The Ranch Challenge section of the Williams Lake Stampede is growing in popularity and a large portion of the Sunday rodeo crowd remained in their seats at rodeo’s-end to watch the ranch challenge bronc riding.
In this event, local working cowboys must try to stay on a bronc for eight-seconds, riding with their everyday working/ranch saddles; points are given for the quality of ride and the flashiest, showiest ride.
When both sets of marks were totalled, the Alkali Lake Ranch came out on top. Greg Vanwinkle (the bronc rider for the Alkali Lake Ranch team) and his partner, Judy — riding double, behind him drew huge laughs as they bucked and bounced around the arena.
The pickup man’s horse wanted nothing to do with the dummy and it was a challenge getting close enough to the rider to help him down after the eight-second whistle blew.