Calgary Stampede bull riding: Sage Kimzey a competitor to watch

Sage Kimzey describes his hometown of Strong City as "a little bitty town in western Oklahoma."

Strong City maybe small, but it's produced one of the biggest stars on the rodeo circuit these days in Kimzey.

The 20-year-old American is the defending Professional Rodeo Cowboys Associationworld champion in bull riding.

Kimzeyis about to make his debut in Canada.He'sset his sights onthis year's Calgary Stampede and the first prize money of $100,000.

About bull riding

The rules arepretty simple. Rule number one is therider needs to stay on the bull for at least eightseconds.

The ridercan only use one handto hold on the rope attached around the bull. Competitors don't need to use their spurs, just hold on butjudges will score them higher.

Bull riding is one of the toughest sports in world. You are definitely going to get banged up with the broken arms and the dislocated joints and everything. It's a price I am very willing to pay.- Sage Kimzey

"You want one of the ranker bulls," saidKimzey.

Two judges score 50 points each for a total of 100 (25points is assessed for the rider's performance while25 points is for how much the bull bucks).

Four cowboys qualify for onefinal rideon the last day of the Stampede. The cowboy who getsthe highest score takes home the prize money.

"The score of90 is our gold-medal standard inbull riding," he said.

"Bull riding is one of the toughest sports in world. You are definitely going to get banged up with the broken arms and the dislocated joints and everything. It's a price I am very willing to pay."

How did you get into the sport?

"I grew upin a rodeo family. My dad was a professional barrel man. My mom ran barrels when she was younger, so it was just kind ofa family tradition to be in rodeo," saidKimzey.

"I have one younger brother who is 16 and an older sister who is 23. They're trick riders."

"I did all the events growing up, and bull riding was just my favourite so that was the career path I chose," saidKimzey.

What do think of the Stampede?

"This is my first time to the Stampede," he said.

"The initial draw will be the money and the payout and then everybody says Calgary is one of their favourite rodeos to go to just because of the hospitality from all the people and it's just one of those prestigious rodeos that you dream about going to and having success at as a little kid.

"It's one of those lifelong dreams to go and compete in Calgary."