Penners ride to victory

A Langley trio has good reason to hoot and holler after winning the prestigious Calgary Stampede's 2011 team cattle penning competition.

For the second straight year, Taylor Sinclair has played interior decorator for the Fast Times Farm riding arena in Langley.

"Yeah, there'll be two Calgary Stampede (championship) cheques hanging in the arena now - winner last year, winner this year," smiled the young rider on Saturday evening.

During the Stampede's 2011 team cattle penning competition, Taylor teamed up with her mom Cathy Sinclair and her grandfather George De Jonge for an emotional win in the 7 Class.

And on Saturday in the Scotiabank Saddledome, she saddled up with a couple more Lower Mainland penners - Debbie Molnar and Sandy Price, both of Langley - for a thrilling victory in the 10 Class.

The B.C. trio overcame very long odds to enter that winner's circle.

The 10 Class is traditionally the largest division in the competition. And this year, partly owing to the Stampede's 100th birthday and limited-edition, Vic Bennett-handcrafted Centennial Trophy Saddles up for grabs, a mind-blowing 295 teams threw their hats in the ring.

'We didn't think about that stuff. We didn't think about any of it. We had to get a job done," said Price. "We just pen our cows and don't try to go fast; we take what's there and do our best."

The Stampede's team cattle penning competition has drawn a record 764 teams from across the continent for its four divisions, with a total prize purse of $394,610.

The 295 teams in contention to begin the 10 Class competition engaged in two rounds of preliminaries on Wednesday at the Okotoks Agricultural Society in Okotoks, Alta., with 20 teams emerging for Saturday night's third round and final at the Saddledome.

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Penners ride to victory