Some moved in. Some dropped out.
With two weeks and just four events remaining in the Canadian professional rodeo season, the battles for the final CFR qualifying berths are heating up and the end-of-season drama intensified still further this past weekend.
One of the athletes who made the most of the Lethbridge-Okotoks rodeo tandem was barrel racer Rene Leclercq who, atop her equine partner, Jewel, blistered a run at the Lethbridge and District Pro Rodeo—14.96 seconds for a $2998 win—then added a $2,099 third place cheque at Okotoks.
The dual successes carried the Clive, Alberta cowgirl from 14th to 12th place (the CFR takes twelve in the major events), but she’s very aware that there is work still to do to get her to a fifth Canadian Finals Rodeo.
“It’s been a tough year, that’s for sure,” Leclercq noted, “All the girls are winning. For me it’s been kind of a steady year. I’ve been winning money, kind of in the middle but you have to win some rodeos to get to Edmonton.”
It’s those recent wins—the latest is Lethbridge—that has the 32-year-old horse trainer knocking on the door for that fifth trip to the season finale. And the Whoop Up Days win was the result of one of her most impressive runs of the season. “That run felt really good. Jewel (Jewelsrobinthecash) normally does really well as long as I stay out of her way and let her do her job. I thought I did my job there and yeah, it felt amazing.”
Also in Leclercq’s favour is the fact that she has historically enjoyed success at the three British Columbia rodeos that wrap up the regular season—Merritt, the Massey Ferguson Tour finale in Armstrong and the Valley West Stampede in Langley. It’s typically been a good weekend for Jewel,” Leclercq added. “It’s sandier ground out there in BC and a little heavier and deeper which is good for her.”
Both horse and rider will need to be at the top of their game as they head west after this week’s lone CPRA stop at Nanton, Alberta.
The topsy-turvy nature of the 2026 steer wrestling season was in evidence again this weekend with a couple of guys jumping into the CFR conversation and a couple more starting to sweat a little bit as they cling to their precarious top 12 spots. Sundre bull dogger Carter McIntyre continued to have the hot hand, taking top honours at the Okotoks Pro Rodeo with a 3.7 second run for $2481, then added a 7th place $983 payday at Lethbridge that unofficially moved him from 17th to 13th where he trails Joseph King by just $300. King fell to 12th spot after being blanked at both southern Alberta rodeos.
McIntyre has been on a heater of late with earlier successes at Medicine Lodge (3.9 for second) and Pincher Creek (5.2 seconds for 7-8 split). Ben Mitchell also enjoyed a double weekend payoff, courtesy of a 4th place 4.7 for $1891 at Lethbridge and a 5-6 split at Okotoks (4.2, $1024) that catapults him from 19th place to 14th with a season total of $18,431 dropping Branden to 15th spot in the tightly bunched race for Edmonton.
With similar tight races in virtually every event, all eyes will be on the last rides and runs in what has been one of the hardest fought regular seasons in recent memory.
The battle continues this week at the Nanton Pro Rodeo August 28-29.
For complete unofficial results go to rodeocanada.com