Sports This Week: Maple Creek cowboy opens PBR Canada season with win

YORKTON -  The first event of the PBR Canada Cup Series proved a good one for Maple Creek rider Jared Parsonage.

Parsonage was one of four riders to go a perfect two-for-two at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer. He led the quartet, winning the PBR Cross Country Canada Classic and leaving the Alberta city with the No. 1 rank in the race for the 2023 PBR Canada Championship.

“It’s good to win. It’s good to get an early win,” Parsonage told Yorkton This Week. “It’s good to get things rolling.”

In the opening round Parsonage said he pulled a new bull which turned out to be a good one, as his score reflected as he covered Smoke Bomb (Vold Rodeo) for 86 points.

Topping the opening round gave Parsonage the top pick of the bulls for the all important second round, and he went with a bull he had rode before selecting Hard Not To Get (Vold Rodeo). Parsonage had ridden the bull for 88.5 points en route to his event win at the 2022 PBR Canada National Finals.

“He’s a big strong bull,” said Parsonage, adding he felt he was a good fit for his style, and that a good score was likely if he stayed on.

Parsonage did manage the eight second buzzer and scored a huge 89 points to cement the victory.

“Winning is always great. You take it when you get it,” he reiterated.

While the event was the first in the PBR Canada series Parsonage noted he has been riding events in the U.S. already this year.

“So the season is already under way for me,” he said, adding the rides down south certainly helped in terms of being in good form for Red Deer. “It’s good to keep everything going.”

Parsonage said bull riding is a sport you need to stay active.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” he offered.

That said Parsonage was off for several weeks after the finals, a time he said he really takes a complete break in terms of any training.

“I don’t really do too much. I’m fairly busy around here (on the ranch),” he said. “I used to get on practice bulls when I was younger.”

Now he said he rarely rides when it won’t count in an event, adding he feels the sport is about mindset not conditioning.

“It’s more mental than physical. If you think you can, you can convince yourself that you actually can do it,” he offered.

While all eyes were on Parsonage, earlier in the evening, runner-up Coy Robbins (Camrose, Alberta) and third-place contender Jake Gardner (Fort St. John, British Columbia) delivered the first 90-point rides of the season.

In the final round, Robbins went head-to-head with 2 Guns (Outlaw Buckers Rodeo Corp.), scoring 90.5 points to win the championship round. The 90-point ride was the first of Robbins’ PBR career.

Gardner was up against two-time PBR Canada Bull of the Year Happy Camper (Two Bit Bucking Bulls) for his big ride. Gardner had attempted the bull four times prior, earning a score just once.

“In near picture-perfect form in Red Deer, Gardner and Happy Camper danced in harmony en route to the whistle as the “Prince of the Peace Country” was scored 90.5 points, the first 90-point ride of the new season,” stated a PBR Canada release.

The score is now the high-marked ride of Gardner’s career and was his first 90-point score in PBR competition.

As the final rider to go two-for-two, Cody Coverchuk (Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan) was fourth.

Coverchuk rode Black Jack (Skori Bucking Bulls) for 84.5 points in Round 1 before going the distance atop Langham Kid (Two Bit Bucking Bulls) for 87.5 points in the championship round.

The two-time PBR Canada Champion rose to No. 2 in the nation as he chases his record-tying third national title, just 3.5 points back of the top spot.

The 2023 PBR Canada Sup Series, presented by Wrangler, will next travel to Lethbridge for the PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, on March 3-4.

Parsonage will certainly be looking for another good showing as he has his early season eyes on a national crown in November, noting a championship is always the ultimate goal.

“That’s the plan,” he said.