A Big Valley cowboy went home from the Calgary Stampede a bit richer. $108,000 richer to be exact.
Twenty-year-old Zeke Thurston took home the big money on Sunday after winning the finals in the saddle bronc event at the Stampede.
It wasn’t that simple though. Thurston told the Mail that three riders, Cody DeMoss, Wade Sundell and himself all posted a tie score of 90.5 points forcing a ride-off. In the ride off, Thurston got a score of 88.5 with DeMoss in second at 85 points and Sundell in third at 82.
When asked what he plans to do with all the money he said,
“Oh jeez, I don’t know, I haven’t even thought about it yet.”
Although when Thurston was younger he didn’t do saddle bronc, he said, ”It was always what I wanted to do, and what I had worked towards, it was kind of my dream.”
Thurston isn’t the first in his family to ride saddle bronc though, he said his dad Skeeter used to ride and his brothers do as well.
“It is kind of a family thing,” he said.
When Thurston competed in roping in his earlier years,he performed all over competing at Canadian Professional Rodeo Association events in front of many people including the Queen and the Prince and Princess William and Kate, he said, continuing by saying it wasn’t nerve-wracking though.
“When you perform in front of 20,000 plus people you learn to deal with the situation. When the lights are all on you, you get a feel for it and you get to know what it’s like to be up there.”
He said it was a “very exciting” experience and when asked if he thought he’d walk away with the highest prize money, he said he had hoped so.
“It’s what I work at. I eat, sleep, and breath bronc riding so I am going to give it my all.”
