Gettin’ rowdy: Bull riding comes to Regina

There’s going to be a lot of wild action in Regina on Wednesday night.

The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) are holding a competition at the Brandt Centre.

To learn more about the event and the sport in general, Meadow Lake product Cody Coverchuk joined the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Wednesday.

Coverchuk is a two-time national PBR champion.

It might seem a little intimidating to ride on such a huge, aggressive animal, but it’s something he loves doing for a living.

So what’s it like to compete? He said he doesn’t think about it too much.

“There’s a lot going on in eight seconds. Usually when I climb into the chute, my mind just kind of shuts off … This is what we do for a job, so it’s just kind of another day at the office, right? So I just let my body react, and that seems to work out the best for myself,” he said.

It’s a strategy that has given him quite a bit of success, and he’s hoping for more at the event on Wednesday.

“When it works out all good, you make a 90-point ride and jump off on your feet, there’s no better feeling in the world. You could say we feel 10 feet tall and bulletproof,” Coverchuk said.

But it’s not all highs. It’s a dangerous game that takes a lot of skill.

“(It) doesn’t matter how tough you are, you’re never going to outmuscle a 2,200-pound bull. So it’s a dance, almost. You have to react to what the bull does,” he explained.

He has been hurt during competition plenty of times.

“I’ve had a lot of injuries, just like every other bull rider. Just to name a few, I shattered my jaw, shattered my kneecap (and) dislocated my shoulder,” he said.

Ouch.

He was asked what his mother thinks when she hears about injuries like that.

“We’re on radio so I can’t really say what she actually says, but she calls me a dummy, pretty much,” he said with a chuckle.

He was also asked how viable bull riding is as a career.

“I still have to take it week by week, because some days are diamonds (and) others are dust, but you can make a lot of money if you do good riding bulls professionally in Canada,” Coverchuk said.