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Strathmore man takes bull-riding event at Calgary Stampede

“Calgary treats us really good." SCOTT SCHIFFNER

Former Stettler resident Scott Schiffner won big at the Calgary Stampede on Sunday, July 13, bringing home $100,000 for winning the bull-riding competition.

“It’s damn sure exciting for me to be that close to home and win that much,” Schiffner said. “It makes the rest of the year go a lot smoother, that’s for sure.”

Twenty bull-riders qualified and then competed in a tournament-style event. The riders were split into two groups of ten, and the top four from each group competed again on Sunday, while the bottom six competed on Saturday in a wild card day. Schiffner was one of the top four, and ended up beating out his competitors with a score of 89.5.

“I’ve been in a little bit of a slump before that going in, hadn’t been winning a whole bunch, but you always find a way to win it somewhere like that, when that much is on the line,” he said.

Other competitors came from all over Canada, Brazil, Texas, and Utah. When Schiffner won, his daughters went on stage with him, which was exciting for them.

“They were probably the most excited of anybody, that’s for sure,” he laughed.

Right now, he doesn’t plan to do anything special with the money, just use it for paying bills and making land payments.

As a champion, he can buy into the competition again next year, which he plans to do.

Schiffner has been competing in rodeos professionally since 1998, and got into rodeos while growing up in Stettler.

Now, he estimates that he spends 100 days away from home while competing, and travels 60,000 km. a year.

This is his 13th year competing in the Stampede.

“Calgary treats us really good,” he said. “It’s nice to stay somewhere for four, five days. Took my family in and that. It’s always one of the best rodeos in the world.”