No bull – these blokes are fearless
THREE North Queenslanders have been selected as protection athletes for the Iron Cowboy event at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.
Ingham’s Cameron Parkinson, Bob Dahl, of Charters Towers, and Dimbulah’s Kerry Whitehouse are some of the competition’s toughest and most rugged yet underrated athletes.
Rather than riding some of Aus- tralia’s strongest bulls, the three men will willingly put themselves in danger to protect riders.
For Mr Parkinson, his first appearance at the Iron Cowboy on Friday and Saturday will be extremely exciting.
“It normally takes a little bit to warm up, but when there’s more than 100 bulls over the weekend, you get a bit of momentum behind you and there’s no hesitation or questioning yourself,” he said.
“With those boys I don’t have to worry about getting into trouble, I know they’ll have my back no matter what happens.”
PBR Australia general manager Glen Young said the job did not receive a lot of applicants, yet it was one of the most important positions in professional bull riding.
“These guys have been extremely impressive in the last 12 months, and it’s exciting to see local guys stepping up for the biggest event on our Australian tour,” he said.