Bull riders are heading to the Forum this weekend
♦ The Three Rivers Invitational will take place this Friday and Saturday.
Cowboys from all over the Southeast have made their way to Rome for the 19th annual Three Rivers Invitational Bull Riding competition this weekend in the Forum River Center.
Promoter Kevin Ellis expects to have about 30 riders in town for the event. Each cowboy will ride both Friday and Saturday.
Combined scores from the two rides will narrow the competition down to 10 riders for the championship round Saturday night.
“People love to see these guys get on bulls, not just for the wrecks, because people in the rodeo world and bull riding world are very educated today. They want to see the 90 point rides. They want to see them ride for eight seconds,” Ellis said. “A little wreck every now and then is not terrible.”
Discussions related to concussions in sport have been a part of the bull riding industry for years.
“You’ll see a lot of guys now using a helmet. I tell people to do what they think they need to do to make their career last a long time,” said Ellis.
A bull rider for about 10 years, Ellis has made a much longer career out of being the protector in the 60-by100-foot arena. The protector steps in between the bull and rider after the rider gets bucked into the dirt. Bull riders are coming from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, the Caroli
nas, Alabama and Georgia. “Ethan Ray and Hayden Burdick from right here in the Summerville area are coming off huge wins two weeks ago so they’re fired up,” Ellis said. Most of the bulls will be provided by Charlie Lowry’s 4L Ranch in Summerville. He said the secret to breeding a good bull is as simple as tracking the blood lines. “They do a lot of DNA on them now and they have a registry on them just like thor
oughbred horses,” Lowry said. He’s been breeding at his ranch south of Summerville a little longer than 10 years and said no one bull this weekend would be considered significantly tougher than another. “That’s one reason the bull riders are coming. They know they’re going to have an even shot at winning money on all of the 4L and Diamond S bulls,” Ellis said. “All of them are gong to be really good and give the guys equal opportunity to win money.”