WATCH: These bulls are favoured to win as PBR comes to Kelowna

One of the most prestigious events in the rodeo world is coming back to the Okanagan for the first time in four years.

The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Canada elite Cup Series is heading to Prospera Place for the PBR Okanagan Challenge. This is the fourth stop of the season, which started back in June in Red Deer, Alta.

The event will have two rounds of bull riding, where riders will try to stay on for the iconic eight seconds. They’re scored accordingly by judges, and the highest average from the two rounds will be the winner.

“It’s not your typical rodeo. There’s no question about that,” PBR General Manger, Jason Dickinson, told Kelowna10.

He said the competition is not taken lightly, and the PBR circuit showcases the best of the best.

“This is the highest level of bull riding in Canada. We bring the top bucking bulls, and they’re bred to buck,” he said. “For the riders, it’s really the ultimate contest of man versus beast. The bulls are favoured to win every single time.”

Dickinson said there’s a lot of preparation and logistics that go into this event. That includes getting the dirt into the arena, hauling the equipment cross country, and ensuring the bulls are taken care of.

“We don’t over pack trailers. We make sure they are only [in the trailers] for so many hours, so they get to unload, lay down, have some grains, some feed, and water,” he said.

Two-time PBR Canada Champion, Zane Lambert, is the only rider to qualify for every PBR Canada Finals event ever held.

“I’ve been saving myself for the bigger events this year. Kind of my last hoorah, so I wanted to hit the big ones for sure,” he said. “This is a good event for me.... This is one I’ve been looking forward to since I saw it on the schedule four months ago.”

Lambert, 36, of Ponoka, Alta., is currently ranked in the Top 20 for the 2022 season. He has been with PBR Canada since 2006, and said bull riding is not as easy as some people are led to believe.

“This goes with a lot of training. I got into rodeo when I was 10 years old, and I’ve never really seen anybody been able to stay on a bull of this caliber five years into it,” he explained. “If you think it’s just holding on and anybody can try it, it’s not. It’s very skilled and takes a good amount muscle memory and skill to make an eight second ride.”