CHILDHOOD DREAM COMES TRUE FOR PROVOST RANCHER
Guenthner, Finkbeiner among big winners at CFR
RED DEER, ALTA. As a young cowpoke, Scott Guenthner dreamed about this day.
The steer-wrestling ace has proof of that, scrawled in crayon.
“I actually read a paper the other day from, I think it was ECS or Grade 1, and you had to write your goals in life,” Guenthner grinned. “And one of mine was to be a Canadian champion.
“It was in crayon. And I didn’t spell anything right, so I could still see that I needed to go back to school.”
He can go back and cross one of those items off that tyke to-do list.
Now 27, Guenthner wrote his name in the history books Sunday, claiming bragging rights among the steer-wrestlers at the 2018 Canadian Finals Rodeo at Westerner Park in Red Deer.
In this case, it’s a second-generation celebration.
Scott’s proud pops, Ken, was Canada’s champion bulldogger in 1981, a decade before Scott was even born.
Like father, like son.
And, perhaps most important of all, for mom.
“It’s a pretty big honour to win for Canada and I think it’s cool to try to keep it in your family,” Scott said. “I always looked up to my dad. He was done rodeo when I started, but he definitely is a big mentor in my rodeo.
“We lost my mom (Dawn) six years ago now, so this is for her, also. She supported everything I did — I played hockey and rodeo. I actually won a championship the year after she passed away in amateur rodeo.
“So it feels like it’s for her as much as my dad. My family has been so supportive. Without them, I wouldn’t be here, that’s for sure.”
Ken Guenthner didn’t miss a moment of the action this past week.
Scott arrived in Red Deer as the season-earnings leader but had a sluggish start at the six-round showdown, switching horses after three disappointing runs.
Once aboard Curtis Cassidy’s steed, Stick, Guenthner sizzled to three straight runs in the threes. With the pressure cranked up to high in Sunday’s final go-round, the broad-shouldered rancher from Provost, Alta., spiked his steer in 3.6 seconds.
He was so excited he practically skipped back to the chutes.
“My hat is off to him, because I sure as heck wouldn’t want to run against him,” said Ken, who choked back tears as he described the significance of Scott’s achievement. “I had a nephew who lived with us for quite a while — Justin Guenthner — and he won it, and I wanted to make sure that (Scott) won one, too. That was my goal.
“Now, we have three buckles in the family and we’re good to go.”
As he celebrated Sunday, Scott Guenthner wasn’t the only winner missing mom.
Bull-rider Wacey Finkbeiner, raised about a half-hour up the road from Red Deer in Ponoka, lost his biggest fan, Elaine, about 31/2 years ago.
Clay Elliott’s mother, Mona, passed away in 2011. Her boy was crowned Canada’s best saddlebronc rider for the second time in a three-year span.
Guenthner and Elliott are among the seven Canucks who have qualified for the National Finals Rodeo next month in Las Vegas.
Finkbeiner entered Championship Sunday at the 2018 CFR as the only bull-rider who had been able to keep his seat for five straight rides at Westerner Park.
Although the 26-year-old was bucked off by Blue Monkey during the last go, he wasn’t bummed out for long.
“It hasn’t really sunk in — it’s kinda surreal — but I’m sure once I get back in that dressing room and have a bunch of buddies hooting and hollering, it will start sinking in,” Finkbeiner said after winning both the weeklong average and the national buckle.
“I think it’s everyone’s dream, if you’re going to be a professional athlete in rodeo, to be the best in your sport for that specific year. So it’s pretty special.”
Finkbeiner’s father, Jim, was there to witness this pinch-me moment.
Wacey is certain that Elaine was watching, too.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her, but especially after big events in my life like today,” he said. “I know she’s watching over me, and she would be grinning from ear-to-ear.
“She was always one of my biggest supporters. Of course, she’s a mother with a kid riding bulls, so she gets a little nervous. But win, lose or draw, she was always in my corner.”