Wrangler BFI Week, anchored by the 46th annual Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping on April 1, paid out a record $3.88 million to ropers and drew more than 2,000 teams. The event, running March 29 through April 4, was comprised of 13 separate ropings over seven days in Guthrie, Oklahoma’s Lazy E Arena. Aired live on the Wrangler Network, 112,000 viewers at home watched more than 3.3 million minutes of team roping.
Curry Kirchner and Tyson Thompson had the biggest day of their young roping careers at the 46th annual Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping Classic, and thanks to the unprecedented 100% 2023 payback have a record $160,000 to show for it. Kirchner, 24, and Thompson, 25, roped six steers in 45.38 seconds to take center stage at the fabulous Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma at BFI’s end on April 1. After braving the BFI marathon, both were borderline speechless.
“The BFI is the biggest roping there is,” said Kirchner, 24, who works alongside his dad, Robert, at Myrl Mortenson’s cattle operation about an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Guthrie in Ames, Oklahoma. “To just be able to compete in this roping is great. To even think about winning it is crazy.
The AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse World Championships and concurrent events kicked off June 21 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and will award $300,000 in purse and prizes over the next five days.
It took 10 gold heading buckles to win the inaugural BFI Legends Roping, and Speed Williams and Matt Sherwood were the over-40 guys who brought their best game to the world-famous Lazy E Arena on April 1 to get it done. Eight-time champ of the world Williams, 54, headed for two-time world heading titlist Sherwood, 52, as one of 34 teams entered that treated the crowd to a sweet real-time walk down memory lane.
“Are you kidding me, I won $20,000 for roping with Speed Williams?” Sherwood grinned at roping’s end. “I’ve never run a steer with the best header in the world ever to live. To be able to keep my composure and do my job is very rewarding to me personally. What a fun situation to find myself in.”
On the 45th anniversary, former BFI contenders invited back
Team roping fans with the Bob Feist Invitational on their must-watch bucket list have one more reason to catch the 2022 edition this spring. The day before the 45th anniversary of Bob Feist’s original Open roping – Wrangler BFI XLV presented by Yeti on April 2 – organizers are adding a new roping called BFI Legends.
The 2022 Cinch Timed Event Championship lived up to its wild, wonderful Ironman of ProRodeo self, and did not disappoint in the dramatic and sentimental storyline departments. To take it from the top, Navajo Nation cowboy sensation Erich Rogers earned his first Timed Event title in nine tries. Three-time CTEC Champ Daniel Green decided during his 25th trip to the Timed Event that it would be his last, and left it all in that Lazy E Arena before thanking the fans to one sweet final standing ovation. Missouri cowboy Clay Clayman ushered in a new era in the Jr Ironman by cashing the first-ever $20,000 champion’s check, thanks to a doubling down of the stakes by the World Champions Rodeo Alliance.
The 2022 Cinch Timed Event Championship is set to take center stage March 10-12 at the world-famous Lazy E Arena. As this year’s Timed Event Titans prepare for battle—five runs in five events, heading, heeling, tie-down roping, steer wrestling and steer roping, in the hallowed red-dirt ground of that massive 160’ by 440’ arena—it’s the perfect time to take true, hard-core cowboy fans inside the belly of the beast that is the Ironman of Pro Rodeo. Oh, and how about announcing the fact that the Jr Ironman champ’s check just doubled while we’re at it?
At the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge Team Roping on March 17 in Guthrie’s Lazy E Arena, Hall-of-Fame cowgirl Lari Dee Guy won first with Annette Stahl and second with last year’s champ, Whitney DeSalvo, to take home $28,375 to Abilene, Texas.
The event is part of Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti, which kicked off on March 14 with the 44th Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) for the pros. Annually the richest all-female team roping in the country, this year’s Charlie 1 Horse Challenge fielded 229 teams from across the country, up from 184 teams last year.
For the second straight year, former world champion bull rider Mike White and his wife, Hannah, of DeKalb, Texas, roped their way to a six-figure win in the #12.5 Oil Field Showdown on Monday at Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Anchored by the 44th Annual Bob Feist Invitational for professionals on March 14, the five-day event includes eight affiliated amateur ropings and was held because of pandemic restrictions for the second time in Guthrie’s Lazy E Arena.
The Cinch Timed Event Championship is in the books, and Mississippi’s Marcus Theriot rode the roller coaster to the end of the tracks for the biggest win of his young career. With 25 runs—five each in heading, heeling, tie-down roping, steer wrestling and steer roping—done in 322.4 seconds, Theriot won $100,000 and is just the 17th Ironman in the tradition-rich TEC’s 37-year history.
What a difference a day makes. Just ask Clay Smith, who’d been dominant through two rounds and held the overall Cinch Timed Event Championship lead after four of five events in Round 3.
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