The North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships will be off to the races on Wednesday kicking off five days’ worth of action at Westerner Park.
Dwayne Dubuc, president of the Alberta Professional Chuckwagon and Chariot Association said among the drivers this is the feature show of the season.
“The sponsorship is incredible and the crowd is always good. The facilities are beautiful so it’s certainly a show that the drivers all look forward to going to,” he said.
From Wednesday to Saturday at Westerner Days, the chariots will begin at 5 p.m. followed by the mini chucks at 5:45 p.m. and the pony chuckwagons at 6 p.m.
However, on Sunday the chariots are at 1 p.m., mini chucks at 1:45 p.m., and the pony chuckwagons at 2 p.m. with the buckle presentations to follow.
The event marks the middle of the season for the Alberta Professional Chuckwagon and Chariot Association. They compete in 13 different events throughout their tour dates with Westerner Days as the seventh stop.
In the pony chuckwagons, each rider accumulates points depending on how well they do at each event on the tour. The North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships is different than the others because the riders have five days to accumulate points.
“This will be the first year running it as a point show. So more than any other year guys are gearing up for this season,” he said.
“There’s only two shows that are five-day shows and that’s Red Deer and Vegreville. Those two are big in the sense that if your timing is right and the horses have peaked at the right time cleaning up five days’ worth of points can make up basically two shows.
“It’s always been a good-paying show. The prize money is good and the sponsorship is good. You always have lots of motivation to do well in Red Deer there is just the added motivation this year with it being a point show.”
Leading in the overall chuckwagon standings is Rob Nordick followed by Jim O’Connor and Bob Leach all of whom will compete this week. Defending North American Pony Chuckwagon Champion Reed Rosencrans will not compete to defend his title.
Leach leads in the chariots as well with Deanna Govenlock and Breanna O’Connor close behind.
