Despite Willie Nelson’s admonition to mothers, plenty of parents brought their children to Quesnel to try their hands at being cowboys and cowgirls at the B.C. High School Rodeo Finals.
Students from all over B.C. and a few from Alberta converged on Quesnel last weekend for the B.C. High School Rodeo finals.
With ten different categories, featuring a new go around each of the three days, for riders from cutting to bull riding, the event offered up an array for both fans and competitors.
Despite the weather more skittish than a colt, the event went off well, according to Darla Cork, one of the organizers.
“There was a huge turnout. It was a great success,” she said.
The B.C. high school rodeo had a team come in to prep the event and were complimented by a raft of volunteers to make sure everything went smoothly and it did according to Cork.
Cork was happy with the results of the local riders, saying they did well overall.
Five local riders finished in the top tier of their events during the weekend.
Lane Cork took first in the Quesnel-dominated bull riding event.
“All the bulls were rank and made for an exciting event,” he said.
Cork rode to first in every go around of the event.
Levi Lawlor took second in bullriding, while Dustin Spiers rounded out the all Quesnel podium.
Spiers also took first in team roping with team mate Ricky Warren, riding out of Hudson’s Hope.
Rachelle Hancock took third in breakaway roping with a solid performance across all three go arounds.
“There were so many great and tough competitors there this weekend. I was thrilled to have placed third. I just went out there and tried my best,” she said
Out of town riders dominated the composite all around cowboy and all around cow girl event, Dustin Spiers took seventh over all, which, on his first outing in the B.C. High School Rodeo Finals, was high enough to see him named as the rookie of the year.
The event ended with a grad dinner to celebrate the riders that would be graduating from high school and the B.C. High School Rodeo.
The event was amazing said Cork.
Some of the students moving on from the rodeo received scholarships, including locals Lane Cork, Brooke Wills, Levi Lalor and Rachelle Hancock.
Also representing Quesnel on the weekend were Lane, McKenzie and Brett Wills, Rikki Hutnyk, Ashley Zapone, Mariah Mannering, Sarah Mack, Savanah Watson and Tavis and Brayden Roch.