10 American rodeo riders have travelled 15,000km to compete at the legendary Mount Isa Mines Rodeo in Outback Queensland, and the New Zealand team, almost 4,000km. But it's the Willoughby family from South Australia that's travelled the furthest this year – just on 40,000km as they finish the 'Northern Rodeo Run' at ISA!!
While it's not Tom Willoughby's first rodeo – he's actually a legend, and currently in the top 5 All-Round Cowboys in the current Australian Professional Rodeo Association standings – it is their first as a family, he and wife Sasha are parents to three little girls in Lottie (8), Ruby (6) and Daisy (4). All in the family except little Daisy are riding at ISA, the southern Hemisphere's biggest rodeo, and a long way from their Kapuna, South Australian property home. He said he loved that the whole family can now come on the rodeo road.
Tom has rodeo in his blood – his grandad, also named Tom, won 2 All Round titles, 2 steer wrestling titles, 2 saddle bronc titles and 4 Bull Ride titles, the second most bull ride titles behind Barry Gravener who won 5 in his incredible career in the 60's.
ABOUT MOUNT ISA MINES RODEO: Hold on to your hats and dust off those boots because RODEO IS GO!
In celebrating 65 years this year, the program is a roundup of rodeo stars vying for some of the world's most famous buckles, meet country rock stars with some super-hot wings in the mix!
Natalie Flecker, CEO of Isa Rodeo Limited called on the country to rodeo! "Mount Isa Mines Rodeo is the Southern Hemisphere's largest rodeo and the third largest rodeo in the world, and this year champions return to battle for the famous buckles, newcomers will become legends, juniors will rise up, eight seconds will seem like a lifetime and the heritage and importance of rodeo in the Outback will be celebrated. But there's more: riders are coming from across the world to literally throw their hats in the ring!" she said.
The Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships is proudly supported by the Queensland Government. The Mount Isa Rodeo Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland.
Millions in economic revenue generated from those famous 8-second rides and more!
There's something special about the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo that started this week; for 65 years this event has attracted the greatest riders from across the country to compete on the famous red dirt of the Queensland Outback. However, it's not just the riders it attracts - figures from Tourism and Events Queensland show that Rodeo ropes in significant revenue, making it a vital part of the Outback.
Straight out of the chute are the big figures - $11,328,999 was spent in Queensland by overnight visitors to the 2023 Mount Isa Mines Rodeo. Of this figure, $7,396,076 was attributable directly to the Mount Isa economy. The event was responsible for generating 45,414 visitor nights in Mount Isa. The majority of these nights were generated by intrastate visitors (27,480).
In just its third year and after taking Gold in the Festivals and Events Category at the Queensland Tourism Awards and winning the recent National Reconciliation Awards (Partnerships), the Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships generated $3,138,437 in direct and incremental expenditure with $1,792,405 of this amount attributable to the Mount Isa economy. The event was responsible for 12,162 visitor nights in Mount Isa.
