A brilliant couple of days in the rodeo arena made Norm Theroux a B.C. champion for the first time in his long career.
Theroux, a 39-year-old who was born and raised in Prince George, partnered with Vernon's Cecil Louis to win the B.C. Team Roping Association No. 9 championship in Quesnel on the weekend. Theroux, the heeler on the team, has been a rodeo rider for 24 years so he was understandably thrilled about the victory.
But, after he and Louis made their final run, having to watch 13 more teams try to beat them just about did him in.
"Thirteen runs is a long time to wait to see if you won the [championship] saddle," he said. "It was mind-boggling. I was trying not to jinx myself. You don't want to be thinking you've won it already because then you won't. So I was trying to keep myself calm and not get excited. But I was getting pretty excited by the end there. The last guy, when he missed, my knees were starting to wobble already. It was pretty exciting. I've never won anything like that before."
In team roping, mounted riders try to bring down a steer in the quickest time possible. The first roper takes the head and the second roper takes the heels. Based on their abilities, teams are placed in specific divisions.
In the No. 9 division at provincials, more than 300 teams were entered. After two runs, 30 advanced to the final round, or short-go.
Theroux and Cecil qualified for the short-go with runs of about eight seconds and nine seconds. In their last pass, they clocked in at about seven seconds -- a best-ever time for Theroux -- and their overall time gave them a narrow victory.
On the decisive run, Louis quickly roped the steer's head and that left Theroux to seal the deal. On board his horse, Quest, he timed his toss perfectly and snared both feet of his quarry.
"By the time it was his run in the short-go, there was huge pressure," said local roper Sandy Suter, who was also in Quesnel for the BCTRA finals. "The teams that had gone before him had excellent runs and were tough to beat."
In the end, the top 30 teams were separated by fewer than five ticks of the clock.
As well as being awarded the championship saddles, Theroux and Cecil each pocketed $1,800 in prize money.
Theroux hadn't taken team roping too seriously until about five years ago, at which time he started working with Suter and her dad, Garry.
"My roping went from being a hobby, to now where I'm a champion and that's all because of them," said Theroux, who is also thankful for the support of his wife, Jessica.
"The competitions are expensive, so they've got to be behind you," he added.
