The 13th annual Laughlin River Stampede begins Thursday with the top contestants in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association competing for $250,000 in prize money.
The rodeo will feature 1:30 p.m. performances through Sunday in a temporary outdoor arena at the Laughlin Events Center. Admission is $13 daily for adults and $7 for children. A four-day pass costs $35.
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More information is available at VisitLaughlin.com and (800) 308-2253. ...
The national PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour makes its first stop in Laughlin on April 14 and 15, with 40 top bull riders competing for part of a $60,000 purse.
The event could feature the return of 2005 PRCA world champion Matt Austin, who has not competed since being injured late last year. Austin, of Wills Point, Texas, won the Xtreme season title in 2005. He will be challenged by reigning PRCA world champion B.J. Schumacher of Hillsboro, Wis.
• RANCH RODEO -- The Western States Championship Ranch Rodeo is Friday through Sunday at the South Point Events Center.
The rodeo takes traditional daily ranch skills and transforms them into five competitive events, ranging from wild cow milking to team sorting.
Performances will be at 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
• PBR -- Justin McBride won his fifth Professional Bull Riders title of the year Saturday at Omaha, Neb., to extend his lead in the season standings.
The former UNLV rodeo athlete, who lives in Elk City, Okla., is one victory short of his season record even though the season is just beyond its midpoint. He won $42,095 in Omaha to increase his career earnings to $3.3 million.
The series moves to Albuquerque, N.M., this weekend for the Ty Murray Invitational.
• INJURIES -- PRCA bull rider Lee Akin remains in critical condition at Baptist Hospital in Montgomery, Ala. He sustained a traumatic brain injury March 8 after being bucked off during the Southeastern Livestock Exposition and Rodeo in Montgomery. Updates on his condition can be found at ProRodeo.com. ...
Ryan Jarrett, the 2005 PRCA world champion all-around cowboy, will be sidelined until mid-June after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while competing in steer wrestling June 13 at Odessa, Texas. The native of Summerville, Ga., had surgery Feb. 4 in Dallas. ...
Eight-time PRCA world champion Fred Whitfield of Hockley, Texas, plans to return to competition in June after having surgery following last season to remove bone spurs from two vertebrae and to repair a torn rotator cuff.
• BIG MONEY -- The recently completed Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo paid out $1.2 million in prize money, including a $50,000 bonus to each category winner and 63 competitors receiving more than $5,000. The total purse was the highest ever for a regular-season rodeo.
The biggest winner was Carthage, N.C., barrel racer Codi Baucom, who won $60,000. The same success at the rodeo a year ago would have paid her $18,513, event president Skip Wagner said.
