After a slap-happy start to the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) season, Cochrane bull rider Steven Turner has bucked his way to the early-season lead.
Turner, who was disqualified from two potential pay days at Calgary’s Roughstock Rumble last month, took home $500 for sixth place at Falkland, B.C., May 18 to add to the $4,679 he earned for winning the Kootenay Chrysler Bull-a-Rama April 27 in Trail, B.C.
He led CPRA bull-riding standings with a shade over $6,000 heading into the May 29-June 2 Grande Prairie Stompede.
“It’s been good,” said Turner, who now hangs his hat just east of Didsbury in Linden. “Things have been going pretty good.”
Following a disappointing outing at the Calgary Roughstock Rumble in April, he mentioned he’d have to shake off the early-season rust to get on track.
He’s done just that in the last month.
“Going to more rodeos,” he explained. “The more you get on, the more things start clicking. It’s like hockey players or any other sport. You get the first couple to get the cobwebs and rust shook off, and kind of get it all sorted out.”
He scored a 76 at the Bonnyville Pro Rodeo May 24 to earn another few-hundred bucks to add to his season-leading total.
“It’s definitely a lot easier to rodeo all year with a bit of a lead at the start so you can kind of pick and choose a little bit on which bulls you get on. You don’t feel you have to go to every event,” Turner said. “It definitely helps to go into the season with a bit of a lead, for sure.”
All in his effort to attend the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) in Edmonton in November.
“It’s just a race to $20,000 pretty much,” he observed.
“It’s nice to be in the lead, but pretty much by the end of the year you need to have $20,000 if you want to make it there (CFR).”
“You just have to keep your foot on the gas until you get to $20,000, they you can let off.”
