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Team Ropers Summers/Ashford Capture Calgary Stampede Title

Winning the prestigious Calgary Stampede is quite an honor.

Team ropers Clint Summers and Ross Ashford will not argue that fact.

The duo beat a star-studded field to win the Calgary Stampede, clocking a 4.0-second run in the sudden-death Showdown round, which consisted of four team roping teams.

“Man, this is an awesome feeling,” Summers said. “Ever since I was little, I’ve always watched Calgary and wished we’d get to team rope up here for this kind of money. To get to come up here and compete and win it and have it count toward the world standings is a big deal for us.”

Ashford concurred with his partner.

“This is a huge blessing,” Ashford said. “This is just awesome. I have nothing but good things to say about this.”

Summers and Ashford were the first duo to go in the Showdown round and had a simple approach.

“The steer we had in the Showdown Round we had earlier in the rodeo,” Summers said. “We knew he was a little slower. The teams that were behind us all of them are really good and all we could do is try and beat the steer and be as fast as we could, and it just worked out in our favor today.

“We knew when it came down to a one-header we had to step up our game and that’s what we were able to do. This is definitely one of our biggest wins.”

Ashford acknowledged after he and Summers made their Showdown run, he wasn’t about to celebrate.

“I definitely didn’t think we had it won at all,” Ashford said. “I was just glad we made a good run, and I knew anybody could beat us at any moment.”

They each earned $12,500 in Calgary by capturing the title in the Showdown Round. That will be a big boost in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. As of July 12, Summers was 22nd in the world standings with $32,374 and Ashford was 23rd in the heeler standings with the same amount. This was also a key stop on the NFR Playoff Series presented by Pendleton Whisky.

Summers/Ashford are in their second year roping together. They are no strangers to success.

In 2021, the team qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Summers and Ashford each finished 14th in the world standings with $103,859 and they earned $29,377 at the NFR, placing in two rounds.

“There is a lot of chemistry that goes into it (team roping),” Summers said. “Sometimes no matter how good you rope or how bad you want it to work, sometimes it just doesn’t work. You have to work through it and find the partner who fits you best. Then, you have to work at it and practice and try and build you a run you can win consistently with. There’s a lot that goes into it. I started heading a couple of years ago and then Ross gave it a shot and it has been good.”

Courtesy of PRCA

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