Kelly Sutherland honoured during GP Stompede

Evergreen Park, Grande Prairie Stompede, and the Western Heritage Foundation partnered together for the unveiling of Kelly Sutherland Way on Friday.
  
Sutherland was on hand to take pictures and gave a speech that covered some highlights of his chuckwagon racing career.
 

 
The retired Sutherland said he felt incredibly grateful for the recognition.
 
“It’s very humbling. They called me a couple of weeks ago and said they want to mount a wagon amoung other stuff. I’ve been in the limelight in the sport forever, (so I said yes).”
 
Sutherland competed in the sport for 50 years and has many championships under his belt including the World Championship, Calgary Stampede Championship, and Ponoko Stampede Championship.
 
Sutherland says that he tries to stay as connected to the sport as he can.
 
“I trained hard the last two months with my grandson [Dayton]. He brought some of his horses up here in Grande Prairie. My son [Mark] lives in Okotoks and took some of the horses down south. My routine and training schedule has stayed the same for the last 30 years. The only difference is one the Stompede is over, I’m not going to head down the trail,” said Sutherland.
 
Chuckwagon Director of the Stompede Phil Troyer adds Sutherland’s impact on the community and the sport for that matter will last a lifetime.
 
“You still find out how many people Kelly impacted. The guy is a legend. He will the guy, 100 years from now that people will still be talking about,” said Troyer.
 
Sutherland was hounoured with a street sign and a custom wagon.