Red Deerians packed into the Centrium last weekend for the City’s first Professional Bull Riding (PBR) Canada Touring Pro event held here.
Riders from across Canada competed in long round and short round events, with young Garret Green of Meeting Creek, AB. taking the title of Rebel Energy Services 2015 PBR Champion for his score of 86.5 in both the long and short round events.
“I was very happy with my performance. I’ve been off for about six months so it felt good to come back and ride,” said Green.
“The event was really good. I had a bull during long round that I knew from last year. He went right into my hand in the gate, so it worked out and felt really good. My short round bull, I knew him too and know I’d be getting on him because they had it preset.
“I’ve seen him probably 10 times in the last year and knew he was really good, so I was happy with that.”
Green had to take a leave of absence from riding after a fracture to his scaphoid bone in his wrist. He said that eventually he couldn’t handle the pain and had to stop completely while he healed.
“I was recommended some time off so I took the rest of the year off and bought a new bull rope. Everything felt really good on Saturday and my wrist didn’t hurt or anything. I’m pretty happy about that, too,” Green said.
The event boasted $7,200 in prize money and three buckles: one for long round riding, one for short round, and one for the average. Green secured all of these titles.
“Red Deer was awesome. It was pretty loud there actually. I figured there must have been a lot of college kids there or something. It was really good though because I go to Red Deer lots and my family only lives an hour away, so I’ve been around lots and knew a few people there. I had some cousins there, too,” said Green.
“Rebel Energy Services did a really good job of putting on the event. They packed the house and sold it out and I thought it was a really good deal.”
This is the first time that an official PBR event has been held in the City. Local group Adrenaline Bull Riding, led by Corey Cipperley, set up the event here. He said that it was a success and he looks forward to having the Touring Pro return.
“I called PBR and told them I wanted to put a show on in Red Deer, so I lined everything up and we built the event. It was pretty cool. There was a whole pile of work that had to go into setting up the event, but to see the people that supported us and bought tickets and showed up, and to see the sponsors support us, it was all awesome,” said Cipperley, who acted as the Red Deer PBR communications representative.
“We haven’t really heard a bad review on it. The riders liked it, the bullfighters, the stock contractors, the fans – everybody seemed to think it was a pretty good deal.”
The Touring Pro will head down to Lethbridge later this month before heading into Saskatchewan for a few shows. The tour will be back in Alberta at the end of June for shows in Calgary.
kmendonsa@reddeerexpress.com
