“It was a lot of fun to be in the hunt for the saddle; in the end it was a close finish,” -Joe King.
Virden’s Joe King came close to a championship in steer wrestling in this year’s Manitoba Rodeo Cowboys Association Finals. The finals were held in conjunction with Manitoba Ag Ex in Brandon, Oct. 26-28.
“TJ Loeppky edged me out in the average by 0.1 seconds,” said King.
“Joe King was as close as humanly possible. The guy that won it was 13.3 in three runs – he was 13.4,” said Alistair Hagan, his fellow steer wrestler and former MRCA President.
King ran second in Steer Wrestling on all three nights of the rodeo, to finish second over-all.
“It was a lot of fun to be in the hunt for the saddle; in the end it was a close finish,” said King.
Alistair Hagan also put on a good show, finishing fourth in steer wrestling.
“He was right behind me going into the last round. He made a five-second run,” said Joe King. Hagan had no-time on the third go so finished in fourth position. “He had one of the best seasons that any of us have ever had – high up in the standings,” said King.
It was a good year for the Woodnorth cowboy.
“I had a good Finals,” remarked Hagan. “I’ve been there 20 years in a row in steer wrestling but that’s the first year I ever made it in team roping. I was pretty excited about that.”
Hagan won the first round team roping event. He and his partner Ty Salmon had the fastest team catch of the rodeo in 5.7 seconds. They came up with nothing in round two, to finish half-way down.
To compete in the Finals, contestants had to qualify based upon their season’s performance. Shane and Ory Brown qualified for the roping events, but no wins.
Oak Lake cowboys hit pay dirt. Bailey Plaisier finished second in all three rounds of the bareback event, while Tyler Winters rode saddle bronc finishing third in round one, and second in round two and three.
Virden talent and expertise figured largely in the Brandon-hosted MFR. When Joe King wasn’t competing he was serving as veterinarian on-call for the Manitoba Ag Ex event, with over 800 cattle show entries and close to 1300 head of livestock involved. Dr. Everett More, also of the Virden Animal Hospital, took care of the veterinary needs when King was in the rodeo ring competing.
