May 12, 2025
Airdrie, AB
Sometimes being busy can be a good thing.
And it’s been a busy May thus far for Kolby Wanchuk. Just days after he and his wife Karlie welcomed their first child—son Rhodes–into the world, Wanchuk made the long-distance trek to Cold Lake, Alberta for the inaugural edition of the Lakeland Xtreme Bronc Riding.
Two outstanding bronc rides later, the #11 ranked bronc rider in the world emerged as the event champion, forty per-centing the competition, meaning he won the long go, short go and aggregate with back-to-back 89-point rides. There was no time to rest on his laurels as he headed out right after the bronc riding concluded to get home to his wife and ten-day old son. Between the long drive and a fussy little guy, there wasn’t a whole lot of sleep to be had for the 28 year-old hand.
“They let me sleep in this morning,” he chuckled later that day.
A successful run at the winter rodeos saw Wanchuk pick away at Denver, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Tucson among others to go along with the big hit he enjoyed at Houston where he split the Championship Shootout with Ryder Wright. It was that result that put him solidly in the top fifteen in the world where he has remained despite missing the California rodeos due to ‘dad to be’ duties and working on the new Wanchuk acreage at Stettler.
And that’s why the win at Cold Lake takes on added importance for the three-time WNFR qualifier.
“I didn’t rodeo that hard through the winter so this win feels really good,” he noted. The money won at Cold Lake counts in both CPRA and PRCA standings making the Saturday night event that much more important.
The second-generation cowboy was quick to credit the two horses he had in the northern Alberta locale, Big Stone Rodeo’s Gone Fishin in the long go and C5 Rodeo’s Trump Card in the Championship Round.
“Gone Fishin is a short, stocky horse and he’s a bit of a handful. He had a stutter step in there but once he got going he was super fun,” Wanchuk stated. “Trump Card had a little scoot at the start then he broke hard and he was pretty electric. I just had to keep moving and keep swinging.”
The win netted Wanchuk $6922 with four time world titleist Zeke Thurston capturing second spot and Kole Ashbacher finishing up third overall. The Canadian standings (unofficially) will see a major shakeup as well with Ashbacher moving to top spot, Wanchuk jumping into the top three alongside previous number one Lucas Macza and Thurston claiming a berth in the top five.
The 105th Falkland Stampede is next up on the CPRA schedule. Athletes head to the interior B.C. venue May 17-19.
Complete unofficial Cold Lake results and a full Canadian Professional Rodeo Association event schedule are available at www.rodeocanada.com