TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP

The 20 best timed event cowboys in the world are competing this weekend at the Lazy E Arena here in Guthrie, Oklahoma. There are five go rounds, and in each go round the competitor must head a steer, rope a calf, heel a steer, bulldog a steer and trip a steer. The total time for all five events is a go round. The total time on 25 head is the average. It pays $50,000 to win the average and $10,000 for the fastest go round. There is a total of $150,000 to be won over the weekend.

For those of you used to watching the NFR, this ain't that kind of rodeo. The Lazy E Arena is 450ft long....it's wider than the Thomas & Mack Center is long. There is an 18ft. score in all the events except dogging, which has a 12ft. score. They are roping all fresh cattle so when you ride in the box you better be mounted.

After the first two go rounds the leaders and their total times are:

Kyle Lockett....127.4 seconds
Cash Myers......132.5 "
Luke Branquinho.139.3 "
Chance Kelton...144.3 "
Trevor Brazile..144.7 "

The two fastest go round times were laid down during this evenings performance:

Steve Duhon......54.2 "
Trevor Brazile...54.3 "

The two highlights, for me anyway, both occurred in this afternoon's performance. Ora Taton missed his bulldogging steer, ran the length of the arena, got back on his horse and took another run at the steer and beat the 60 second cutoff. As he was walking back up the arena the announcer was making a big deal about how tired he must be after the two getoffs and running the length of the arena. Ora's contestant number had come off his shirt and was laying on the arena floor. While the announceer was still pontificating oh how wore out he must be, Ora did a cartwheel to pick up his number. The second highlight was Mickey Gee's steer tripping run. Ge tripped the steer just right and it look like it had took, but just as he got to the steer it got up. Gee just lowered his shoulder and knocked the steer back down. Now that was some good watching.

Finally, can anybody explain why GB Oliver would rather be sitting at his desk than here with me?

Brazile's the man to beat in Guthrie

In the field of 20 contestants for this weekend's Timed Event Championship of the World, one name stands out.

Trevor Brazile.

Not only has the Decatur, Texas, cowboy won the last two Timed Event titles and three overall, he's also won the last three all-around Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world championships.

"I'm sure Trevor's still the man to beat," said Paul Peterson, a first-timer in the field a year ago. "Trevor has just one of the five events that he doesn't compete in year-round. Everybody else has two or three or more they don't compete in year-round.

"The rest of us practice for a month. He does this stuff all year round."

The unique event features contestants competing in five rodeo disciplines -- tie-down roping, steer roping, steer wrestling, heading and heeling. He's the only cowboy in ProRodeo history to qualify for the National Finals in the four roping events.

"This event is very special to me because I do every event we're doing this weekend except steer wrestling," said Brazile, 28, who won his first Timed Event title in 1998. "In preparing for this weekend, I've been working on my steer wrestling harder than I ever have."

As a ProRodeo rookie in 1996, Brazile qualified for the National Finals Rodeo as a heeler. Since then, he's qualified for the NFR in calf roping every year since 1999 and the last two years as a header. He's also been one of the top 15 at the National Finals Steer Roping every year since 1997.

"I feel really good going into the competition because I've prepared myself good," he said. "I feel better this year than any year before."

Each contestant will compete in five rounds. A run in each discipline constitutes one round, so each cowboy will either rope or wrestle 25 head of livestock over three days.

"What I like most about the competition is that it's more of a throw-back cowboy event," Brazile said. "I like that we're keeping it alive."
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