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Extreme Cowboy Racing at Calgary Stampede

March 17, 2010

CALGARY – A spectacle in the saddle? Oh, yeah . . . to the extreme. The Calgary Stampede Cowboy Up Challenge, featuring the all-new sport of Extreme Cowboy Racing, will be making its debut at the 2010 Stampede as one of the showcase events in the Pengrowth Saddledome from July 10 to 12.

Craig Cameron, famed horseman and Texas-based creator of the wildly popular Extreme Cowboy Race, has some advice for spectators: Hold on tight!

“One of the most exciting things about Extreme Cowboy Racing is that it’s such a great spectator sport,” says Cameron. “You don’t even have to like horses to watch it. It’s fast. It’s exciting. There’s thrills and spills. It’s just as much fun for the people watching as for the guys participating.”

Extreme Cowboy Racing, a timed and judged event, demands both horsemanship and speed, and challenges both horse and rider as they travel through an obstacle course. Its wild popularity across the United States in 2009, during the sport’s first full season of competition, convinced Calgary Stampede officials to stage Canada’s first Extreme Cowboy Race this summer, with the establishment of the Cowboy Up Challenge.

In fact, Cameron will be in Calgary this weekend to teach the finer points of this challenging and demanding equestrian sporting event, and showcase it to the public. The Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race Clinic and Demonstration will be held at the Corral on Stampede Park, with a clinic for registered participants on Friday, March 19 as well as Extreme Cowboy Race exhibitions and practice rounds for public consumption on Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21.

“We’re really excited to have a show with the stature and the quality and the tradition of the Calgary Stampede getting involved with Extreme Cowboy Racing,” says Cameron, who’s known as the “cowboy’s clinician” and is based in Bluff Dale, Texas. “It shows they’re up front, really on top of things. We’re excited and honoured to get a chance to come up to the Calgary Stampede and put this event on.

“I think the Calgary Stampede is opening the door for a lot of other big venues. When they see how exciting this is, and how much the people love it, that’s when this thing is really going to take off,” adds Cameron. “We’re pleased that the Calgary Stampede has so much foresight, with their scouts out there looking for exciting events like this.

“I think it’s going to pay off in the long run, not only for the Calgary Stampede but for Extreme Cowboy Racing as well.”

The rigours of Extreme Cowboy Racing are designed to push horse-and-rider teams out of their traditional comfort zone, and put communication to the test.

Judges award points for each obstacle, on a scale of one to 10, based on criteria such as horsemanship, cadence, control, and overall execution. Horse-and-rider teams are required to complete each obstacle within a predetermined time period to collect points.

The sport has certainly struck a chord. In 2009, its first season of competition, the Extreme Cowboy Association (EXCA) staged 70 events in 22 American states, from Hawaii across to Maine. Its first world championship, held in Topeka, Kansas, in mid-December, drew competitors from coast to coast. Extreme Cowboy Race has also quickly become the most popular program on Rural Free Delivery-TV (RFD-TV), a 24-hour network that serves rural America and agriculture.

“It has an incredibly strong following in the U.S. It’s really catching on,” says Tracey Foster, Agriculture Programming Coordinator with the Stampede. “And we’re excited about the long-term potential of Extreme Cowboy Racing at the Calgary Stampede. There’s no limit to where this could go.”

Cameron, a lifelong rancher and former professional bull rider, conducts horsemanship clinics across North America 44 weeks a year, and earned the American Cowboy Culture Awards Committee’s esteemed Working Cowboy of the Year award in 2002. While he christened his successful new venture with the “extreme” moniker, it is in fact based largely in ranch reality.

“Almost every (equine) event out there is specialized. I thought, well, if it’s about quote-unquote natural horsemanship, why don’t we come up with something we do every day on the ranch?” says Cameron. “An event where we have to show our stops and our turns, where we drag a log, get off and off the horse, cross water, trailer-load the horse? These are things we do on an everyday basis, out on the ranch, that really show a well-broke horse and a good rider. In other words, a good team.”

The Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race Clinic and Demonstration will feature a full slate of demonstrations for the public on Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21, which marks a busy weekend on Stampede Park, with several events — including the Acreage Lifestyles Show — being held on the grounds. A demonstration will be held at the Corral from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and a practice round will be staged at the Corral from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For a full public schedule, please visit www.calgarystampede.com/als

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