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AUSTIN, TX (May 21, 2018) The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) continues to revolutionize the sport of rodeo by announcing that the discipline of Breakaway Roping will be added to the WCRA Virtual Rodeo Qualifier system and will be included in the 2019 WCRA $6 million event series.

Until now, Women’s Barrel Racing has been the predominate professional women’s rodeo event, despite the popularity of Breakaway Roping. This unprecedented move will give women athletes more opportunities, including the ability to compete for big-money payouts and the potential that a woman could hold a professional All-Around title for the first time.

“Part of our mission is to ‘advance the sport of rodeo’ and we truly mean it. Our Alliance Partners support our decision to provide female athletes more opportunities and we all feel like it’s been a long time coming,” said Bobby Mote, President WCRA.

“On a personal note, I have a daughter who loves to rope and I am excited for the opportunities this will open up for her and girls just like her,” Mote said. “We are confident that fans will love getting to know the leaders in this discipline, like Jackie Crawford, Lari Dee Guy and Hope Thompson who are talented and tough competitors in this discipline.”

“This is the opening in the door that we have been looking for,” said 17-time WPRA World Champion and NIRA Champion Breakaway Roper, Jackie Crawford. “Our event has some of the largest overall numbers throughout junior, high school and college rodeo, but has desperately needed a larger outlet after that point to continue to grow.

The implications of this will be far reaching — giving women a reason to stay engaged with the sport will help the industry all the way around.

I can’t wait for fans to be introduced to this fast-paced discipline and to meet the amazing women athletes involved.”

Starting Wednesday, May 23rd breakaway ropers can register and begin using the WCRA Virtual Rodeo Qualifier (VRQ) to start qualifying for the WCRA $500,000 semi-final event scheduled in November at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, OK, followed by the first WCRA $1 million rodeo in Sacramento, CA in January 2019. Additional 2019 WCRA large-payout events will be announced at a later date.

The VRQ is available for every rodeo athlete to access a mobile nomination system to qualify for the $6 million in payouts. This new free mobile web App for rodeo athletes was unveiled on May 4th and puts the administration of the sport in the hand of athletes, stock contractors, and committee members. For more information visit www.WCRARodeo.com and https://youtu.be/lVEMfk4dJiI

The WCRA VRQ nomination and qualification process is open to men and women in all disciplines of rodeo regardless of gender or age. One exception to this position is; if a WCRA host event, not produced by WCRA, has established ground rules that prevent participation based on gender or age. In this case, the qualifying athletes for that particular host event would automatically qualify for the next available semi-finals event.

In an additional age related exception; WCRA does not allow any athlete under the age of 18 to compete in any of the rough stock disciplines or participate in the qualification processes for WCRA semi-finals and major events.

In compliance with existing laws governing online business, WCRA requires athletes be a minimum of 13 years of age or older to participate in the qualification process for any of the timed event disciplines.  Any athlete under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian contact WCRA to set-up the user account on the Virtual Qualifier App.  Parents or Guardians may begin this process be emailing WCRA at info@wcrarodeo.com

At this time and for the sake of clarity, WCRA will not utilize any youth, high school or intercollegiate competition results in its qualification system and/or for points accreditation.

About WCRA

WCRA is a professional sport and entertainment entity, created to develop and advance the sport of rodeo by aligning all levels of competition. In association with PBR, WCRA produces a $6 million major event series that provides rodeo athletes with additional opportunities to compete for large payouts. WCRA recently released the Virtual Rodeo Qualifier, a new technology and world ranking system for athletes to qualify for the major event series by Making Every Ride Count. To learn more visit WCRArodeo.com.

For more information, contact:

For WCRA – Holly Delaune, holly@firebrand-marketing.com, 210-632-3208

Link to VRQ video: https://youtu.be/tyYWPLbfXGY

Link to VRQ registration page:  app.WCRArodeo.com