STEER RIDING
๐ฅ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ง๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐๐ธ๐ถ is the Calgary Stampede Steer Riding Champion. The 15 year old also had a 1st place finish at the Teepee Creek Stampede and earned a buckle at the Grande Prairie Stompede.
Ryder will look to defend his title as the Canadian Pro Rodeo Associationโs 2025 Steer Riding Champion, when he returns to the Canadian Finals Rodeo in October.
Heโs also a two time Junior Bareback World Champion and seven times Junior World Finals Qualifier, including a second place finish in youth Bull Riding. Ryder won his first Junior World Championship Bareback Riding title in Las Vegas when he was 11. Next season he plans to transition to Junior Bull Riding.
BAREBACK RIDING
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ผ๐ป competed at the 2026 Alberta High School Rodeo Associationโs Provincial Championships. He had a massive win in Round 2 with a 72 point ride, finishing 2nd overall in points for Provincials.
Next up, Pacen is riding in the Canadian High School Finals Rodeo in Vermillion. Then heโs off to Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas to start the Fall semester in their collegiate rodeo program.
SWIMMING
๐ข๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ผ๐ปย wins a Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Games and sets a third Canadian Record this year.
Men’s 200m Breaststroke 2:08.39. It was previously held by Mike Brown who swam 2:08.84 in August 2008 at the Beijing Olympic Games when Oliver was 7 months old.
Eighteen year old Oliver Dawson now holds 3 Canadian records. He set the 50m (27.29) and 100m (59.33) records in May in London.
At the Commonwealth Games in the Menโs 100m Breaststroke Final, Dawson was only 0.05 seconds away from being on the podium with a Bronze, right behind Olympic and World Record holder Adam Ramsay-Peaty.
He finished tied with Scotlandโs Archie Goodburn for 7th (27.42) in the Menโs 50m Breaststroke Final, where all 8 competitors were less than one second apart.
In the Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Final Oliver Dawson swam the second leg with a time of 59.45, on Team Canada with Kylie Masse (backstroke), Joshua Liendo (butterfly) and Ella Jansen (freestyle). They finished just 0.53 seconds behind Scotland who won the Bronze, South Africa the Silver and Australia with a new Commonwealth Games record for the Gold.
In the Menโs 4 x 100m Medley Final, Oliver Dawson swam the second leg with a time of 59.86, with Canadian teammates Benjamin Winterborn, Josh Liendo and Antoine Suave. They also earned a 4th place finish. Australia won Gold with a Games Record.
Dawson trained in Grande Prairie at the Eastlink Centre with the Grande Prairie Pirahnas with Coach Alex Dawson.
Dawson competes next in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships August 12 โ 15 in California.
Images by CBC Canada and Commonwealth Sport
DISC GOLF
Grande Prairie hosted nearly 400 athletes from Canada and New Zealand for the Disc Golf National Championships.
Four local athletes finished at the top of their divisions.
Mixed Amateur 40+: ๐ง๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ต-๐ฆ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟ finished with a three-round score of 186, six under par and seven shots ahead of the second-place finisher.
Womenโs Amateur 2: ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ต-๐ฆ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟโ๐ three-round total was 210, seven shots ahead of her nearest challenger.
Mixed Amateur 2: ๐ข๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ท ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ finished four-under-par with a total of 182 over three rounds, six shots ahead of the second-place finisher.
Girlsโ Junior Under 18: ๐๐ฎ๐๐น๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐ผ๐ป finished first.
Images provided by the Grande Prairie Disc Golf Club.
ULTRA MARATHON
One of the youngest teams to take on the Canadian Death Race were the youth from โChasing The IceCream Truckโ.
They completed the extreme and tough course in 22 hours and 2 minutes. Itโs 118km with over 5000 vertical metres to climb, navigating across 3 mountain summits, plus traversing a major river crossing at the Smoky and Sulphur Rivers near Grande Cache.
Leg 1 – June (Age 10)
Leg 2 – Teju (Age 14)
Leg 3 – Winter (Age 11)
Leg 4 – Marlie (Age 15)
Leg 5 – Kooper (Age 9 and the youngest death racer to compete on Leg 5)
The athletes train with the Triple Terrain Trail Trekkers.
