LAS VEGAS – Wednesday was Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the National Finals Rodeo, so it was only fitting that Savannah, Mo.-born cowboy Tyson Durfey walked out of the Thomas & Mack Center with a paycheck.
It wasn’t the nearly $17,000, first-place check as Durfey had hoped, but his 8.7-second tie-down roping run was good enough for the sixth-place, $2,704 seventh-round payday. It moves his NFR earnings to $45,433 with three nights to go in the 10-round ProRodeo championship.
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.
So far this season, the Colbert, Wash., cowboy has earned $117,604 and is sixth in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tie-down roping world standings. But his 63.5 total in the seven-round aggregate puts him in third place in the all-important average race, where the winner at the end of the grueling 10-round competition will win $43,000.
He trails average leader Hunter Herrin of Apache, Okla., by 1.3 seconds with three rounds remaining. He also trails world standings leader Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo., by less than $40,000.
The NFR will continue to be broadcast live at 9 p.m. Central on Thursday and Friday on ESPN Classic and 9 p.m. Central on Saturday on ESPN2.
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
