Roundin’ up campus

To some, a rodeo, or something that even resembles one, may seem like a crazy idea.

Even though weather conditions here are not perfect, the UW-River Falls Rodeo Club is organizing the annual, indoor Rodeo Round-Up.

While this is the third year of the Round Up’s existence, questions still come up as to what the event actually is.

“It’s a representation of a rodeo,” rodeo club member Dan Baugh said. “It’s a chance for students to participate.”

Besides allowing students to take part in the different events, it also gives students a chance to familiarize themselves with rodeo activities.

“It was started with the intent to get people involved and get the name out there,” senior club member Mitch Whyte said. “It also gets people into the different sports of rodeo.”

Baugh said one of the biggest differences between the Round Up and a rodeo is the fact that the Round-Up will not use horses.

All the events that take place in the Round Up will be done by people.

Junior Amanda DeCesaro hopes to attend the Round Up this year after attending the past two years.

“It’s really exciting,” DeCesaro said of the event. “It’s twice as exciting as a regular rodeo. It’s more challenging; there are no horses, so people have to do all the stuff. It’s also funny to watch the people run around like animals.”

While the Rodeo Club has close to 40 active members, Baugh and Whyte are two who have been working hard planning the Round Up since January.

Round Up teams are compiled of five members who compete in six different events and work to obtain points for their team.

The teams receive points for their completion of the each activity and at the end of the competition.

All the events are timed to see who gets the points, Baugh said. The more time used, the higher amount of points earned.

The team with the least amount of points wins a cash prize.

Just a few of the events taking place on Thursday night include goat tying, wild cow riding, barrel racing and steer wrangling.

The cash prize won’t be determined until the night of the event when the number of teams is finalized and the audience has paid admission.

Whyte has been in attendance for all of the past Round Up’s, while Baugh only went for the first time last year.

“It’s pretty funny,” Whyte said of the events. “Everyone is out there just trying to do the best they can.”

The past Round Up’s have had been successful with a large number of participants and fans watching and enjoying the performances.

“It went pretty good,” Baugh said of last year’s event. “There was a pretty good turn out of teams and a bunch of people that watched.”

The first Round Up was started by a former UWRF student and now the Rodeo Club is working to run the event annually.

The Rodeo Club members will be working to put together a well-run, entertaining evening for all in attendance. While Bough would like to be able to compete in the event, he is just going to focus his efforts on making everything run smoothly.

The Round Up is on Feb. 15 at Lab Farm 1. The events are scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m. and costs $2 for students.