The chuckwagon community has been hurt by the Calgary Stampede's decision to do away with the chucks this year.

Mark Sutherland says they were surprised by the news.

"Stampede's decision to not have the chuckwagons certainly caught us off guard. I think it caught a lot of the Stampede goers, the public I think it caught a lot of them off guard, certainly some of their major sponsors and our chuckwagon sponsors. I don't know if they were planning it all along or if it was something that came out of the blue, but it was certainly disappointing news for us and certainly a surprise."

Sutherland believes the sport is changing along with business in other sectors like the hospitality industry with the 18-month hiatus because of the pandemic.

"It's hurting a lot of the drivers, some businesses are opening up and hopefully they'll be able to recoup some of the expenses they've had and chuckwagons can't, at least they can't at the Calgary Stampede so it's just a bad situation," Sutherland added.

High River, Strathmore, Medicine Hat and Dewberry are all looking at having some races but they won't make up for the money that can be earned at the Calgary Stampede.

"The chuckwagon community has had a long-standing relationship with High River, decades ago there was a show called the Battle of the Giants for three years when the chuckwagons went on strike from the Calgary Stampede and they were hosted in High River," he says. "The community is deeply rooted in chuckwagons."

Sutherland is looking forward to getting on the track although it'll be smaller events.

"There are some good events that are coming, unfortunately, it's a very short season and some of the other strong shows that we've had great relationships with over the years are either unwilling or unable to host an event and I don't mean unwilling in a negative connotation because obviously, you can't host a public event when you can't have any public."

Drivers have been hurt financially with the outlay of money they have to continue to make for things like feed costs, shoeing horses, vet bills and drugs to keep their health and other expenses while they've been prohibited from racing.

He think it may cripple some of the teams.

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