The Calgary Stampede’s Rangeland Derby will be celebrating its 100th year this coming July, and a local author is sharing his passion for chuckwagon races in a new book.
Glen Mikkelsen, the CN Centre’s Manager’s book is called “The Rangeland Derby: 100 years of Chuckwagon Racing at the Calgary Stampede.”
“It celebrates ten decades of arguably what is one of the most exciting races in the world,” Mikkelsen explained.
“The first races at the Calgary Stampede were held in 1923, and for the next 100 years, except of course due to COVID-19, they’ve been thrilling fans around the world.”
Mikkelsen grew up in Calgary, and became a fan of Chuckwagon racing at a young age.
“I got to see it a few times when I was a boy, and that interest and enthusiasm for what I think is something special just never diminished,” he said.
“One of the first memories I had, it’s a very vague memory because I was just a young kid, but what I do remember, I was standing there with my parents and suddenly you could hear the wagons come on the other side of the fence, because we were standing just down in the midway area, and you couldn’t see them but you could hear them. It was the clanging of the harnesses, the rallying of the wagons, the yelling of the men, the thundering hooves of the horses, and it was just something that not only I could feel, but something that just really touched some emotions, like ‘wow, what was that?’ and they just hurdled past, they were just there for a second and then they were gone, but that kind of emotion of ‘this is something really exciting’ just never left.”
Mikkelsen said the chuckwagons used to race beside the CN Centre, but they aren’t racing in Prince George anymore.
“In Dawson Creek in August, that’s the August 10th to the 13th weekend, that’s as close as the professional chuckwagons race to people in Prince George,” he explained.
Right now, the book is being sold at Books and Company, where Mikkelsen will be doing a book signing on March 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m..
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