Eighteen cowgirl racers are ready to add some excitement to the 97th Annual Williams Lake Stampede.
This will be the 10th year of the 3/8 mile flat race and riders are coming from the Cariboo, the Merritt area and one from Didsbury, Alta.
“We have our two-time champion - Kayle Hartman from 100 Mile House - coming back this year for a third time,” said organizer Monica Byrd.
Entries for this year's Wild Cowgirl Race filled up instantly.
“The entries opened at 10 o’clock on the dot and we had 22 entries at 10 o’clock and we only take 18,” Byrd told the Tribune. “The same thing happened last year.”
The race is sponsored every year by MNP LLP ($6,500) and the Efteen ($2,500) that add to the entries for for a total payout of $12,500. “We pay out $2,500 for the three days and $5,000 on the last day,” Byrd said.
It is the camaraderie that brings the competitors back each year, she added.
“We all end up friends at the end. There’s also the adrenaline rush of it and seeing if you can do better and your horse knows it a little better.”
Some of the horses stand at the lineup the first time wondering what they are doing, but by the second time they are usually faster and better at the line because they realize what they are doing, she said, chuckling.
For the race there are three heats with six racers so each racer gets to race one heat and then the top two from each heat qualify for the final.
Byrd isn’t racing this year but said she has raced in other years, including when it was a trial year.
“I raced in it two days and got third and fourth,” she recalled.
In 2022, a rider dropped out at the very last minute so they were going to race with five girls, but because one of the girls brought an extra rope horse they got Byrd to ride her instead.
“I got fifth place on somebody’s horse I jumped on 10 minutes before the race,” she said.
Most riders condition at home and are encouraged to do so in all sorts of weather - mud, heat and rain because the Stampede weekend is “unpredictable,” Byrd said.
Byrd gave a shout-out to Janice Sapp who helped her develop the race.
“Janice helped me out from 2015 on for years and years. She helped me write all the rules and regulations, helped me with the race structure it is today,” Byrd explained. “Even though she’s not a volunteer now she has no problem helping me whenever I ask her if I need help here or there.”
Without Sapp’s help the Wild Cowgirl Race would not have the structure it has today, she added.
Three-time winner Kaitlyn McClure is a race sponsor along with her husband James of Diamond J Contracting, and both of them volunteer to help with the race, Byrd added.
"They have been great volunteers since her first year racing in 2015 when she won her first championship. She also won in 2017, and 2018. James has always got great video footage of our race each year for us to post on the social media page," Byrd said.
"They have helped me for years and in 2022 she stepped up to be a full-time organizer in place of Janice. She and James help me in any way they can and are around all weekend to do everything from signing in girls and handing out jerseys to video taping finish lined and staring races. They bring their motor home down each year that we turn in o a base camp for all Wild Cowgirl Race things."
Ellis Cattle Co. sponsors the championship saddle, while the buckle sponsors are Longhorn Fencing for Heat 2 and reserve champion, Irish Excavating and Contracting, Heat 2 and 3, Downtown Service and Trailers, overall champion.
Prize sponsors include Downtown Service and Trailers, OK Tire Williams Lake, Western Wood Heat Inc., Horizon Climate Controls, Diamond J Contracting ad Monica’s Farrier Service.
