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Christmas Coming Early for Cowboys PRCA Fourth of July Run

Erich Rogers has been through plenty of Fourth of July runs.

The 2020 season’s Fourth run was one of the best for the 2017 team roping header world champion.

The team roping header has been a PRCA member since 2006. Last season, he and heeler Paden Bray used a Fourth of July run that garnered them $17,134 each to make a run to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

The duo then won the NFR average in Arlington, Texas, as Rogers finished third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings among headers with $175,503 and Bray second among heelers with the same amount.

Their 2020 Fourth run saw them earn more money than any other competitor regardless of event during that stretch and that was during an abbreviated version of the Fourth of July run because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a good Fourth, we did get lucky and did well at some big ones,” Rogers. “We drew really good and placed at just about every one of them we went to. We drew really good steers and have good horses. Once you draw them and use those good ones, it makes life a little easier.”

The 2021 Cowboy Christmas is currently rolling full speed ahead

Rookie bareback rider Cole Franks is hoping to have a Fourth of July like Rogers and Bray.

Franks is leading the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings with $25,411 and is 13th in the World Standings with the same amount.

He also won’t have to figure out how to navigate a busy Fourth. Last year, as a permit holder, Franks got into a handful of rodeos. This season, he’s going to nearly a dozen. And he’s traveling with three-time World Champion Bareback Rider Tim O’Connell and reigning NFR average champion Jess Pope.

“I’m excited,” said Franks, 20. “It’s going to be very busy. I think we’re entered in 10-12 rodeos in four days.”

It’s a bit different from a year ago.

“Last year on my permit, it was kind of three or four (rodeos) in that week over the Fourth,” he said. “I got drawn out of stuff. This is the first time I’ve actually done it, made an actual Fourth of July run.”

PRCA RODEO SCHEDULE

Recent Fourth of July Runs

Recent winners
2020: Erich Rogers/Paden Bray, TR, $17,134 each*

2019: Stetson Wright, SB, BR, $35,757

2018: Tim O’Connell, BB, $31,014

* Payouts, rodeos affected by pandemic

Courtesy of PRCA

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