South Dakota’s Eli Lord—the two-time and reigning Cheyenne Frontier Days Champion Steer Wrestler—will compete at the 2024 Cinch Timed Event Championship in place of California all-around hand Lane Karney.
The Cinch Timed Event Championship runs Feb. 29 to March 2, 2024 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in the event’s history 40th year.
Lord, 30, has won $353,917 in ProRodeo competition, regularly competing in both the heading and the steer wrestling. He’ll have little brother and NFR heeler Levi Lord as a helper in the heading, heeling and hazing.
“I called probably six years ago trying to get in,” Lord said. “I’ve been on the alternate list. They’ve called me twice to come, the first they called me three days before and the second time it was the day before. I wasn’t in a spot to get all my stuff together and get up that fast. But with over a month to get ready, I have enough time to practice.”
In 2024 Lord plans to focus more on the steer wrestling than the team roping than ever before, and he’s coming off surgery with Justin Sports Medicine’s Dr. Tandy Freeman for a torn ACL. Lord tore it in Omak, Washington, in August, and he’s been heavily rehabbing since then.
“I started jumping at two months, with the goal of being back by Fort Worth,” Lord said. “I did PT with Brady Martin at Genuine PT here in Dickinson, and I saw him once a week. But I’ve been in the gym six out of seven days a week getting ready.”
The only event Lord hasn’t competed in is the steer roping, and he’s already making calls to find a horse and a coach to help him figure it out.
“The all-around deal is dying off now,” Lord said. “People do one event now the way rodeo is set up. It’s hard to do two events, like Stetson Wright, and as somebody who has tried to do two events, you realize how impressive that is. The all-around has always been cool for me. I try to consider myself a well-rounded rodeo cowboy, and the Timed Event is the ultimate test when you think of yourself as an all-around guy.”
Steer Wrestler and heeler Cody Doescher won the 2023 Cinch Timed Event Championship, and the full event streams on Roping.com, where it will once again livestream in 2024. The event pays $100,000 to the winner who has the fastest aggregate time on 25 head across heading, calf roping, heeling, steer wrestling and steer tripping.
“I would like to thank Dan Wall and the Lazy E family for the support and the opportunities they’ve given me the last 7 or 8 years,” Karney said of sitting the 2024 event out. Karney has won $40,000 in his career at the CTEC.
