Cochrane rodeo cowboys Straws and Tanner Milan added some serious jingle to their jeans at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton.
The steer-wrestling brothers from Cochrane doubled their earnings for the season on the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association (CPRA) tour at the season-ending event Nov. 6-10 at Northlands Coliseum. Straws took home $21,465.44 for his five days of work, while older brother Tanner won $18,230.92.
“I can’t complain one bit about it,” Tanner said. “Could have been better. I ended up missing two steers up there. But, other than that, heck, that’s a pretty good week.”
Final 2013 CPRA steer-wrestling standings actually show three Cochranites in a row with Straws sixth ($36,779.74 season earning including CFR), Tanner seventh ($35,319.37) and Harley Cole eighth ($30,099.06).
Straws has also advanced to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) next month in Las Vegas, the first time in his nine-year steer-wrestling career he’s made the premier pro rodeo show for the world’s best rodeo cowboys. He finished 12th in the world, earning $58,151 steer wrestling on the U.S.-based Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) tour.
“It’s the best finals I’ve ever had,” Straws, 27, said of his work in Edmonton. “This time of year, it was sure nice to win that much money for sure.”
But he was even more pumped about finishing top 15 on the PRCA tour to claim a spot at the NFR show in Vegas.
“It’s a dream come true,” Straws said. “When I first started, the main goal was to make the CFR. After the second time I made the CFR, I figured I had a good chance to make the NFR. My main goal this year was to make the NFR and it happened.
“The Calgary Stampede is awesome,” he continued. “But to say you made the NFR is pretty awesome. Not many people get to say that.”
While older-brother Tanner, 30, fell just short of qualifying for the NFR show, he’s committed to shows throughout the U.S. Starting in January to try and make the grade for NFR 2014.
He worked hard in the U.S. this season, but his 24th-place finish in PRCA standings ($42,118) wasn’t in the top-15 in the world required to make the show. He’ll just work that much harder next year to make it.
“I’ll be heading down south probably in the second week in January,” Tanner said of competing at PRCA events in hotspots like San Antonio, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and Tucson. “Be down there all winter going to the big winter rodeos.”