ALBERTA SUMMER GAMES
in Strathcona Countryย
GOLD
Elizabeth McLeod 15U Female 80m Hurdles 11.91
Elizabeth McLeod 15U Female 200m Hurdles 28.79
Hank Ewasiuk 15U Male Shot Put 11.44m
Jeremiah Peterson 15U Male High Jump 1.70m
Michelle Rivers 15U Female 2000m 6:51.8
SILVER
Belle Smith – U16 Female 4 x 400m Relay 4:33.9
Dean Irvine – U15 Male Beach Volleyball
Elizabeth McLeod 15U Female 200m 25.75
Emma Pitre – U15 Female Beach Volleyball
Eva Turpin – U16 Female 4 x 400m Relay 4:33.9
June Lynch – U16 Female 4 x 400m Relay 4:33.9
Malin Snider – U15 Female Beach Volleyball
Soren Herman – U15 Male Beach Volleyball
Taylor Mercer – U16 Female 4 x 400m Relay 4:33.9
BRONZE
Belle Smith – 15U Female Triple Jump 10.16m
Elizabeth McLeod – 15U Female 4 x 100m Relay 52.98
Hank Ewasiuk – 15U Male Discus 34.22m
Heidi Potosky – ย 15U Female 4 x 100m Relay 52.98
Isiah Dyck – U16 Male 4 x 100m Relay 50.84
June Lynch –ย 15U Female 800m 2:24.9
Kehlan Duncan – 15U Male 2000m 6:58.9
Levi Driedger – U16 Male 4 x 100m Relay 50.84
Lily Perrin – ย 15U Female 4 x 100m Relay 52.98
Michelle Rivers – 15U Female 1200m 3:52.0
Preslyn McAllister – 15U Female 4 x 100m Relay 52.98
Theoryn Goodbrand โ U16 Male 4 x 100m Relay 50.84
Timothy Renooy –ย Category 1 Male 100 Individual Medley 1:13.7
William Giesbrecht – U16 Male 4 x 100m Relay 50.84
FOOTBALL
The team included ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ธ๐น๐๐ป๐ป ๐จ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ #10 and ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐๐น #3.
Both athletes earned Gold at the National Championships with Team Alberta last season.
They are both alumni of the Sexsmith Shamrocks.
Kirklynn now plays for the Peace Wapiti Titans.
Photos by Salmon_Media via Football Alberta
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Team Alberta North won Gold at the U19 Indigenous Cup with a perfect 4-0 record. The championship football team included Grande Prairieโs Ryder Hendsbee, Ryley Foster and Hayden Phillips, along with Assistant Coach William Quintal.
Receiver Ryder Hendsbee plays for the Peace Wapiti Titans football team.
Defensive Backs Ryley Foster and Hayden Phillips play for the St. Joseph Celtics football team. Hayden also took on Kicker duties for the event.
Wide Receiver Hayden Curry of the Peace River Pioneers was also part of Team Alberta North.
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At the U16 Female Tackle Football Western Showcase , Team Alberta earned 1st place.
Defensive lineman Gabrielle Shaw of Valleyview and Running back Tylene Lewis of Grande Prairie. They played 6-a-side style tackle football.
Tylene was also awarded the Offensive Player of the Game.
Both Shaw and Lewis play for the Sexsmith Shamrocks.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ was #97 on the Defensive line. They defeated Manitoba 46-0 in the semis and Saskatchewan 34-8 in the final.
Silver
Dmitri Klassenย
BALL HOCKEY
Bailey Hartman and Wyatt Fournier competed in the Canadian Ball Hockey Associationโs National Championships. They were selected to join the Beverly Bullies for the highly competitive Menโs C Division tournament where they earned a 4th place finish overall. Bailey # contributed 1 goal and 2 assists, while Wyatt recorded 2 assists. Both athletes also play in the North Peace Ball Hockey League.
At the Alberta Ball Hockey Championships, the U15 Beaverlodge 77โs won Gold in their division. They defeated the Beaumont Bombers 6-3 who were undefeated in round-robin play in their first-ever appearance at the provincial championships.
Makaya Ferguson, Hadley Dumas, Bentley Ferguson, Cruz Mounsey, Grayson Moulds, Hunter Sneddon, Ryatt Carruthers, Hayden Harris, Greyson Deschaine, Ayden Bouchard, Lukas Albrecht, Myer Hipkins and Walker Carroll.
The other local teams who advanced to provincial play in their divisions were the Average Jills, Horse Lake Thunder, Brew Kings and The Ballers.
To see more local athletes, coaches and officials representing the Grande Prairie region, check out the Highlight Reel in past blogs.
If you have a provincial, national or international sport championship or accomplishment, share it with us.
Send pictures and details by the 20th of the month to info@gpsportconnect.ca.