Saturday night Calgary Stampede chucks swamped by summer storm as national activists call for its cancellation

Dallas Dyck turned in the top time at Saturday night's chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede. (Photo: Twitter@CSchuckwagons)

It was a tale of two different tracks Saturday night at the Calgary Stampede, one that left possibly the fastest driver of them all on the outside looking in at Sunday's championship final.

 

 

 

 

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Chanse Vigen, who overcame seven seconds worth of penalties to climb back into the top three, was relegated to fourth place when a sudden summer thunderstorm turned the track into a muddy mess halfway through Saturday night.

Ross Knight, who had been in fourth place, three seconds behind Vigen heading into the night, ran in the fourth heat when the track was firm and turned in the second-fastest time of the night, at 1:12.27, four one-hundredths of a second behind Dallas Dyck's time of 1:12.23.

Meanwhile Vigen raced in the final heat of the night on a soupy track that was noticeably slower, turning in a time of 1:15.60.

That allowed Knight to make up an astonishing 3.33 seconds in a single heat, sliding him into the third spot and qualifying him for Sunday's championship final.

Vigen finished fourth in the aggregate, .59 of a second behind Knight.

 

 

 

 

 

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Knight will race against four-time Cowboys Rangeland Derby champ Kurt Bensmiller and Layne MacGillivray Sunday night. The winner gets $50,000 and a new GMC truck, with second-place receiving $20,000 and third $10,000.

The finals start at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night.

REACTION TO HORSE'S DEATH

Animal activists from across the country issued statements criticizing the Stampede after a horse was euthanized Friday night.

The Vancouver Humane Society issued a statement, saying, in part, "The reality is that despite efforts over the years to make the event safer, horses continue to die nearly every year in the chuckwagon races. The nature of this event means that that any race could quickly turn fatal," said campaign director Emily Pickett.

"It's time for the Calgary Stampede to move away from these dangerous and inhumane events and to instead focus on the many alternative activities that already attract hundreds of thousands of attendees to the Stampede every year," added Pickett.

Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk said, "The Stampede competitors and organizers know full well that every year, horses will almost certainly die from horrific injuries in the 'half mile of hell' chuckwagon races. Animal Justice is calling on the Calgary Humane Society, Calgary Police and Alberta SPCA to finally hold this event accountable by bringing charges before the courts.

"Rodeos aren't exempt from animal cruelty laws," she added, "and should no longer be given a free pass to kill horses for cheap thrills.

"There's simply no safe way to hold this deadly race, and it should be permanently canceled."