Jeff Hanson, Narrandera Argus
The thrills and spills of the time-honoured Narrandera rodeo returned on Saturday night, with thousands of locals on hand to witness some of the best bronc bucking, bull riding, and rodeoing seen in years.
The premier event on the program was the open saddle bronc, and cowboy Tom Kerr returned from a broken back to win on the well-performed mare, Secret Sister.
The pair finished with a score of 82.5 points, and Kerr praised Secret Sister for putting in another big effort.
“I get along really, really well with her,” Kerr said.
“She is a really good mare, and she is getting a bit of age about her, but she is not lacking anything, that’s for sure.”
Kerr had been laid up with his crook back since Tumbarumba’s New Year’s Day Rodeo, and incredibly, he won at Narrandera without any prior practice rides.
“I felt pretty good,” Kerr said.
“I hadn’t been on a horse since Tumbarumba; I fractured a couple of vertebrate there, but I felt good and I was a bit keen to get back on, so I entered at Narrandera.
“I was pretty lucky to draw a good horse, and I knew I would be right on her, and it all worked out pretty good.”
Narrandera Rodeo has developed a good reputation amongst Riverina cowboys and cowgirls for boasting one of the best arenas in the state, with good scores and times always recorded at the annual rodeo.
“It was a pretty good rodeo, but it was bloody hot,” Kerr laughed.
“It was tough through the day, but when I rode it wasn’t too bad, and it cooled down a bit and the arena they’ve got; every horse just bucks, and they love it there and it made for a really good night.”
Kerr also praised stock contractor Garry McPhee, with his horses again doing a stellar job.
“The horses that were there went great. They are all Garry McPhee’s horses, and you could have won on any of them; they were unreal,” Kerr said.
The talented cowboy will travel to Barraba next month for the Xtreme Broncs rodeo on March 4 before turning out at Gundagai on March 17 and Cootamundra on March 24.
“It was just a good one to knock the rust off at Narrandera and it was unreal to get the win, and now we go to Barraba next,” Kerr said.
“After that I will stay down this way and fly up north for those other ones.”
While Kerr is looking ahead, the Narrandera Rodeo Club committee are coming down from a massive event, which attracted the attention of the entire town, and some of the best cowboys and cowgirls in NSW and Victoria.
“It was massive,” said Narrandera Rodeo Club President, Ronald ‘Blue’ Absolom.
“I’ve never seen a crowd as big as it was in all my time on the rodeo committee.
“It was a great day, and the weather turned cool, and it made for a beautiful night.”
For all results from Saturday night’s rodeo, readers can turn to page 15 of today’s Argus.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 23 February 2023.
