Where were you May 17, 2024? Roping at a rodeo? Running barrels at a jackpot? Clinging to your bull rope for eight seconds of glory?
Or were you, like so many other rodeo athletes, home watching the inaugural Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo (KRRR) from your couch and wishing you were there inside AT&T Stadium competing for a share of $1 million?
No matter where you were, if you were experiencing regret at not being a part of the action, FEAR NOT! The revolutionary Team rodeo is coming back in 2025 for another round and you have another chance to be a part of every exciting moment.
The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) is once again giving every rodeo athlete on the planet a chance to be a part of their team, the Free Riders, at the next KRRR. The Free Riders are the defending champs, taking home the title from the first KRRR after fielding their team from the 2023 Rodeo Corpus Christie champions.
It just gets better this time around as athletes now have two chances to earn their way onto the Free Riders: win your spot either at Rodeo Carolina held at the Tryon (North Carolina) International Equestrian Center October 2-5, 2024 or at Rodeo Corpus Christie 2025, held next May.
Still on the fence? You better believe, it was just as awesome as you think it was.
“It was one of the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to do,” Gus Gaillard agreed. The defending Rodeo Carolina saddle bronc riding champ was actually a member of Team Convoy during the inaugural event.
“It’s an awesome venue—I had gotten to get on a horse inside AT&T before but when The American moved, I didn’t think I ever would again so I was so excited when this Kid Rock deal came up.”
“It was all great,” he continued. “The quality of the livestock, the production, the facility is amazing.”
Not only is the KRRR a Team competition, it’s head-to-head with timed events competing simultaneously inside the huge arena utilizing a drag race style start.
“The format was completely different than anything I had ever done before,” Gaillard noted. “It was pretty interesting. Usually I don’t watch too much of the other events but I never wanted to go back to the locker room . . . I watched every part of it and cheered on my teammates.”
“It was a lot of fun,” he said.
2024 Rodeo Corpus Christie Tie Down Roping Champ Jarvis Demery agreed, even though he may have had a little edge on the competition.
“It reminded me of Joe Beaver’s junior calf ropings with the red light, green light, go deal,” Demery said. “My horse didn’t have the experience [in the drag race start] but I did!”
Demery was part of Team Free Riders and walked out of Cowboys Stadium $27,778 richer thanks to his efforts to help his team win.
“Honestly, it was great being able to go heads up. You’re always competing against someone else but this time you know, when your gate opens, someone else is going too. There’s lots of things that can go wrong but it was pretty awesome.”
Both cowboys enjoyed it so much that they have been busy working on earning another spot in the next KRRR.
“I certainly am,” Demery said. “We’re preparing every day.”
“We’ve been trying to nominate the better rodeos, the ones you can get good points out of,” Demery noted.
The Beggs, Oklahoma roper competes in American Cowboys Rodeo Association (ACRA), Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) events. He’s ranked fourth in the current IPRA standings and is on track to make his first IFR and possibly win the Rookie of the Year title.
Thanks to using the Virtual Rodeo Qualifier (VRQ) to nominate those events, Demery is currently second on the Rodeo Carolina (RNC24) Leaderboard.
Demery is excited to have a couple of shots to rejoin Team Free Riders with Rodeo Carolina and Rodeo Corpus Christie.
“I’m thrilled to have two chances,” Demery said. “I’m hoping they let me go back. Just being there was such a cool experience for me personally.”
Meanwhile, Gaillard has been on the road this summer as well, currently sitting second in the PRCA Permit standings with better than $64,000 won.
“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve seen a lot of cool country,” he said. The Morse, Texas cowboy just started back for his junior year at Tarleton State University, for whom he won a National Championship in June at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR).
Gaillard is sitting first for the bronc riders for Rodeo Carolina but the opportunity to be part of the next Kid Rock event is just the icing on the cake for him when it comes to WCRA events.
“I think it’s really cool that WCRA helps do that,” he said of the chances to win your way onto Team Free Riders. “And obviously it worked as they were the champs.”
“But the WCRA offers so much money for the cowboys and cowgirls and they always have really good stock. They have like three rodeos a year that are huge—they are three of the biggest ones we go to all year.”
“So the Kid Rock rodeo is just the bonus on top of everything else I like about the WCRA.”
Rodeo athletes can earn the chance to compete at Rodeo Carolina either through the WCRA Leaderboard, for which nominations close September 8, or through generic qualification opportunities. Those include a) IPRA season standings leaders as of September 9, b) Tejas Rodeo WCRA series winners as of September 7, c) the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo WCRA Series winner on September 21, and d) winners of the 2024 Festival Western St. Tite event in St. Tite, Quebec, held September 12-15.
For more information, please visit wcrarodeo.com.
