Father and Daughter Combine To Win 10 Class Penning

10 Class Team Penning Results

Champion Team:

Brian Cardinal, Millet, Alta.

Paige Cardinal, Millet, Alta.

Alex Hansen, Calgary, Alta.

Aggregate time over 4 runs: 123.64 seconds

Reserve Champions:

Amanda Goodwin, Priddis, Alta.

Bob Bolin, Stettler, Alta.

Rene O’Rourke, Priddis, Alta.

Aggregate time over 4 runs: 137.97 seconds

Calgary – Winning a buckle at the Calgary Stampede for the first time is a pretty exciting thing. Just ask Paige Cardinal, who was on the team that won the 10 Class Cattle Penning title on Sunday evening. “It’s a very big day,” she smiled. “It just worked out amazingly.” Her father, Brian Cardinal, would probably say that he knew of something even better – being part of the same winning team as your daughter.

“I’m very proud to be riding with my daughter, as any parent would be,” said Cardinal. “This is my second buckle. I won the 10 Class in 2011.” Brian has only been penning for 8 years, meaning that the 54-year old has just four more years of experience than 22-year old Paige.

The veteran of the team is 24-year old Alex Hansen, who said he’s been penning “since I could walk, 20 years or so.” 2014 was his sixth Stampede, and he already had a penning buckle –earned in the 7 class in 2012. Although Alex had ridden with Brian a few times, the two hadn’t teamed up in about two years.

After this year, however, they think it might be a good idea to get together more often. It wasn’t just his teammates that were kind of new to Hansen, he was also riding a horse that he had not competed on before. “I may have to write a cheque, I think,” Hansen quipped. That shouldn’t be too hard as Hansen and the two Cardinals will split the winning purse of $30,469.

A total of 222 teams began the 10 Class competition with two rounds of qualifying on Thursday at the Okotoks Agricultural Society. The Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition has drawn a record 551 teams from across the continent this year, with purses and prizes valued at nearly $300,000.

Coming into Calgary, the winning team was a respectable seventh. While some other teams ran into some fairly uncooperative cattle, the Cardinals and Hansen had an excellent time of 26.64 in round three, putting them into the lead in the final. A solid 32.61 was good enough to put them on top of the standings, 14.33 seconds ahead of the next-best team. “Everybody did what they had to do and it worked out,” said Brian.