It’s been a year since he placed fifth in the Calgary Stampede’s youth steer riding but Colby McCollough is getting closer and closer to becoming a professional bull rider.
Last year, he came in first place in the British Columbia Rodeo Association (BCRA) circuit and this year, he came in first at the Pritchard Rodeo (July 14 and 15) in steer riding, announcing his intention to get that buckle two years in a row.
“It bumped me up to three places in the standings and I’m just trying to get to first,” said McCollough.
The 16-year-old has been riding steers for four years now, a sport he got into from watching his cousins.
“They all rode and I watched,” he explained. “I just wanted to be like them.”
This, however, is his first year riding bulls.
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His favourite part of the sport is the adrenaline from riding a bull for eight seconds. His mother, Laura Thompson, said she was proud of him and supports him but still is terrified everytime he gets on a bull.
“It’s not a forgiving sport, when you get hurt you get hurt,” she said.
McCollough has been lucky so far, even though he received a concussion and sprained an ankle while riding steers in Quesnel a couple years ago.
He prepares for both bull and steer riding events by getting pumped up before the ride and gets into the zone.
How he does it is by staying by the chute the whole day.
“I’m usually just there and block everyone out, I try not to talk to anyone really,” he said, though admitting that sometimes he will talk to his friends behind the chute.
From July 20-21, the young rider will be in three different rodeos; Fort St. John, Quesnel and the Interlakes.
So far, winning the BCRA finals last year is his favourite moment in his four-year career because he got his highest personal score and rode every animal he could get on.
The top ten contestants from each rodeo event will compete at the BCRA Polaris Championship Finals Rodeo at the Dick Ross Memorial Arena in Barriere, B.C. from Aug. 31 to Sep. 3.
