A bull rider got more than a new person to love when his daughter was born six months ago.
Jordan Hansen, a 2011 Foothills Comp grad, also got himself a $50,000 Calgary Stampede good luck charm.
“My little baby girl Hartley was there and this was the first event she ever got to watch me at,” said Hansen after riding Diamond Back to an 87.5 to win in the Calgary Stampede bull riding championship at Showdown Sunday on July 18.
Hansen was the lone rider among the final four on Sunday to ride his bull for the full eight seconds.
He was the second of the four riders out of the chutes and Diamond Back was a bull he had not ever been on.
“I had seen him once early this week and I knew he was a good bull,” Hansen said. “I didn’t have too much time to think about it – thank God.
“When you are riding, I am just worried about staying in the middle and staying on – I just took it jump by jump. You start worrying about winning, that’s when you get bucked off.
“As soon as I got off, I knew it was a good ride, but I didn’t know if it would be enough. There were a couple of good guys coming up.”
Those two guys riding after him were two-time Canadian champion and reigning Canadian PBR champions Dakota Butter and Cody Coverchuk.
Bull riders are a friendly bunch who support one another, but with Butter and Coverchuk coming between Hansen and his first Stampede title and the $50,000 cheque, the support wasn’t quite 100 per cent.
“I am absolutely cheering for them, I don’t wish anything bad on any of them,” Hansen said. “When it is coming down to the end, obviously I want them to stay on, but at the end of the day I want them to have a lot less points than I had.
“You certainly want to win.”
Hansen was the model of consistency at his opening go-rounds at the Stampede. He covered three of the four bulls he rode while competing in Pool B from July 13-16 to finish tied for third place and qualifying for the Showdown.
The top four of 10 bull riders in the first go-round of Sunday Showdown advance to the final four.
Hansen drew Razor in the opening round and rode him to an 87.5 for third place and a spot in the finals.
“I had never seen him,” Hansen said of Razor. “I wasn’t sure I would have enough points but it worked out. He was a good bull.”
Hansen, the 2016 Canadian Finals Rodeo champion, said winning the Stampede title is something special.
“I grew up in Okotoks and my mom being a barrel racer I watched it as a kid,” Hansen said. “This has been a life-time goal for me for sure. I’m pretty happy to scratch that off my list.”
(Mom Adel Hansen competed in the barrel racing in a previous Stampede.)
He had plenty of mentors when cutting his teeth on the rodeo circuit.
“Tyler Thomson definitely took me under his wing,” Hansen said. “Ty Elliott, Chad Besplug… I wouldn’t be where I am today without their help.”
Thomson calls Black Diamond home and won the Canadian championship in 2008.
Hansen now takes his boots off at Amisk, near Wainwright, where he lives with his wife, Sara and daughter Hartley.
But Okotoks is where he welded together his career.
“Okotoks had been my home for so long that’s kind of where I made a career for myself,” said Hansen, who won a welding award at the Comp. “I guarantee my welding teacher Virgil Green was watching for sure.
“He’s one of my best buddies and a teacher. I am sure he was watching and I will probably be hearing from him in a couple of days.”
In other Stampede action, Millarville’s Jenna O’Reilly qualified for Showdown Sunday in barrel racing after finishing second on Wildcard Saturday.
She didn’t qualify for the top four at Showdown Sunday.
Millarville’s Toni Dixon also competed at the Stampede, but didn’t make the Sunday Showdown.
To see the full results, go to Results & Draws - Calgary Stampede
