CREMONA— It has been a strange year for sports. Locally, many seasons have been cancelled outright, or significantly altered to allow for some form of play.
While COVID-19 has put a stop to most of the youth athletic programs, rodeo is still stampeding its way through rural Alberta.
Jayce McKean, a junior high student from Cremona competed in the summer circuit and earned himself a title in calf roping back in June of this year.
“It was really good, we had two runs and I won both of the rounds,” he said. “I was 13.1 on my first one and 12.6 on my second one.”
Jayce beat roughly 10 other young cowboys to bring home the gold from the competition in Nanton.
Although the spring season was initially cancelled, Jayce got back in the saddle for the summer season and will continue roping cattle well into the fall.
“This year I went to two so far, but they’re starting off here next week and I’ll have one each weekend for six weeks,” he said.
Jayce is about to enter high school, and will now be competing with older riders.
Alberta High School Rodeo will hold the next six weeks of competitions, Jayce said, adding he is excited for the opportunity to compete.
He noted that he was “not very happy” with the cancellation of the beginning of the season and that competing in rodeo is an important part of his life.
“It’s really fun,” he said.
Jayce’s father, Dusty McKean, said the short rodeo season was a bit of a disappointment for his son.
“This is something that he loves to do, so it was a little upsetting, but it’s one of those things you have to live with,” McKean said. “He wasn’t real happy. This was his final year in junior high rodeo, so he had a pretty good chance at the national finals down in Iowa this year.”
McKean said that Jayce qualified for three different events based on his results from the finals this year.
He added he was very happy to see his son win the Junior Tie-Down Championship.
“I was a pretty proud dad,” he said.
McKean said that the competition for his son will get more intense over the next few weeks, as the kids get older, bigger and stronger, but he was confident his son would do well.
“Now he goes from junior high into high school rodeo, so he’ll be competing against kids that are up to 17, 18 years old,” McKean said. “I’m sure he’s going to do fine there as well.”
The rodeos begin on Saturday (Aug. 29), in Stettler and run for the next six weeks. The competitions will be held all across central Alberta, including in Ponoka, Carstairs and Rimbey.
