What a difference a single week can make.
Especially when that week features back-to-back wins.
The team roping tandem of header Kash Bonnett and heeler Logan Spady was hovering near the 12th and final qualifying spot(s) in the standings when the CPRA rodeo trail wound north to Field of Dreams Stampede (La Crete, AB) and Dawson Creek (BC) Exhibition and Stampede for a pair of SMS Equipment Pro Tour rodeos.
The duo hit the winner’s circle at La Crete with a 5.9 second run that netted them $2436 each. They followed that up with a 5.7 second winning run in Dawson for another $2767. The $5200 cash injection jumped the team several spots on the season leaderboard and puts them in a solid position for CFR as rodeo athletes enter the homestretch for the 2024 regular season. Only nine events (including the Tour Finale in Armstrong) count for the 2024 CFR October 2-5. Rodeos after the Labour Day weekend are part of the 2025 season.
“I said I wasn’t going to look at the standings until we had over $20.000 won,” Spady quipped, “so maybe I can check ‘em out now.”
The 2023 Canadian All-Around Champion is right—both men’s season earnings jumped past the $20,000 plateau courtesy of the weekend’s dual success. The reunited team (they roped together in 2021 and 22) has a prescribed set of goals for the balance of the season on both sides of the Canada-US border. Those include being in the top five in Canada when they head to Edmonton for CFR 50, being in the top 35 Stateside at season’s end to set up qualifying for the big winter rodeos and, at the top of the list, a Canadian team roping title.
“That’s kind of the main focus every year (The Canadian title). Everything else is kind of a bonus, I guess,” Spady added.
He summed up the year to date for the duo. “It’s been awesome. We had a good spring, then it was a little slow in June but we’ve been catching a lot of steers lately. There’s so much money to be won and so many good rodeos in August, it’s a good time to get hot.”
The two cowboys (Bonnett’s from Ponoka, Spady from Alliance) have a busy fall planned, racing back and forth across the 49th parallel to rope on both sides of the line and eventually make a run at an NFR berth. The man who went to the 2021 CFR with the coveted #1 back number (highest season earnings winner) was philosophical about that long-term goal. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure; it’s a lot of work but it’s what a guy dreams about.”
And while the journey continues to one day make that dream come true, Logan Spady and partner Kash Bonnett hope that their current hot streak continues—through the SMS Equipment Tour finale in Armstrong and on into Rogers Place in Edmonton for the CFR.
“We’ve got some more winning to do to get to where we want to be,” the third-generation talent concluded.
Some of that winning could happen as early as this weekend as the CPRA schedule takes athletes to the Pincher Creek (Alberta) Pro Rodeo and Cranbrook, British Columbia for the Cranbrook Pro Rodeo. Both are slated for August 16-18 and both are Maple Leaf Circuit events.
For complete unofficial results go to rodeocanada.com
PHOTO:
Kash Bonnett and Logan Spady, Dawson Creek Stampede photo by Shellie Scott