TEST OF TIME, TRADITION
Team Lone Wolf’s Aaron Good Rider, left, and jockey Kal Jackson of the Piikani Nation will compete in the inaugural Indigenous relay races at the Calgary Stampede. The event has been called “much more than a sport, it’s tradition.”
A combination of tradition and teamwork make up Indigenous relay racing, the high-speed, adrenalin-pumping sport that is making its Calgary Stampede debut Tuesday evening.
The relay race is similar to track competitions in which a baton is passed between team members who race to the finish line. But in this sport, the baton is a person, the racers are horses.
The jockey starts the relay bareback on a thoroughbred horse and races around the track against other competitors. After each lap, the jockey will hop off the horse and jump on a new mount. The first team to successfully race three horses around the track wins.
The intense sport has rarely been shown in Canada and the Stampede will be its biggest audience to date in the country.
“It’s much more than a sport, it’s tradition,” said Tyrone Potts, Indigenous relay representative for the Calgary Stampede. “These guys are competing in their regalia. They wear the war paint, the headgear, the uniforms.”
“I want to walk away from the Stampede and say I’m darn proud to be First Nations because of what (Indigenous relay) brought to Calgary,” said Potts.
Four teams, two Canadian and two American, will be competing. Team Lone Wolf of the Piikani Nation and the Okan Warriors of the Siksika Nation are the Canadian representatives, while team Young Money and the Carlson Team of the Blackfoot Confederacy are the U.S. teams from Montana.
Each team has four members: the jockey, the mugger and two horse handlers.
The mugger is responsible for catching the horses when the rider dismounts, and the handlers keep horses calm and in place for the jockey to mount.
Potts said it takes an “ultimate athlete” to compete in these races.
“To be able to ride a racehorse at full speed around a racetrack — the stamina, having balance and everything — is something else.”
Kal Jackson, 18, is the jockey for Team Lone Wolf.
“My very first time doing (Indigenous relay) was last year and it (gave me) lots of adrenalin. After the race, my body was shaking,” said Jackson. “When you’re racing with a bunch of people, like when you’re going around corners, you can get boxed in. It can get a little scary, but it’s the race.”
He not only trains his body extensively by dieting and working out, he works vigorously to gain trust and build relationships with the horses — a necessity for the dangerous sport.
Before competing, Jackson listens to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. The same song he’ll play before relaying in front of thousands on Tuesday.
Potts hopes the races become an annual event at the Stampede.
“I’ve always felt that the Calgary Stampede has been very accommodating and they’ve had a tremendous relationship with First Nations, and I think that they will be pleasantly surprised when the teams come in and put on a show,” said Potts.
The Relay Races are part of the TransAlta Grandstand Show and the GMC Rangeland Derby, and will run for three days between Tuesday and Thursday.