SOUTH Australian cowboys Scott Fraser and Glen Kent will be two of the riders heading to Victoria for rodeos at Whittlesea and Sale in the next three weeks.
With only two months remaining in the current Australian Professional Rodeo Association season, there is plenty of competition for top 15 spots and qualification for the National Finals Rodeo at the Queensland State Equestrian Centre at Caboolture on May 1-4.
Fraser, of Wilmington, has won two rough stock events at each of his past three rodeos and is the only rider to win the bull, saddle bronc and bareback bronc rides at the one rodeo in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in the United States.
Kent, who hails from Strathalbyn, is a past APRA saddle bronc national champion who thinks nothing of driving 15 hours for eight seconds of adrenalin rush on the back of a bucking horse at a rodeo.
The rodeo at the Whittlesea Showgrounds on February 22 is becoming more popular by the year as fans in one of the fastest growing areas of the state embrace the sport.
Professional rodeo will return to Sale on March 1 for the first time in more than a decade.
Two of the locals set to compete at Sale will be steer wrestling champion Paul Kenny, of Rosedale, and Lee Bowker, from Heyfield.
Bowker is originally from Normanton in Queensland and is likely to contest the bareback and saddle bronc rides at Whittlesea and Sale.
All eight championship events will be contested at both rodeos, including the barrel race and breakaway roping for the cowgirls.
There will be more APRA action next month with three rodeos on the Victorian long weekend, Kyabram on March 7, Merrijig on March 8 and Chiltern on March 9.
