Teen excels at barrel racing
LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Barrel racing is not a sport for the faint-hearted or weakminded.
It also is not a sport for the injured.
Demaris Alcon, a 14-yearold Ojo Feliz resident, isn’t faint-hearted or weak-minded, but she was injured during the Copper Springs junior barrel race in Andrews, Texas, last month.
Despite a broken wrist, Demaris still competed while wearing a cast and she won.
It’s not the first time Demaris has been victorious with an injury. In 2018, she competed in a 12-race series with a cast stretching all the way up to her shoulder. She won the series and saddle and buckle that came with it.
Where does a teenager get this impressive pain tolerance from? According to her, it’s simple: mind over matter.
“It really hurt, but I told myself I have to make it somehow,” Demaris told the Las Vegas Optic.
“I force myself to do things, even though my body says it’s not for the best, and I have that goal in my mind — place or win. … My body says no, but my mind has that better outcome, and it always turns out good.”
To be that driven at such a young age means that the sport has to be in your blood, and for Demaris it is.
Demaris is the great-granddaughter of champion calf roper Ernesto Tapia, whose career was highlighted by an appearance at the famous Madison Square Garden in 1953.
Ernesto Tapia passed down his love of rodeo competitions to his daughter Yvonne Tapia, and Yvonne has passed her love for the sports down to her own children and grandchildren. Yvonne had Demaris racing at the age of 3, and Demaris fell in love with all of it.
“She has the blood to be a champion,” Yvonne Tapia said, noting her granddaughter already has won numerous buckles, spurs and other awards. “And she’s looking forward to continue winning with her horse ‘Muscle.’”
Demaris’ 12-year-old sister, Noralynn, also competes. So do their younger brothers. Raised by their grandparents Tapia and Andy Alcon, the kids have been wrapped up in rodeo for most of their lives.
Demaris has fallen in love with barrel racing, so much so it’s what she dreams of doing professionally. She’s in the process of attempting to join an online school where she can gain college credit as a high-schooler and have more time to hone her craft since she won’t actually be in class. She’s already a 4.0 student.
She’s not putting all her eggs in one basket, though. Her backup plans involve going into the military and possibly having her own horse training business.
Demaris and her horse named Muscle have been very successful. When the family purchased Muscle, they bought him from a man who got him off a feed lot. He was a roping horse, and Demaris trained him to become a barrel racing horse.
As is life in the rodeo, you have to be ready to compete at all times. There are new events to compete in almost every weekend, and all roads eventually lead to Las Vegas, Nevada for the rodeo finals in December.
For Demaris, her path to Las Vegas goes through the New Mexico Youth Rodeo Association Series.
The series is 12 races long and to qualify for the championships in December, Demaris will have to win at least five of the races. The series kicks off in May.
Qualifying for the championships in Vegas is her goal for this year. Alcon will travel to Tipton, Okla., later this month to compete and hopefully keep her winning momentum going as the road to Vegas continues. This time, though, she might even have a fully healthy arm with which to compete.
“She has the blood to be a champion. And she’s looking forward to continue winning with her horse Muscle.”
— Yvonne Tapia, grandmother of Demaris Alcon