(Submitted photo/Wade Salmond)

By Ben Tompkins

STAMPEDE

Northeast chuckwagon racer brings home Top Rookie Award from Calgary Stampede

Jul 22, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The northeast area was well represented in the chuckwagon racing portion of the Calgary Stampede after Melfort’s own Layne MacGillivray came out on top.

However, he isn’t the only one who came home with hardware, as a man quite familiar with the Porcupine area faired quite well in his first-ever Rangeland Derby.

Wade Salmond, who was born and raised in Weekes (just east of Porcupine Plain) and still resides there, won this year’s Orville Strandquist Memorial Top Rookie Driver Award.

He accomplished the feat by having the best 10-day aggregate time of 12:18.26, edging out another rookie sensation in Preston Faithful.

“It felt pretty good to win an award like that, it doesn’t come very often,” Salmond told northeastNOW. “Preston Faithful and I were battling it out all weekend, it was a tough competition but it was nice to win so that was good… to receive an award in memory of one of the greatest chuckwagon drivers of all time was huge.”

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Overall, Salmond ended up in a tie for 12th place in his Rangeland Derby debut.

For him, a Calgary Stampede debut meant his first taste of “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth”, and racing in front of more people than he ever has before.

“It was really good to run in front of that many people, it was something else and kind of a guy’s dream. Anyone who’s ever driven a wagon ever in their life, this is where they’ve wanted to go. It’s the ultimate place to run a chuckwagon and is by far the Stanley Cup of chuckwagon racing,” Salmond added.

“To not only be a part of that but to come away with the top rookie award against the best wagons in the country and in the world was pretty special. To also go there and represent small town Saskatchewan felt pretty good.”

Wade is a second-generation driver and the older brother to current driver Evan Salmond, his uncle is former driver Ray Salmond and his cousin is former driver Rod Salmond.

Evan finished right behind Wade with a 10-day aggregate time of 12:18.49, giving him sole possession of 14th.

Wade’s daughter Jorja also competed in the stampede, however, she did so as a wild pony racer, ending up as the eventual champion.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8