Our goal is to create a contestant-friendly youth event that’s an additional opportunity for kids who rodeo. To be clear, we are not a sanctioning body or association, and this is a stand-alone event intended to complement the events of longstanding, successful youth rodeo organizations. We’re here to help grow this industry, and we’re glad you’re here to help us do just that.
As for the innovative format we’ve chosen for the Cinch World Championship Junior Rodeo—which includes two long rounds, a buyback round for those who want to take another swing at it, a semifinals and finals—we wanted to try something new. The way we see it, any kid can have a tough day. With our format giving every contestant multiple ways to win money and advance to the finals, those who break a barrier or get bucked off in one round won’t necessarily be out of it and can still have a lot of rodeo left to look forward to. There are various opinions and viewpoints on this subject, and we feel good about trying new things for the right reasons as we try to help grow the sport from the grassroots level.
The WCJR is the only qualifier event for the Jr Ironman presented by WCRA—which will again be held in conjunction with the Cinch Timed Event Championship here at the Lazy E next March— outside of the contestants who qualify by way of the National Little Britches Rodeo Association. We wish you all-around cowboys entered in all four timed events the best of luck in your pursuit of earning an invitation to participate in the prestigious Jr Ironman.
We think big here at the Lazy E, and we hope to one day become the richest junior rodeo in the country. In the meantime, we promise to keep working hard to continue to do our part to raise the rodeo bar.
Kendra Santos has written about cowboys all her life, including longtime stints with the PRCA, PBR, BFI and The Team Roping Journal. She’s also mom to two Timed Event Championship cowboys, Lane Karney and Taylor Santos.