Wolfe Snares Slalom Win at Cowboy Downhill
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Before this year, steer wrestler Colin Wolfe had never competed in the Cowboy Downhill in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Now, he can’t wait to go back.
The Wenatchee, Wash., cowboy won the slalom competition at the 43rd annual Cowboy Downhill with a time of 25.86 seconds Jan. 15.
“I always wanted to do the Cowboy Downhill, but I didn’t know how it worked or anything like that,” said Wolfe, 32, who also was competing at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver for the first time in his career in 2018. “It was pretty cool to win it because it was a bucket-list item for me.”
The Cowboy Downhill is held in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver and began in 1975. The Downhill has become a fundraiser for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, which provides financial assistance to injured PRCA cowboys.
Although Wolfe never competed in the Steamboat event before, he is no stranger to the slopes.
“I grew up ski racing,” Wolfe said. “I started skiing when I was 2 years old and I’ve been skiing my entire life.”
Wolfe was introduced to the sport of skiing as an infant because his family lived three miles from Mission Ridge Ski Area in Wenatchee.
“It wasn’t anything that was tough,” said Wolfe about the slalom race at Steamboat. “But it’s so flat and short, you don’t really have enough time to build up speed because it’s only 30 seconds long. I was just trying to keep my cowboy hat on and it still came off when I went over the jump.”
Wolfe, who beat bareback rider Wyatt Denny for the top slalom honor, is slated to compete in the National Western Stock Show tonight and Jan. 17.
“My traveling partner, Sean Santucci was going to Denver and he has a good horse, Chopper, for me to get on,” Wolfe said.
No matter what the outcome is for Wolfe in Denver, he plans on making a return trip in 2019 so he can defend his slalom crown in Steamboat.
“It was such a good time skiing, I have to go back,” Wolfe said.
Courtesy of PRCA