Outriders won’t protest changes
Posted Apr 7, 2011 9:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Professional chuckwagon outriders have grudgingly agreed to go along with changes being put in place for the races at this year’s Calgary Stampede.
The Stampede will be reducing the number of outriders per chuckwagon from four to two.
The outriders initially protested the move and had threatened a possible boycott.
But, Bing Runquist, from the group “Preserve the West,” says the lower number will eventually result in a shortage of qualified outriders in the future.
“Two outriders was the way they wanted to go and that’s the way they will go and I guess I’ll have to wait five or six years and then I’m going to say I told you so. When I say “I”, I mean we as a group,” says Runquist.
He adds the outriders weren’t able to come to an agreement on how to proceed with a protest so they decided to go along with the changes.
