Teen bullrider buckles up

Country rodeo arena set to rumble and roar into life with cowboys and beasts

l MAREEBA | Ellie Fink

WHEN a two-year-old Tristan

Pye jumped on the back of a poddy calf at Mt Garnet Rodeo, he didn’t think he would become an internationally recognised bull rider and steer rider at only 16-years-old.

Competing in the Las Vegas World Finals in 2019, winning the CRCA Championship title in 2021 and taking out the win in his events at the Laura Rodeo last weekend, Tristan has his fair share of buckles and hopes to add to his collection after this year’s Mareeba Rodeo.

This year, he will be making his name known in the Kerribee Park chutes, competing in the junior bull ride and novice bull ride.

After that first poddy calf ride, Tristan knew rodeoing was the career he wanted to pursue, motivating him to continue riding at every event he could get to.

“Ever since then I have just loved it,” he said. (When I was younger) I did a few rodeos here and there and my second rodeo was actually the Mareeba Rodeo on the steers and after that, when I turned eight or nine, I was competing every weekend.”

Tristan recalled his first time in the Mareeba Rodeo arena, watching the crowd go crazy as he and the other riders took on some of the gnarliest young beasts in the circuit.

“It was action packed and a really big crowd – I was a little bit nervous and came out on the steer and didn’t do very well but, you know, it is what it is,” he said.

Years later, Tristan is standing strong in the arena and ready for a successful ride in one of the biggest rodeo events in the ABCRA circuit. After competing in the USA, Tristan can confidently call the Mareeba Rodeo the “Rodeo Houston of Australia”, drawing in some of the biggest names in bull riding, steer wrestling and barrel racing.

In the lead-up to the big day, he is finding every opportunity he can to get on the back of a bull to prepare himself for anything.

“I have a mate, Caleb, and he has some mini bulls at home in Cairns and I have been getting on them with him almost every second weekend,” he said.

“We have been getting out there and just getting back to basics to prepare for Mareeba.”

Although Tristan is trying not to think about the rodeo too much, he is confident he has what it takes to come home with the $2000 prize money and buckle. Besides riding, he