CFR 51 Primer Breakaway Roping

– BY DIANNE FINSTAD, CANADIAN RODEO NEWS WRITER

It’s a testament to the rapid growth of the newest discipline in pro rodeo to have the coveted #1 back number this year go to a breakaway roper. Yes, a good chunk of the $61,116 Bradi Whiteside won during the 2025 season came from her barrel racing efforts. But the $38,325 the Longview cowgirl collected in breakaway marks a significant new earnings level in the short history of the event.

While Whiteside came up just short of duplicating last year’s accomplishment of qualifying in barrel racing as well, she’s happy to lead the charge into Edmonton, with her fourth CFR breakaway qualification.

“Winning Season Leader was one of my goals,” says Whiteside. “I was in a slump earlier in this year, so I kept my goal to win Season Leader to myself.”

Whiteside, whose older sister Kylie will also be roping for a title, managed to make up ground later in the season, with a big boost from winning the SMS Equipment Tour Finals at Armstrong, as well as splitting first at nearby Okotoks.

“I always believed that when a person achieves big things, it makes you want to achieve more,” she confirmed, with her sights set firmly on a first Canadian championship buckle.

Whiteside bumped back Jenna Dallyn, who’d held the top spot on the leaderboard for much of the year. Dallyn still recorded her most successful season ever, winning just under $32,000.

“It’s reflective of the rodeos just getting better, and more money is being added,” says the Nanton competitor. “We’re also getting more entries, which increases the prize money.”

But it also is telling of Dallyn’s performance progress.

“Learning from the last few years of going to the rodeos, and being able to put it together consistently this year has led to being able to be at the top end.”

Dallyn recorded a lot of second place finishes, including Williams Lake and Strathmore, so it seems only fitting for her to come in second place for the season, to notch her fifth CFR appearance. She was also in the hunt for a first NFR spot, logging many miles south of the line as well, with her new traveling partner Amanda Terrell. Terrell made her first foray into Canada with Dallyn, and a big Ponoka Stampede Showdown victory propelled the Colorado roper up the Canadian standings and solidified her drive to join Dallyn, and experience her first CFR.

Rounding out the top three is Caitlyn Dahm, making her fourth trip to the CFR.

“This has been my best season yet,” says Dahm, who will be competing in Edmonton alongside her husband Dawson, a saddle bronc riding qualifier. “It turned around about the Sundre weekend. I placed at a lot of rodeos after that.”

Dahm has an interesting theory about what got her season back to a winning track.

“Honestly, I started ironing my shirts,” smiled Dahm, who makes her home near Duffield. “We work on a ranch, so we’re tired from a lot of long days. I was showing up to the rodeos ‘half-way’. How you do one thing is how you do everything. I started taking pride in ironing my shirt, showing up with a clean rig, and my horse looking the best he can look, and things started to turn around.”

“I also opened my Bible and read it way more than I had been, and just was making time for the things that matter. It made a huge difference.”

“The older I get, the better I seemed to handle pressure,” admits the 28-year-old, who was also thrilled to have her horse Gummy, named 2025 Breakaway Horse of the Year.

It was a storybook season finish for Lakota Bird, as she came from being outside the top thirty at the beginning of August, with less than $4000 won.

Bird admits she had relinquished herself to not being able to keep her consecutive string of CFR appearances alive. With the encouragement of friends and family who wouldn’t let her give up on her dreams, Bird’s fortunes began to turn around, as she managed to place at ten of the last thirteen rodeos, grab a spot at the Tour Finals in Armstrong and close her season with a $5600 final weekend to get back to Rogers Place. Plus she’s now officially Lakota Segboer, after marrying her fiancé Chase on September 22^nd, and a honeymoon trip to Edmonton is just what she had in mind!

Along with Terrell, the only other newcomer to the field will be sixteen-year-old sensation Keely Pugh, daughter of veteran CFR steer wrestler Trygve Pugh. She was the Alberta High School Rodeo Breakaway Champion in 2024, and got her first pro win at Kananaskis, adding three more victories en route to her CFR debut this year.


2025 CFR BREAKAWAY ROPING QUALIFIERS