For as long as Jamie Laboucane can remember, the sound of vans racing down the track has been more than just a competition – it’s been a dream.
As a child, Laboucane imagined the day he would roll into the Calgary Stampede and leave with the one prize every racer hopes to win: the Rangeland Derby championship.
“From the age of six, (I) pretended to be a van driver, sit in my dad’s seat and pretend I won the Calgary Stampede,” Laboucane shared.
Decades later, his dream became a reality.
“It means a lot to me, but also to my family,” Laboucan said.
Laboucan, who has been a truck driver since 2006 and lives in St. Walburg with his wife Dana and two children, Oilver and Ella, said the championship has special meaning because of his father, Brian.
Brian Laboucane spent 45 years pursuing the same goal but never got the chance to achieve it himself, Laboucane explained.
“To finally get it done feels like a real victory for the whole family, it’s a very special feeling. (It’s) a lot of emotions,” he said.
Laboucan said the journey to this point was a culmination of patience and perseverance built on loss and overcoming challenges.
He said success in wagon racing is about more than having talented horses or fast equipment, but being able to put it all together at the right time.
“It’s not just about me. It’s about everyone who contributes. Whether it’s working in the barns or making clothing decisions, I have a lot of good people supporting me,” Laboucan said.
For Laboucan, it was his horses, his team and the people who supported him throughout his journey.
He credited his forwards, Cale Lajeunesse and Hayden Motovilo, for providing the consistency and experience needed during a busy Stampede week.
“They know my horses, my equipment and they don’t make mistakes,” Laboucan said.
“When you have two guys and you don’t even have to look around to see if they’re there, it takes another level of pressure off of you.”
When the championship race began, Laboucan said everything was calm in the barn, but once the horses hit the track, everything changed.
“Once they get into the infield, it’s like a switch has been flipped,” he explained. “When that horn sounded, everything just exploded and flipped over and (the horses) lost their hearts.”
Watch the race video on Facebook. (Warning: video contains obscene language.)
When he finally finished, Laboucan said it brought a feeling he had dreamed of as a child, but one he could never fully predict.
“When I finally crossed the finish line and realized I had won the Calgary Stampede, it was like years of tension and the Calgary Stampedes that had built up in me was finally released,” he said.
For young drivers hoping to embark on a similar journey, Laboucan has advice based on years of experience: success is built one detail at a time.
“It’s all those little details that you put into the sport, your driving, your grooming, your nutrition and your training that really make a difference in the end,” he said.
Now, after years of chasing the championship, Jamie Laboucane can finally call himself Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby champion – a title that belongs not only to him, but to everyone who helped build the dream.
And when asked what word summed up his journey to this point, his answer was simple: “It’s family.”
“This has been the dream of our entire family – the Labukans – and everyone involved in this for decades. (So to finally see this pillar of success come to life makes all those years of blood, sweat and tears that much sweeter,” he said.
The Rangeland Derby is a racing event held at the Calgary Stampede every year.
There are nine races each night, each lasting just over a minute, with three sets of teams competing in each heat. A total of 27 teams compete in the stampede competition. Each racer is assisted by a rider who competes alongside the main driver and controls his own team of horses.