Bonnyville held its 5th annual chuckwagon championships, which made history with champion Kirk Sutherland landing himself a new record time.
Sutherland won the money everyday except for the first day. On Thursday, rookie driver Chanse Vigen won first for the second time in his rookie year.
Sutherland, and his outriders Chance Flad and Dustin Gorst, drove off with a new GMC Sierra pickup truck and claimed the George Normand Memorial Buckle with a new record track record time of 1:15.20 on the final day.
With a four-day combined time of 5:11.49, Sutherland won the championship with an advance of 1.26 over John Walters, second place for overall time. Reg Johnson came in third and rookie driver Chanse Vigen placed a career best in fourth.
“It was four great days of racing,” said Bonnyville Chuckwagon Committee chair Tina Michaud. “We were disappointed last year, we only got two (days) in and this year we got four. It was just fantastic. The weather was great. We had a little bit of rain on Saturday and it was just enough to keep the dust off the track and not do any real damage.”
She estimated about 10,000 people came through the gates during the event, which is higher than usual.
Local chuckwagon driver Doug Irvine, who placed second at the Calgary Stampede before coming to Bonnyville, had a slightly disappointing weekend due to a horse injury, putting him in last place in the overall Bonnyville standings.
Prior to the competition, Irvine said it was great to be back competing in his hometown
“I've lived here for ten years,” he said. “My sponsor is B&R Eckels, they're from here and they put up the aggregate money plus a big part of the truck they're going to give away. It would be huge for me to win in front of (them) because (they've) been with me for over 15 years, that's pretty big.”
Though his second day was hindered by the loss of his horse and he did not do well on the third day either, his first and fourth day competing put on a great show for his hometown. On the first day, Irvine came in 15th overall.
Rae Croteau Jr., another Bonnyville local, drove his infamous rainbow wagon, bringing all those in the stands to cheer for him in support of Bonnyville.
Croteau came in 28th on his first day, rose to 19th on his second day, and dropped slightly to 20th on day three, where he ended up after day four.
Kelly Sutherland, brother to Kirk Sutherland, said Bonnyville hosts a great race and brings out a lot of great competitors into the sport of chuckwagon racing.
“This is one of the real hot spots of chuckwagon racing, they've got some strong competitors that come out of this area,” he said.
“It's always enjoyable to come out into this neck of the woods. It started with George Norman, he put Bonnyville on the map as far as chuckwagon racing and now you have Doug Irvin who just missed the $100,000 by 0.001 of a second (at the Calgary Stampede) and Rae Croteau, Jr. there's a lot of guys, a lot of great wagon riders that come out of this part of the country.”
