmond, led the way Saturday night with a time of 1:02.47, which was nearly two seconds quicker than runner-up Ray Mitsuing of Loon Lake.
Although he was a little slower on Sunday as he finished in ninth place after an 1:04.83 lap around the track, his two day total time of 2:07.30 was over a minute faster than runner-up Jamie Laboucane of St. Walburg.
“I felt both runs were fairly similar to one another, but I was a lot smoother on Saturday and I think that was the difference,” Ethier said.
“We’ve gotten off to some slow starts in the past, but this is a huge boost for us. We’re right on the edge at the moment of qualifying for the Calgary Stampede, so hopefully we can keep things going and get some good results to make it in there.”
Chance Bensmiller of Dewberry, Alta., Wayne Knight of St. Walburg and Dewberry’s Dallas Dyck rounded out the top five for the weekend.
Meadow Lake’s BJ Carey had the fastest time in Sunday’s racing action with a lap of 1:03.25.
After travelling to Bonnyville, Alta. this coming weekend, the CPCA will be returning to the area throughout the summer with stops in Onion Lake, Little Pine, Poundmaker and Turtleford.
