The annual Estevan Ranch Rodeo was a fitting end to three days of rodeo activities in the Energy City.
Five teams entered the event on Sunday afternoon at the Estevan Exhibition’s rodeo arena. Local ranchers showcased their skills in a variety of rodeo-related events. Each team had a celebrity from the community.
There were four teams initially entered, but then organizers brought together a few people from the different teams for a fifth entry.
Events included the wild horse race, cattle rustling, the hide race, the calf scramble, a rescue race, pasture treating, the trailer relay race, and wild cow milking.
The RedHead Equipment team was the winning entry. Werner Skappel, Becky DeYaegher, Carla McCallum and Denton Marsh were the team members, and RedHead employee Lane Miiller was the celebrity. In second place was the Trent’s Tire team, which was the wildcard team. DeYaegher, Marsh, Dylan Knox and Duane Gillispie were the team members, and Brady Johnson from Encompass Fitness was the captain.
Last year’s championship team, consisting of Gillispie, Crystal Ross, Cassidy Ross and Carol Ross, and celebrity Justin Charron from the Estevan Fire Rescue Service, came in third.
Event spokesperson Brandice Petterson was pleased with the level of competition and the number of people who turned out.
“The stands were quite full,” said Petterson. “We had a large age group, from little kids all the way up to grandparents who came out to watch.”
She would like to see more teams involved moving forward. In previous years, the ranch rodeo had as many as eight entries.
“I’m looking at … seeing if we can get kids teams involved,” said Petterson. “Maybe that will help encourage some of the parents who were on teams in previous years to put a team in.”
But she was very impressed with the abilities of the ranchers who were entered.
“There are some who have been in ranch rodeos for a few years, so they would probably be considered our more advanced teams,” said Petterson. “The ones that haven’t done it very much definitely held their own and put up a good fight.”
