ProRodeo Sports News - January 26, 2018

Contestants compete in the stampede race at the 44th annual Cowboy Downhill event in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Jan. 15. Bull rider Kris Newman, of Casper, Wyo., far left wearing bright green chaps, won the race. Best crash of the day went to bareback rider Jamie Howlett, of Snyder, Texas. The Legends and Friends Race winner was Todd Fike.

Fred McClanahan Jr. photo

Ogden Pioneer Days gets gift from Jazz Last week, the Utah Jazz organization delivered 7,500 green stadium seats to Pioneer Stadium as a gift to Ogden for Pioneer Days. The seats were leftovers from renovations to the Vivint Smart Home Arena, home to the Utah Jazz. “I don’t know if there will be a finer outdoor stadium in the United States,” Pioneer Days committee chairman Alan Hall said in the Jan. 20 Standard-Examiner newspaper in Ogden. “It will be terrific.” In addition to the soon-to-be refurbished seats, the rodeo already has about 2,500 chair seats, giving it 10,000 in all by the time this year’s July 19-24 rodeo comes around, Hall said. About 100 volunteers responded Jan. 18-19 to sort parts and prepare the seats to be cleaned, coated and prepared for installation. Rodeo Austin’s entertainment lineup On Jan. 23, the lineup for the 2018 ProRodeo and Concert Series for Rodeo Austin (Texas) was released. The lineup is: Josh Turner (March 10); Duelo (Dia Del Vaquero) (March 11); Ludacris (March 12); Cody Johnson (March 13); Chris Janson (March 14); Young the Giant (March 15); Josh Abbott Band (March 16); Justin Moore (March 17); Tracy Lawrence (March 18); LANCO (March 19); Gladys Knight (March 20); Lee Brice (March 21); Dwight Yoakam (March 22); Turnpike Troubadours (March 23) and Kevin Fowler (March 24). All concerts will be at the Travis County Expo Center. Tickets can be purchased at www.RodeoAustin.com or by calling Wolfe snares win at Cowboy Downhill Before this year, steer wrestler Colin Wolfe had never competed in the Cowboy Downhill in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Now, he can’t wait to go back. The Wenatchee, Wash., cowboy won the slalom competition at the 44th annual Cowboy Downhill with a time of 25.86 seconds Jan. 15. “I always wanted to do the Cowboy Downhill, but I didn’t know how it worked or anything like that,” said Wolfe, 32, who also competed at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver for the first time in his career. “It was pretty cool to win it because it was a bucket-list item for me.” The Cowboy Downhill is held in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo and began in 1975. The Downhill has become a fund- raiser for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, which provides financial assistance to injured PRCA cowboys.

877.987.6487. Tickets start at $20. Rodeo Austin is March 10-24. Northwest College hosting Winter Social Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., will host a Rodeo Winter Social on Feb. 3. The event will be at the Cody Auditorium. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. (MT) with a social hour, followed by a prime rib dinner, along with traditional and silent auctions. The purchase of a $60 ticket includes dinner for two and a chance to win $1,000 in the reverse draw. Single tickets also are available. The event is sponsored by the Northwest Rodeo Council in support of the NWC rodeo program. The Winter Social is replacing the annual NWC Rodeo Gala. Tickets are available at the door or RSVP by calling NWC rodeo coach Del Nose at 307.527.6728. CFR finds new home in Red Deer The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association announced that it will be moving the Canadian Finals Rodeo from Edmonton, Alberta, to Red Deer, Alberta, this year. The 45th CFR will take place Oct. 30 through Nov. 4 in the ENMAX Centrium at Westerner Park. The CFR features top PRCA competitors, as the PRCA and CPRA co- sanction rodeos throughout the regular season that have a large impact on who qualifies for the CFR. Although Wolfe never competed in the Steamboat event before, he is no stranger to the slopes. “I grew up ski racing,” Wolfe said. “I started skiing when I was 2 years old and I’ve been skiing my entire life.” Wolfe was introduced to the sport of skiing as an infant because his family lived three miles from Mission Ridge Ski Area in Wenatchee. “It wasn’t anything that was tough,” Wolfe said about the slalom race at Steamboat. “But it’s so flat and short, you don’t really have enough time to build up speed because it’s only 30 seconds long. I was just trying to keep my cowboy hat on and it still came off when I went over the jump.” Wolfe, who beat bareback rider Wyatt Denny for the top slalom honor, plans on making a return trip in 2019 to defend his slalom crown in Steamboat. “It was such a good time skiing, I have to go back,” Wolfe said.

ProRodeo Sports News 1/26/18

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