A15

THE CANADIAN PRESS

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KELOWNA, B.C. - You could say the owner of the B.C. Okanagan region's biggest feet stomped the competition.

Keremeos cattle rancher J.R. Clifton's became the unofficial Mr. Okanagan Big Foot on Thursday, thanks to the Search for the Okanagan's Biggest Feet Contest.

The 21-year-old stepped in with size 19.5 soles.

Clifton was attending a horse expo in Chilliwack with his fiance when an horse owner from the area told him about the contest.

"I thought 'Great. I'll probably get something for my big feet.' I wasn't sure if I had the biggest feet in the Okanagan, but I thought I may as well give it a shot," he said.

Clifton's feet were size 12 before he hit puberty.

His mother used to say: "We're going to have to butcher a cow to make a pair of shoes to fit you."

He does get a few people pulling his leg over his feet, but most people focus on his six foot, 10 inch height.

In fact, he had to bend over to get inside Roy's Shoes, the contest sponsor, on the last day of the contest to enter.

Shop owner Jim Belshaw was almost ready to declare him the winner as soon as he saw him, but waited until the end of the day.

"The response was phenomenal and it was a lot of fun," Belshaw said of the first-ever Biggest Feet contest.

"We had 60-70 people come in to register. Only 35 actually registered because they looked on the board (at foot outlines from entrants) and then they found out that they're not going to win."

He said he was surprised by the number of women who entered the contest.

"The tremendous success of this year's contest will no doubt lead to the second annual Big Foot Contest - maybe just for the women."

Clifton received a $1,000 gift certificate for a pair of custom-made shoes, a trophy bearing a size 19.5 sole and a 3X T-shirt with the words, "I am the Okanagan's Biggest Foot."