Tunke hangs on for spot at CFR after up and down summer
Entering the last weekend of the rodeo season, Medicine Hat’s Trent Tunke felt pretty good about his chances of qualifying for the Canadian Finals Rodeo.
Then his header missed in Hanna, while others below him in the standings racked up dollars at an event in Calgary.
It was a nervous wait, but the 26-year-old team roper is headed to Red Deer at the end of the month, winding up in 12th spot among heelers with $11,315.77 earned — a cool $197 ahead of 13th. Only the top 12 make it.
“It looked good, I had a $3,000 lead and then everyone closed in on it,” said Tunke. “It was terrible (to wait).”
Anybody who rodeos will tell you it’s a bumpy road, and that’s certainly been the case for Tunke, who’s roped with a handful of teammates but made the most of his opportunities to qualify. He won in Strathmore with Trey Gallais, was second in Drayton Valley with Tuftin McLeod and last month was tied for first again with Gallais in Merritt, B.C.
Gallais, from Sundre, had broken his wrist in the spring and only wound up 19th in the header standings. So Tunke’s going to rope at the CFR with Jesse Popescul, who was eighth and lived in Medicine Hat for a few years before moving to Saskatchewan.
“He lives out in Saskatchewan now, but we’ll get together and practice a little bit,” said Tunke. “He only lived about five minutes from me, so we’ve practised a lot together, we’ve competed together. It’ll just come pretty natural I think, we won’t have to work out too many kinks.”
That wasn’t all. His two horses, Pillsbury and Grumpy, were both injured at the same time at one point. Then he had younger teammates for a while, which didn’t result in a lot of cheques to cash.
Fortunately, everyone got healthy in time to make up for the dry spell.
“It’s been a struggling season for the most part,” he said. “There was lots of bumps in the road, but it still worked out.”
It’ll be Tunke’s third CFR, after making it in 2013 and 2015. Grateful for his sponsors (Classic Ropes and C&K Trucking) to keep him going, he’s grateful for the opportunity. Popescul will return for the second year in a row, having partnered with Medicine Hat’s Kevin Schreiner in 2017.
“It’s good, it means a lot,” said Tunke of getting back to nationals. “I’ve still got it, I guess.”
The 45th CFR runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 4 in Red Deer.