AIRDRIE, Alta. – Rounding out the rostrum of championship finishers in 2024 was two-time Champion and 2023 title holder Dakota Buttar.

Buttar may have fallen short of winning his third Championship, but he did lead the rest of the field behind the unmatched pace of No. 2 Cody Coverchuk and eventual Champion Nick Tetz. Looking back at his season, Buttar says he is satisfied.

"I was happy with the year I had. I started off slow, and that cost me because those other boys were firing from day one,” Buttar said. “I didn’t start getting consistent 'til the summer, but overall, I think I rode well. I ended the year not far off the points I had last year to win the title, which just goes to show how much first and second place kicked ass through the whole year.”

The pace Coverchuk and Tetz set through the 2024 season was a massive storyline, and Buttar said it really came down to how you approached the deficit the entire field had ceded to the leaders.

“I want to do good everywhere I go, so I don't really pay much attention to the other guy,” Buttar said. “I am just focused on making something of every bull I get. It did discourage a guy a little bit when they got that far ahead, thinking we couldn’t catch Cody. But Nick proved that wrong cause he caught him. He broke the theory; he did what some of us thought we couldn’t do.

“That is going to motivate everyone going into next year now. Use every bull you can.”

Buttar doesn't mark one moment in 2024 as his favorite, but he most fondly looks back at the successful fall season that kept him in the title conversation. 

"The last couple months of the year highlighted my PBR," Buttar said. "I had a good weekend in Armstrong, and I finished the Cup events strong. I let a couple slip in Grande Prairie. Doing good at all those events at the end of the year is the highlight of my year.”

On top of that, Buttar said leaving Edmonton after the National Finals healthy and ready to keep riding was a highlight as well.

“It was a good feeling to walk out of there feeling healthy and ready to get on more bulls," he said. "Normally I am excited for a couple month break. I was ready for another one Sunday.

“Feeling the way I did leaving there at the age and point I am in my career just makes me excited for what 2025 has in store.”

And 2025 is where his focus is.

Buttar says that, with all the money up between the Championship bonus, National Finals event bonus, MVP and Road Warrior bonuses, there are hundreds of thousands of reasons to be pushing hard for another title.

“It is pretty awesome with what Jason [Davidson] and his crew have done to continue to put up more money for us," Buttar said. "MVP and Road Warrior awards pay next year. You have to go to these events, big or small. I am going to be hitting the PBR harder than I ever have to push for that third Canadian Championship.”

As for the bulls that played their part in making his 2024 season unforgettable, the Eatonia, Saskatchewan resident says Wilson Rodeo’s High Voltage, one of the four bulls who carried him to a title at last year's PBR Canada National Finals, made his fall run even more memorable.

“High Voltage of Slim’s definitely made the season special," Buttar said. "He is what I got on in Medicine Hat. I hadn’t seen him all summer. He had a break, and I was fresh too. I got third with him in Medicine Hat. He is a bull this year that was special to me. “

Photo courtesy of Covy Moore/CovyMoore.com