The seventh annual skijoring competition, Pole and Spur, was held at the Sartoris Staging Area on March 9 by the Kananaskis Pro Rodeo Association with the Blairmore Lions and Cadillac Kitchen serving food at the event. John Kinnear photo.
John Kinnear
Mar 13, 2024
The races are a combined effort by the Kananaskis Rodeo Association and the Crowsnest Pass Agricultural Society.
It was a picture perfect blue-sky day on the flats above south Blairmore last Saturday. The race track was well groomed and the jumps and tricky obstacles were in place to test enthusiasts hanging onto a rope and being dragged around a snow packed circuit, pell mell. There was a huge turnout of enthusiastic on-lookers there, cheering on this craziness that is called skijoring. This was the seventh year for this event which just seems to get bigger and better each year. KRA Rodeo director Sasha Anderson tells me that the gate was 831 adults with a possible 200 to 300 kids.
The races are a combined effort by the Kananaskis Rodeo Association and the Crowsnest Pass Agricultural Society.
Many racers were bedecked in furs, chaps, skiing helmets and goggles. All were focused on tearing around that track in order to get a low overall score and perhaps a nice cheque for their efforts. It is as much about having fun as it is about winning and the place was replete with smiles.
The volunteers, as usual, were over the top on the ball Saturday and the event just rolled along like a finely tuned engine.
The show this year once again featured a sideline of cowboy curling, a Joe Trotz creation. Inner tubes with riders hanging on for dear life, heading for a giant coloured curling circle to try to get closest to the center. The closest to the white circle riding the Greenhills Hotel inner tube was none other than visiting Miss Rodeo Canada, Kaylee Shantz.
The skijoring races are categorized into 3 divisions, those being A,B, and Novice. Within them are fun classifications like super fast, damn fast, darn fast and fast enough. Trust me, super fast is exactly that and this year the team of Sam Edge and Ryan Linderman tore around the track to post an amazing 19.91 second run with no penalties. Their super fast combined effort was rewarded with a nifty cheque of $1,032 for lowest overall time. They also snagged a cheque for $250 for the fast time category. The team of Cooper Trotz and Travis Rosner (damn fast) won $619.20 for their time which was just one second behind the super fast guys. Third in Division A was Ryan and Brett Linderman.
In Division B it was Liam Butterfield and Kate Sandford winning $688 with Kelsey Noland and Danielle Killborn in second and Meghan Doyle and Anita Conley coming in third. Novice winners were Katie Connolley and Carter McMillan in first and Ben Bellavance and Jill Brown in second. Overall there were almost $4300 in prizes. All in all it was a first class event with a lot of horsing around. The women riders were top notch and amazing to watch. Do not miss this event next year. Fun for the whole family.
