The International Professional Rodeo Association's finals, the International Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City is the marquee event for over 3,000 members.  Across their circuit system of dividing their almost 150 rodeos into 4 circuits, their Southern Circuit is the largest.  However, the North-East Circuit where our Canadian Contenders reside is the second largest, and also home to the largest outdoor rodeo in the IPRA, Ste. Tite, Quebec.  At the Gold Buckle Gala on Sunday night, it was announced that aside from Oklahoma, Canada was the 2nd largest contingent (Quebec-Ontario) at IFR 40 with a record 20 positions held by Canadian Qualifiers.

IFR 40 boasted a purse of $250,000 and Canada was able to accumulate over $24,000 of that, along with 5 Championship Buckles.  The final round of IFR 40 had lots of opportunities and a few of the Canuck Contenders realized their Gold Buckle conquests, and as with every Rodeo, there were some Championship Dreams dashed.  All in All, though, 12 of the 18 Canadians earned a trip to the proverbial Paywindow at IFR 40.