Ladies Light Up Cowtown for Inaugural Premier Women’s Rodeo Championship

In its first year, the Premier Women’s Rodeo World Championship awarded life-changing sums of money to winners in Fort Worth.

Rylee George | Fernando Sam-Sin

Following the dissolution of the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) in 2025, the Premier Women's Rodeo (PWR) Championship was born. The Women's Rodeo World Championship (WRWC) had gained traction alongside the WCRA, and the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) stepped in to ensure a new chapter of greatness for women in rodeo.

A four-day event held May 12-15 at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, the PWR World Championship boasted a total payout of $803,000 in barrel racing, breakaway roping, team roping, goat tying, and rough stock events. With a unique structure, the event featured Pro, Challenger, and Limited divisions, just as WRWC had utilized in the past.

Barrel Racing

Kappie Bryant | Kappie Bryant Professional Barrel Racer

Stephenville, Texas, cowgirl Kappie Bryant and Smooth As Rico Suave ("Pancakes") have been on fire recently. The weekend prior to the PWR World Championship, the duo finished as Reserve Champions at Rodeo Corpus Christi.

In Fort Worth, the speedy pair clocked two very consistent runs of 13.261 in Round 1 (placing third) and 13.259 in Round 2 (placing third again). They saved their best run for last, running a 13.062, the fastest time of the entire event in the Finals.

With a huge paycheck of $60,000 coming from the Championship win, Bryant and Pancakes earned a total of $68,500.

Ranch Bronc Riding

Honey Grove, Texas, cowgirl Carly Richardson scored 88 points in Round 1, 85.4 points in Round 2, and won the two-head average by three points. Surprisingly, Richardson is an adrenaline junkie in more than one equine discipline.

The Founder & Head Trainer of CR Show Jumping, Richardson is an elite-level English rider who regularly sails over 1.3-meter jumps (that is over 4' for us Western folks).

Goat Tying

Another Texas cowgirl consistently worked her way to the win in the Average of Goat Tying. Mayce Marek placed second in Round 1 with a blistering 6.33, fourth in Round 2 with a 6.36, and made her fastest run of the week in the Finals, with a 6.26. With the Average, World Bonus, and Finals wins added to her round earnings, Marek banked $6,015.

Team Roping

Another huge payout came in team roping. Kenna Francis of Las Vegas, N.M., and Whitney DeSalvo of Wilmar, Ark., came in with a time of 6.15 seconds in the Finals to claim the victory. Combined with their round earnings, the duo banked $66,750. The pair was rock solid all weekend, finishing second in Round 1 and winning Round 2.

Breakaway Roping

Rylee George of Oakdale, Calif., added another major win to her resume and a payday of $62,607. Her time of 1.93 seconds was the only sub-two-second run of the Finals, securing her win. George was the queen of consistency throughout the event, finishing fourth in Round 1 and third in Round 2.

Bull Riding

Mady Eilert of Topeka, Kan., made a huge splash with her Round 2 score of 93.4 points, and on the two-head Average, bested her twin for the big win. Dayna Eilert finished second in the Average, furthering the growing legacy of this impressive duo of young bull riders.