LAS VEGAS – Over 10 nights in the Nevada desert, Tyson Durfey of Colbert, Wash., made more money than a lot of folks earn in a year.
It wasn’t the gaming tables that paid off the Savannah, Mo.-born tie-down roper, but the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center, where the 24-year-old Durfey placed in six of 10 go-rounds in the championship of ProRodeo.
“I’m really happy with the way I roped this week,” said Durfey, who earned $83,834 and finished the season seventh in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tie-down roping world standings with a little more than $156,000. “This is the best year of my career so far.
“I had a great finals. I would’ve liked to have done some things different, but I have no complaints.”
This is Durfey’s second trip to the NFR. A year ago, he earned a little more than $26,000. He more than tripled that over the past week and a half.
Durfey, who won the second go-round, finished second in the NFR average race to world champion Stran Smith of Childress, Texas. Smith roped and tied 10 calves in 87.1 seconds, and Durfey finished in 88.3 but earned $34,886.
He closed out his NFR run with an 8-second run, good enough to finish in a tie for fifth place in the final round an worth an additional $3,516.
Durfey wears pink during each performance in which he competes – carrying rodeo’s Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign to the next level – in an effort to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. He has teamed with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure campaign, and in January 2008, he donated a portion of his 2007 earnings to the organization.
Donning attire made available through a commitment from Cinch Jeans, Durfey definitely makes his presence known in and out of the arena at rodeos across the country. Now competing in his second straight NFR, the two-time Canadian tie-down roping champion is putting his cause before millions of viewers on national television as ProRodeo’s grand finale is broadcast across the ESPN networks.
In 2006, Durfey was the first American to win an event championship in the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. This past November, he edged the field of tough competition at the Canadian Finals Rodeo to win his second title. Now he’s hoping that success translates into success at the NFR.
Learn more at www.tysondurfey.com
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