Lethbridge holds a special place in the heart of the reigning PBR Canada Champion, having won back-to-back event titles here.
Nick Tetz is coming into the South Country Co-op PBR Canada Cup at the visitlethbridge.com arena having won the past four events and possibly looking to win a fifth. He explains what is special about the Lethbridge show is his familiarity with it. Since he started to come to the show in his rookie year, he has figured out the little things like where to park, where sports medicine is and where the dress rooms are, which he says takes out a certain amount of stress heading into the event because he just feels “super comfortable with it.”
With three post-secondary institutions in the Lethbridge region, the crowd who attends the event tends to be on the younger side. Tetz says it could be described as being “a lot louder and a lot more rambunctious.”
“You know, probably up until the last year, I still had lots of kids that I actually ended up going to high school with that were going to school in Lethbridge. So, you know, it’s kind of, it’s almost like your your own hometown bull riding, but it wasn’t. So, it’s pretty special.”
The Calgary native says one of the rides that sticks out to him from over the years is his ride last year on a bull named Grand Funk.
“That bull went on to go win Bull of the Year, and I went on to go win my second Canadian title. So I think that was pretty cool,” Tetz says. “I’ve been on him twice since then, and I haven’t been able to figure him out again. So I guess the first time is the charm on that one.”
The Lethbridge stop is the second on the PBR Canada Cup Tour, with the first stop happening at the beginning of November in Red Deer. The difference between the two events is the length, with Red Deer being a one-day competition and Lethbridge being a two-day day.
“Everybody wants to win Lethbridge. It’s got those two days, got the extra points. The stakes seem almost a little bit higher in Lethbridge than a lot of other events and the guys definitely show up to ride.”
The South-Country Co-op PBR Canada Cup event kicks off at 7 p.m. at the visitlethbridge.com arena and night two kicks off at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
