MONTE VISTA — Always providing exciting rodeo opportunities for San Luis Valley amateur cowboys and cowgirls, the Ski-Hi Stampede each year holds amateur competitions in barrel racing, tie-down roping and team roping to put the best amateurs into the arena right alongside the professionals.

The Stampede’s generous sponsors provide beautiful Stampede SLV amateur trophy saddles and belt buckles for the winners of the three events — coveted prizes to take home with pride.

Competing in the Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26, professional rodeos, the Valley’s amateurs performed just as well or better than many of the professionals, showing that they’re getting ready to become professionals one day.

In the barrel racing on July 25, Trudy Rheingans of Monte Vista got things going with an excellent run as her paint horse finished in 19.12 seconds to give her the early lead, followed by Cathy Hostetter, also on a paint, in 19.63, and Rachel Valdez in 20.17.

But the fourth barrel racer of the day then topped them all.

Trisha Mackey of Monte Vista, wearing a pink shirt for the rodeo’s “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” promotion benefitting the Stephanie L. Miner Imaging Center at SLV Regional Medical Center and the battle against breast cancer, sped her horse around the pattern in a time of 19 seconds flat.

Sunday’s rodeo brought three more contestants into the arena, although a fourth, Katelyn Adams of Alamosa, withdrew from the event because she had to be in Pueblo for the start of the Little Britches National Finals Rodeo.

Rosemary Egoff started strong, taking the lead with a time of 18.69 seconds, with Arika Condon of Monte Vista right behind her in 18.75. That left one rider to try to take the trophy saddle donated by Mountain View Restaurant, Julie Gritz of Alamosa,already a veteran at winning such events.

Apparently enjoying the pressure as evidenced by her frequent smiles, Gritz worked her horse with tightly crafted precision around the three barrels to finish in 18.43 seconds to win the saddle as the Stampede’s SLV Amateur Barrel Racing Champion for 2009.

The team roping on Sunday came down to four finalists, all well known in Valley rodeo circles.

Shad and Cord Crowther of Sanford took a no-time for their efforts as the calf slipped away.

The Alamosa duo of Tim Black and Jim Jeppesen then showed extreme perseverance in the face of an erratic calf, finally getting the deed done in 24.8 seconds.

They didn’t hold the lead for long as veteran team ropers Grant Koenig of Sanford and Albert Claunch of La Jara had the crowd cheering over their quick time of 7.6 seconds, a time that looked to be a sure thing.

Except for Alamosa father-son standouts Albert and Chase Francis.

It was over in a flash as Albert and Chase won the Stampede Amateur Team Roping trophy saddles in just 6.8 seconds, with the two saddles donated by the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee and Rio Grande Savings & Loan.

In Saturday’s tie-down ropingcompetition, Sanford rodeo veterans Blake and Brock Canty each ended up with a no-time thanks to balky animals that didn’t give them a fair chance.

Cord Crowther found success, however, roping and tying up his calf in 16.5 seconds only to get penalized 10 seconds for breaking the barrier.

The next day, Albert Francis' calf sped away for a no-time , but previous saddle winner TomLaca of Monte Vista showed persistence pays off, wrapping up his calf in 19.4 seconds to take the lead.

Chase Francis then ended that in a hurry with a time that would have been just a half second off of winning the championship in the professional rodeo — 9.4 seconds. That gave Chase his second trophy saddle of the day, with the saddle donated by Coors Brewing Co.

There are a number of other things that make the Ski-Hi Stampede a special rodeo, drawing thousands of people to the Valley each year.

There were tears on the faces of many audience members dressed in pink at Saturday’s Tough Enough to Wear Pink Day as rodeo announcer Boyd Polhamus offered a prayer for folks facing cancer struggles while remembering the brave fight of those who finally succumbed to the dreaded disease, as the Ski-Hi Stampede Committee members released a large bouquet of pink balloons into the heavens. Before the rodeo even started, the only pink T-shirts remaining to be sold were a few in size small.

The Stampede Committee and Wright’s Amusements also add a percentage of ticket sales for the day into the final total of funds raised for the Stephanie L. Miner Imaging Center, money that helps hundreds of women get early testing for cancer — testing that they otherwise might not be able to afford.

The scoreboard donated by Rio Grande Savings & Loan also is a unique, valuable rodeo tool, allowing the audience to keep track of each contestant in comparison to the current leader.

The SLV Rural Electric Cooperative /Touchtone Energy, together with the Stampede Committee, provide valuable script money prizes to the holders of lucky seating tickets at each of the rodeos, prizes totaling $900 in script money each day that can be used at any of the Stampede’s sponsors and advertisers.

And then there’s Adams State College providing scholarships in association with the Ski-Hi Stampede for over 20 years now to young people with connections to the Stampede, 4-H , FFA, Little Britches Rodeos or high school rodeo. Three scholarships are awarded each year, and at Sunday’s rodeo, the scholarships for the coming school year were awarded to Whitney Ann Canty of Sanford, Trent VanBibber of Sargent and Joseph Malouff.

It takes the better part of a year for the Ski-Hi Stampede Committee members to plan each Stampede, but through their hard work and dedication they have found theformulathatmakes Monte Vista and the San Luis Valley the destination for more than 300 cowboys and cowgirls and thousands of fans every July.