Slade Wood will replace three-time Wrangler NFR qualifier Kolton Schmidt at the 2026 Cinch Timed Event Championship March 5-7, with an ongoing back injury keeping Schmidt from competing.
Schmidt has been working around back issues since before his appearance at the 2025 NFR.
“I’ve got some bulged disks in my back,” 31-year-old Schmidt, of Barrhead, Alberta, said. “I’ve dealt with it for a while now, and the injections have worn off.”
With the change comes a first-time Cinch Timed Event showing in the Lazy E for steer roper and all-around cowboy Slade Wood.
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This invitation is a dream come true for the 23-year-old New Elm, Texas, native who now resides in Stephenville, Texas.
“I’m pumped about it,” Wood said. “I feel like for a lot of guys, a goal of theirs is to go to the Timed Event, and that’s been one of mine for a long time. I’ve always wanted to go and thought it would be cool to just get invited.”
An all-around hand since his junior rodeo days, Wood brings with him a skill set that should be a perfect fit for the Ironman. In high school, he started out roping calves before taking the tripping seriously when he was 16. Over the years, he’s had a head rope in his hand and has put most of his effort toward upping his game.
“I would probably say the last two or three years have been really focused on my team roping,” Wood, who is currently a student at Weatherford College, said. “Tripping is what people know me for, but heading is what I’ve been working on and trying to get better at.”
The steer roping success is backed by genetics in the Wood family. His dad, Neal, is also a four-time NFSR qualifier and has helped Wood become the competitor he is today.
On the head side, a win at the College National Finals Rodeo with his best friend and heeler Logan Moore made him feel like he really had what it takes.
“That was a big win for me because I didn’t really consider myself a header,” Wood said of the CNFR. “If you can win that title, then you should be able to keep excelling at that event.”
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His invite to the 2026 Cinch Timed Event was more than welcomed.
“I’ve been wanting to get the call,” he said. “Then me and (Lazy E General Manager) Dan (Wall) talked last week, and he was like, ‘Hey, you need to get this on your mind if you want to do it because you’re an alternate and you’ve got a 90% chance to get the phone call.’ Then he called me a week later and was like, ‘Your chance is now. Do you want to do it?’”
“I was wishing I had an hour to think about it,” Wood joked. “But I was like, ‘You know what? I’m ready.’ When he called me last week, it might sound stupid, but I started to get my ducks in a row, so that way, in case it happened, I could tell him yes.”
As fate would have it, he was roping at Schmidt’s house when the call came in.
“I got over there (that day), and he was talking about it and was like, ‘I don’t think I’m going to go because of my back,’” Wood explained. “I guess he had called Dan before I got there, and I mean, within 30 seconds of him getting off the phone with Kolton, he calls me. He wouldn’t say his name, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m actually roping with him right now.’”
With plenty of time to put a game plan together, Wood’s goal for now is simple: complete the marathon.
“I think going for broke would be fun, but I think that is shooting yourself in the foot,” the Ironman rookie said. “I normally like to go fast in any event, but that is definitely one that you stay in the average in and take the throws that you know are going to work. You pretty much treat it like you’re out in the pasture trying to doctor one, and you’ve only got one loop to make it work.”
As far as help is concerned, Wood plans to call on best friend Moore for the heeling, and if he’s lucky, Moore will agree to head a few for him as well.
For horsepower, Wood will either be riding his 2023 Nutrena Steer Roping Horse of the Year, “Junior,” or his girlfriend Acey Pinkston’s dad Wade’s good tripping horses, depending on the cattle.
In the team roping, Pinkston’s tripping horse might also get the call on the head side. On the heel side, it’s between Wood’s dad’s good heel horse that he jackpots on and Moore’s good one they call “Gator.”
The calf roping and bulldogging horses are not completely decided, but with two months of time before his first one in the Lazy E, Wood has time to make his selections and fine-tune his plan.
“My game plan is to get out of every barrier and try to catch every animal with my first loop.”
