Riding rough stock for bragging rights
It isn’t a normal rodeo or a time of the year the dust in an arena is usually kicked up, and the traveling trophy that will be presented to the winning team is not a typical trophy either.
The Laramie Jubilee Days (LJD) rodeo committee will bring the high riding and hard crashing of the rough stock events at 7 p.m. on Saturday with the first ever Fall Brawl Rodeo.
The rodeo will feature bull riding, bareback riding and saddle bronc riding events. Concessions, including beer sales, will be available at 6 p.m. at the Cliff and Martha Hansen Livestock Teaching Arena located on Highway 230 just west of Laramie.
The LJD rodeo committee specifically had the Wyoming-Texas football game in mind when scheduling the inaugural rodeo.
“We have been thinking about it for quite sometime as far as the rodeo committee is concerned,” Myron Hales, LJD rodeo co-chairman, said. “We were looking at it as another event for the community and a way to get the next year started.
“It seemed like a good time of year in the early fall, and with the Texas football game increasing the population in Laramie significantly, we figured we would do it at that time to hopefully get a good crowd out there.”
The rodeo is not a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) sanctioned event and any earnings for the contestants will not go towards their ranked yearly earnings. However, the contestants will have to be affiliated with either a rodeo circuit or collegiate rodeo team.
“The contestants that we have do include a lot of PRCA cowboys for a good mix,” Hales said.
The 20 bull riders, 10 bareback riders and 10 saddle bronc riders will have a chance to put some money in their pockets, but with a twist.
One bareback rider, one saddle bronc rider and two bull riders will team up for a total of 10 sponsored teams to compete for bragging rights and a traveling trophy to be displayed at the respective place of business.
The winning team will be determined with the highest total score after adding all the scored rides from both the long go and short go from the four contestants on each team.
The teams are Wyo Tech, Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Laramie GM, Voltech Electric, Wyoming State Bank, Pepsi/7-Up Bottling Company of Cheyenne, Rocky Mountain Power, Delta Construction-Martindale’s and Summit Structures with one more team yet to be announced. The LJD rodeo committee will randomly draw the contestants for the teams and the stock.
After the $100 entry fees are paid by each contestant, and the LJD rodeo committee adds $2,000 per event, the contestants will have a chance to claim payouts during the long go — four deep in saddle bronc and bareback riding and six deep in bull riding.
Belt buckles and the remaining funds in each event will then be available for a winner-take-all short go, which will feature two of the highest-scoring contestants from the long go.
The Burns Rodeo Company of Laramie and J.D. Hamaker of Centennial will provide the rough stock. The judges will be Jeff Gardner of Laramie and Billy Vossler of Cheyenne.
“Our goal coming into this year was to make Laramie Jubilee Days kind of a year-round presence,” LJD marketing chair Matt Petrie said. “This was a way to do that with coronation also in December. Then starting in January, we will be promoting for July.”
Ticket prices are $15 for ages 13 years and older, $5 for ages from 3- to-12 years and children under three years of age are free.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the Web site: www.laramiejubileedays.net/Fall-Brawl.php. Tickets are also available at Martindale’s Western Store, Boot Barn, First Interstate Bank (downtown location) and Wyoming State Bank. Tickets will also be sold at the KCGY radio booth at Tailgate Park before the football game.
David Watson’s e-mail address is davidw@laramieboomerang.com
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