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Cody roper in Canadian NFR
By Amber Peabody
This document was published online on Monday, October 29, 2007
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| Sid Sporer of Cody (left) and Delon Parker of Billings compete in the Ponoka Stampede in Canada earlier this year. The team will ride in the Canadian Finals Rodeo in November. (Courtesy photo) |
Sid Sporer is quickly rising in the ranks of rodeo.
In just a few years the team roper has gone from relatively small rodeos to the one of the biggest there is - the Canadian Finals Rodeo.
“Going in, I knew I had the talent to make it,” he said. “It was just a matter of winning enough money.”
The rodeo is Nov. 7-11 in Edmonton, Alberta. The top 12 money earners in each event are invited. Currently Sporer, 21, and his partner Delon Parker of Billings are seventh.
“I hope to win quite a bit of money and leave as the Canadian champion,” he said.
The Canadian Champion will earn thousands of dollars and a new truck.
Sporer feels confident about he and Parker’s chances, but said team roping can be frustrating. Long hours on the road together, sharing expenses and mistakes in competition can take their toll.
“You have to have a good friendship,” he said. “We roped in high school for awhile and have been best friends since we were little kids.”
Sporer graduated from CHS in 2005. He made the National High School Finals all four years in team roping.
He went to Northwest College where he competed in calf and team roping. In 2006 he was ranked second in the nation as heeler.
“I was better at team roping, so that’s what I decided to pursue,” he said. “I’ve been heeling since I was little and I’ve always been best at it.”
Sporer has been around rodeo his whole life. His father, Marty, roped and taught Sporer everything he knows.
“He’s the reason I’m where I am today,” he said. “Without him none of this would be possible.”
He also thanks his sponsors Classic Ropes, Stamina Plus (Tony and Lin Scheiber of Cody) and Jackson Land and Cattle (Rick Overstreet).
After deciding to make a living in rodeo, Sporer was apprehensive about going against the bigger names.
“At first I was really nervous to go against guys from the National Finals, but now I have just as good a shot as everyone else,” he said. “I’ve gone against the top 50 guys in the world several times and held my own. Anymore it’s just another rodeo.”
Sporer competed last winter in Texas. He also spent some time in California, Montana, Canada and Wyoming in the last several months.
“I rodeoed in Montana and Canada is just a hop skip and jump away,” he said. “They pay good enough, you might as well.”
He and Parker placed fifth at the Cody Stampede and third at the Ponoka Stampede in Canada this year. He’s also made the Montana Circuit finals three times and was the Northern Rodeo Association Champion last year in Montana.
Following the CFR, Sporer plans to return to Cody until the end of the year. In January he’ll rodeo in Denver and try to earn a spot in the National Finals Rodeo next year.
He’s dreamed about making the NFR since he was young and with every rodeo he attends, he’s one step closer.
“In the next five years I think I have a legitimate shot to make the National Finals,” he said.
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