CALGARY, Alberta (July 17, 2010) - In the mind of Beau Hill, the Calgary Stampede is a lot like the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series.
It’s all about pitting the world’s toughest cowboys against the rankest stock around. It’s all about offering larger amounts of prize money. And winning the bigger money means staying on for the 8-second count more than the other competitors.
The Stampede’s pro rodeo offers a purse of more than $2 million (Canadian). Each single event winner will pocket $100,000.
Like this weekend’s PBR’s Ford Series event in Tulsa, Okla., featuring 40 credentialed cowboys, the Stampede also is invitational. It features 20 cowboys in each rodeo event.
For the past five years, the Stampede has invited members of the Ford Series and champion cowboys from PBR Canada to compete in its renowned rodeo.
Hill, 31, a Glacier, Mont., cowboy, who has $268,188 in PBR earnings, fits the criteria. He’s a former PBR World Finals qualifier who is competing on the Ford Series this season. He’s also the defending PBR Canada champion.Hill’s success in the PBR earned him an invitation to compete in the 2010 Calgary Stampede. He has advanced to the final performance on Sunday after earning $7,500 in the preliminary performances last weekend.
Sunday’s final performance will feature 10 riders. Each cowboy will ride in a long round and then the top four will advance to the final, where the cowboy with the highest score wins the coveted $100,000 prize.
“It’s really exciting,” Hill said of competing in 10-day Stampede’s final show. “You know you’ve got to ride your bulls because you’re trying to get back to the short round just like at a Built Ford Tough event where you know you’re going to have to stay on two bulls on that final Sunday in order to win.”
However, Hill, who has $27,244 in PBR Finals Qualifier earnings this season, said he’s not going to look too far ahead as he goes for the $100,000 at stake at the Stampede.
“I’m going to go in there and stay focused and go at them one jump at a time,” Hill said. “There’s no added pressure. It’s just go in there and ride like you do and get the job done. Hopefully, after two bulls, I’ll be $100,000 richer.”
The earnings in Calgary count toward qualifying for the PBR’s Oct. 20-24 World Finals in Las Vegas.
“It’s a pretty neat deal to be able to go out there and ride for $100,000,” Hill said. “You don’t get that opportunity too much. And I hope farther down the line, there’s more chances for these kids coming up to ride for that kind of money in a lot of different places.”
Calgary’s final performance will feature other PBR standout riders, such as Scott Schiffner, who earned $10,500 in the qualifying rounds. Douglas Duncan, who also has competed on the BFTS, advanced after pocketing $10,500 in the prelims.
The Stampede uses a tournament format to determine its champions. Organizers take the 20 cowboys in each event and place them with two pools, with 10 in each pool. Pool A competes during the first four performances of the 10-day rodeo. After that, the 10 riders in Pool B compete during the next four performances. The top four money winners from each pool advance to Sunday’s final show.
The Stampede also features a Wildcard Round on the next-to -last day of the rodeo. That performance features the 12 riders in each event who did not advance to Sunday’s last performance after competing in the four preliminary performances. During the Wildcard Round, two competitors in each event advance to the Sunday show.
In summary, four riders advance to the Sunday performance from Pool A, another four from Pool B and then another two from the Wildcard performance.
The Calgary Rodeo is paying $100,000 to each single event winner for the fifth consecutive year. The rodeo features standout riders from the PBR, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association.
In the past four years, Calgary’s bull riding title has been snared by a PBR standout on the Built Ford Tough Series. Ross Coleman won the title in 2006, Brian Canter finished No. 1 in 2007, Mike Lee (the PBR’s 2004 World Champion) was on the winner’s stage in 2008 and J.B. Mauney came in first in 2009.
However, the 2010 Stampede is without the PBR’s very top competitors like Lee and Mauney because they are riding at the Ford Series show this weekend in Tulsa.
Like the PBR, which began featuring the sport’s elite and offering them bigger prizes in the mid 1990s, the Calgary Stampede also has been a trendsetter for western riding sports.
“The Calgary Stampede has a lot of people following after them, such as the Houston rodeo and the San Antonio rodeo that have changed their format [to a higher paying rodeo that features credentialed competitors],” Hill said. “They have kind of set the bar for everybody to catch what they do because they obviously are the best rodeo in the world. They get the best guys and they put up the best money.”
It’s the same type of treatment that Hill is accustomed to as he competes on the Ford Series. This weekend, he received an exemption from competing on the Ford Series show in Tulsa because he also had received an invitation to ride in the Stampede.
Hill said he likes riding in the PBR’s Ford Series because of its commitment to featuring top bucking stock. The PBR-approved Calgary Stampede bull riding event also features a pen of accomplished bulls for all of its performances.
“I really like the PBR because of the bulls,” Hill said. “You go there and you’re getting on good bulls all of time. Cody Lambert puts together a rank pen of bulls where you know you are going to be 85 or higher every time you nod your head. And if not, you’re going to receive a re-ride.
“The PBR really gives a guy a chance to win because of the quality of the stock. A guy can go to rodeos and be 74 points, but not receive an option of a re-ride. That’s one cool thing about the PBR is you know you’re going have a chance to get on some good ones.
“With the PBR, it’s more of a riding contest and not a drawing contest.”
