The Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) in Edmonton, produced new winners over the weekend.
Big Valley’s Zeke Thurston competed for the top spot in Saddle Bronc Riding on November 9 through to November 11 at the national event. Thurston came to the event sitting in second place and roughly $30,000 behind Layton Green of Meeting Creek, Alberta.
After all six rounds, he stayed comfortably in second place only falling short to Green once again. Although this was the case, Thurston won average winner.
The Drumheller Mail had called Thurston but he was unavailable for comment, however, father and five-time CFR qualifier Skeeter Thurston was able to provide some more detail on the weekend.
“He kind of messed up on one horse Saturday afternoon but he was closing the gap pretty fast,” described Skeeter.
At the end, there was still a chance to win the title but Green ultimately led the pack with a $20,000 difference between the two young cowboys. Despite this, Thurston and Green have maintained a strong friendship.
“They’ve grown up and they’ve both started out going to a couple of my schools together and then they rodeo’d in high school together and their whole career,” explained Skeeter. “They’re both young kids and they are both pushing each other to do better and go farther you know,” said Skeeter.
Come December 7, Thurston and Green will be at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas. Zeke is currently second in the world standings with $170,455.50 and Green is in fifth place with $110,612.61. Jacobs Crawley of Boerne, Texas is sitting in first place with a $13,000 lead at $183,927.49
“That doesn’t mean that either one of them is going to win either because there’s guys behind them who are just as capable as they are,” warned Skeeter.
Three Canadian men will be travelling to the NFR in December; Zeke Thurston, Layton Green and Clay Elliott.
“It’s great to see, like I say, there are three Canadian boys down there in the Bronc Riding and we’ve grown up with all three of them,” said Skeeter. “Any one of them has a good chance of winning the world. They are all very accomplished, the country should be very proud of them.”
Josh Harden, another Big Valley resident, was also in attendance although he did not place at the event.
Cole Goodine of Carbon competed in Bareback Riding at the CFR. He was unavailable for comment on his participation.
He made first place on the first day with a score of 85.75 points. For the second of the go-rounds, he fell to the middle of the pack where he stayed for the third round as well.
On the last three rounds, Goodine remained lower on the scoreboard until his last ride, rising him to the middle average again.
He has made $36,148.90 so far this season.
The well-known rodeo has officially finished its 44 year reign in the Northlands Colosseum and is currently being bid on for a new location. The Rogers Place multi-purpose arena is one of the few spots that are under current speculation.
