Hours before the start of the Friday night performance of the Gerry Fire Department’s 79th annual PRCA rodeo, things looked bleak as the pouring rain fell, but the skies cleared and a capacity crowd of loyal fans were treated to another night of exciting professional rodeo action.
One of the most exciting events was the saddle bronc riding event where four cowboys posted times within 6.5 points of each other. Milton, Tennessee’s Rudy Troyer had the top ride at 76.5, while Will Stiles from Jonestown, Pennsylvania, was second with 74.5 points and Clovis Crane, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was only one-half point behind him to take third.
Six cowboys made successful rides in the bareback event with Jason Wilson, Bennington, Vermont, and Luke Herbert, College Grove, Tennessee, tying for first place with 78-point rides, while Luke Herbert’s brother Houston and Tim Kent, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, both posted 77-point rides.
Perhaps the humid air interfered with their ropes, but the teams that roped the horns and hind legs of their steer found their times much slower than usual except for the winning team of brothers Chase Quinn and Riley Quinn, from Schuylerville, New York, who took first at 11.9 seconds despite being penalized five seconds for not giving the steer the required head start. Second place went to Kyle Gardner, Stephentown, New York, and J.B. Burgess, Bennington, Vermont, with a time of13.4 seconds.
The steer wrestlers found the muddy arena made it difficult for them to keep their footing and throw their steer as only five made successful runs. However, the mud seemed to make no difference for Big Jim Banff, Pedricktown, New Jersey, as he threw his steer to the ground in one of the fastest times of the week in 5.3 seconds.
The tie-down ropers also had problems with the wet arena as the times for roping and tying the calves were slower than usual. Robbie Erck, Ft. Edwad, New York, was fastest at 11.3 seconds. The second fastest time was posted by Ty Rumford from Abbyville, Kansas at 12.1
The cowgirls in the barrel racing were also slowed down by the wet arena as no one was able to break the 16-second barrier. Renee Garner, Stephentown, New York, had the fastest time, circling the cloverleaf pattern on her horse in 16.20, while a Woodbine, Maryland, cowgirl, Madison Iager, followed at 16.31.
The ladies also had had a tough time in the breakaway roping event as only five of them were successful in lassoing their calves. Two cowgirls, who traveled all the way from Minnesota had the fastest times of the evening. Korah Corrigan from Shafer was first at 3.1 seconds, while Kallie TePoel from Harris was close behind at 3.4
“Angry” seems to be the only word to describe the bulls as they again pitched a shutout by tossing all ten riders to the wet arena dirt. Several cowboys were close tonight, but none could stay aboard for the required eight seconds. The score for the week is now Bulls 31, Cowboys 1. The fans will be cheering tonight for someone to break the bulls’ string of wins.
The final performance of the 2022 rodeo kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. with a large chunk of the more than $50,000 prize money up for grabs in all eight of the rodeo events. The barbeque beef dinners will be served for the last time until next August starting at 5. The kitchen crew reports that they served 886 dinners last evening. The midway featuring more than 20 vendors is open for the entire evening.
This afternoon at 4, kids, ages 3-8 can enjoy a free rodeo where they can dress up and play rodeo related games in the arena supervised by rodeo personnel. All will receive backtags and a belt buckle will be given to the best dressed little cowboy and cowgirl. Registration is at 3.
Rodeo chairman Tom Atwell expresses his thanks to all the fans for supporting this event as it is the major fund raiser for the Gerry Volunteer Fire Department which answers about 350 fire and EMS calls each year. All proceeds go to the department. He also praised the approximately 150 volunteers who make the event possible.
Additional information or tickets are available at the rodeo website www.gerryrodeo.com or by phone at (726) 9854847.
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