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New Opportunity Created for Female Athletes Seeking New World Title

AUSTIN, Texas and PUEBLO, Colo.- WCRA (World Champions Rodeo Alliance) and PBR (Professional Bull Riders) have announced a new, breakthrough event in women’s rodeo: the Women’s Rodeo World Championship, taking place at South Point Equestrian Center on November 3-7.

This first-of-its-kind world championship is open to any female athlete in the world competing in breakaway roping, barrel racing and team roping.

The new Women’s Rodeo World Championship will award a minimum of $750,000 and name a champion in the individual disciplines of barrel racing, breakaway roping, team roping as well as a Women’s Rodeo All-Around Champion.  The event will be held in Las Vegas during the PBR World Finals.

Qualifying positions will be open to all eligible women across the world. Ten riders will have direct paths to the Championship based on their final ranking on the WCRA leaderboard.

The event will begin with onsite open-qualifier rounds November 3 – 5. Those ranked in the top 10 from the open qualifier will advance to the Championship on November 6 – 7, where they’ll compete alongside the Top 10 from the WCRA leaderboard and an additional four competitors awarded exemptions from to-be-named events.

“Working with our partners at PBR to provide female rodeo athletes an opportunity like this is a game-changer,” said WCRA CEO, Gary McKinney. “This historic addition of the Women’s Rodeo World Championship to the WCRA 2020 tour will give female ropers and barrel racers more opportunities, including the ability to compete for big-money payouts.”

“Women in rodeo haven’t had the same opportunities as men, and they deserve this exciting national platform and world title competition,” said PBR CEO Sean Gleason. “We’re very proud of our partnership with WCRA which helps us celebrate and reward talented female athletes while inspiring the next generation of young women to pursue rodeo.”

The Women’s Rodeo World Championship will be carried on RIDE-TV and RidePass, the PBR’s western sport digital network.

 

Additional details on how to qualify and leaderboard information will be released at a later date.

 

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 the PBR, WCRA produces major rodeo events, developing additional opportunities for rodeo-industry competitors, stakeholders, and fans. To learn more, visit wcrarodeo.com. For athletes interested in learning more about the WCRA Virtual Rodeo Qualifier (VRQ) system, visit app.wcrarodeo.com.

 

About PBR

PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 700 bull riders compete in more than 200 events annually across the televised PBR Unleash The Beast tour (UTB), which features the top 35 bull riders in the world; the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT); the PBR Touring Pro Division (TPD); and the PBR’s international circuits in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. PBR’s digital assets include RidePass, which is home to Western sports. PBR is a subsidiary of IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.

 

Media Contacts

For PBR – Andrew Giangola

andrew.giangola@img.com or 646-871-2402

 

For WCRA – Kyle Jones

Kjones@wcrarodeo.com or 432-683-4816