SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The richest rodeo in South Dakota history is back in Sioux Falls for a second go.
The barrel racing contestants were turning laps this morning at the Premier Center in advance of the Cinch Playoffs.
“The Cinch Playoffs is one of the top 4 biggest rodeos of the entire season for pro rodeo,” Cinch Jeans director of marketing Jessica Wahlert said.
“It’s one of the regular season rodeos but you have to qualify to get here and it’s through the top 60 paying rodeos of the entire season,” Wahlert said.
“Honestly, coming into this rodeo last year nobody knew what to expect and they sold this sucker out every single night so getting to come back here is awesome,” calf roper Haven Meged said.
The Governor’s Cup is the final rodeo of the regular season, and Haven Meged is looking to end the year atop the tie-down roping leaderboard.
“My goal is to hopefully have a good weekend and get up there,” Haven Meged said.
“It’s going to shake a lot of stuff up, it’s going to make or break a lot of things for a lot of contestants and it’s going to be great watching,” breakaway roper Shelby Meged said.
Shelby Meged earned her first world title in breakaway roping last year, including a win at the Governor’s Cup.
“It was unbelievable, and getting to meet Kristy and just the awards ceremony after, they paid attention to every single detail at this rodeo and it was unreal, it was an awesome rodeo and great production and the fans were in tune, it was incredible,” Shelby Meged said
The event was such a success last year that the richest rodeo in South Dakota history is now even richer.
“The contestants loved it and so this year we tried to add more to it and part of that was the payout. We were $1.1 million last year, we’re $1.3 million this year,” Wahlert said.
The chase for the cash and Cup starts Thursday night.
