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Bulldogger completes long haul back to finals

They don’t call it one of the world’s most dangerous sports for nothing.
Okotoks’ Coleman Kohorst makes his return to the Canadian Finals Rodeo this week in Edmonton after being sidetracked by nagging injuries over the past two seasons.
Okotoks’ Coleman Kohorst makes his return to the Canadian Finals Rodeo this week in Edmonton after being sidetracked by nagging injuries over the past two seasons.

They don’t call it one of the world’s most dangerous sports for nothing.

One cracked knee and a spear in the neck later and Okotoks steer wrestler Coleman Kohorst is healthy and back on the nation’s biggest stage at the Canadian Finals Rodeo this week in Edmonton.

“It was a bit of a challenge to get back, two years of injuries,” he said. “This year finally I’m healthy, going in in a good position and hope to do well this time back at a CFR.”

The Okotoks bulldogger made his CFR debut in 2012 where he had an up-and-down week in the Capital City in picking up day money and re-injuring his knee at the competition.

“I learned it’s just another rodeo,” he said of the experience. “It’s a six-day rodeo, the purse has added more money, but at the same time you go there and do what you can with the steers that you draw.

“More or less you don’t let the hype of the rodeo get to you and do your job every day that you’re up.”

Kohorst qualified for the 2012 final in eighth place a year after narrowly missing out on the top-12 mark which guarantees qualification.

It’s a different story in 2015.

The 32-year-old is in striking distance at the championship.

“To go to 40 rodeos and have a good year just gives you more and more confidence going into the finals,” he said. “At the end of the season when you have a good year, you feel more confident going in than if you were going in 12th position and feeling like well I was kind of lucky to get there.”

The seven-year professional was both good and lucky this season.

He sits fourth in the Canadian standings with over $23,000 in winnings and roughly $10,000 back of frontrunner Scott Guenthner out of Consort.

He’s going into the event with a business-like approach.

“I just want to go there and make each day a separate rodeo. I’m not going there with the goal of a championship, but I do want to be in contention come Sunday,” Kohorst said. “It’s less stress than going there saying ‘I’ve got to win a Canadian title.’

“You just take it day-by-day. If you don’t place one day, don’t worry about it and you might win a round.”

To be the best you have to beat the best in the city of champions.

Kohorst has been training with some of his cohorts in the bulldogging ranks in Cochrane brothers Straws and Tanner Milan while training with some of the best horses around from Lee Graves.

“We’ve been working on wrestling and getting focused and ready for the finals,” he said. “There haven’t been any distractions to do with work. I was lucky enough to get a couple weeks off to focus on this for once.”

The steer wrestler will have some local faces with him taking a run at national glory.

Fellow top-five finishers on the circuit in second and fourth ranked bull riders Jordan Hansen and Adam Jamison of Okotoks, third-ranked bareback rider Matt Lait out of Cayley, fourth-ranked bronc rider in Millarville’s Sam Kelts and the fifth-ranked team roper Steele DePaoli out of Longview are all in a good position to make noise this week.

Likewise for the barrel racing contingent in the Foothills featuring Kendra Edey, Deb Guelly and Toni Dixon – all top-six qualifiers.

Elsewhere, Black Diamond bull rider Tyler Thomson makes his final CFR appearance and goes in as the ninth-ranked competitor.

The CFR runs from Nov. 11-15. For the full list of schedules and results visit cfr.ca


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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