NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Shelton Udal (left) and Shannon Willsie rope a steer during the Memory Lane Team Roping event at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede grounds on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018.
Medicine Hat News
Believe it or not, there were actually less teams at the Memory Lane Team Roping Memorial this past weekend than a year ago.
Still, 1,552 headers and heelers made sure it was a grand celebration.
The annual event saw lots of impressive times and plenty of emotion as the buckles donated in memory of friends lost were handed out.
Perhaps the most impressive win was that of Medicine Hat’s Ryker Hutchinson and Maple Creek’s Shelton Udal. Hutchinson is only 10 years old but he and Udal roped three steers in a total of 24.28 seconds to win one of the weekend’s divisions.
Tricia Snodgrass and Bryan Cowie were second in 24.59 seconds, emblematic of how close it was bound to be for top spot in any division with that many teams.
Dan Aylward and Dan Dowdy won the No. 10 roping division in 24.19 seconds (on three head), a mere nine hundredths better than Hutchinson and Udal. Snodgrass and Cowie were third.
In the 40-plus division, Davey Roy and Kelly Hiltz won with 21.33 seconds on three. Corey Jacobson and Chad Smith were second in 22.60.
Justin Dubeau had a great time in the No. 12 roping division, heeling for Don Parsonage to win in 23.10 seconds. But he also heeled for Mark Sturm and they got 23.10 as well. They were given second place. Travis Kellet and Todd Snodgrass were third in 23.14, an incredible top three separated by four hundredths of a second after three runs.
When it came to the open division, only two teams went faster than Dubeau’s two squads. Murray Linthicum and Marty Becker came in at 19.97 seconds, followed by Braidy Davies and Jared Pancoast at 20.5.
