Beau’s back.
Beau Hill, the 35-year-old professional bull rider from Columbia Falls, qualified for the National Finals Rodeo recently.
Hill is returning to the NFR for the first time in 10 years. This will be his third trip to the nation’s premier championship rodeo event in Las Vegas. His other two trips were in 2002 and 2004 when he finished seventh and fifth, respectively, in the world standings.
He qualified this year by finishing the regular season with a few successful rides, including the Justin Boots Championships in Omaha on Sept. 26, when he placed third.
“This is great,” Hill said in a PRCA news release. “It’s the goal at the beginning of the year to get in the Finals and win a world championship. I was, like, $600 out that last weekend and I knew I had to win, and it felt good to have that pressure and get the job done.”
Hill moved from 16th to 13th in the bull riding standings in recent weeks, which qualified him alongside a handful of other riders for the NFR.
The Beacon caught up with Hill earlier this summer as he chased a berth to the NFR.
“Ten years (since going to the Finals) is a long time, and it feels special to me to make it,” Hill said. “That was a goal of mine at the beginning of the year, and I guess I’m running out of years as far as bull riders go, so it feels good to reach a goal like this.”
The NFR is Dec. 4-13 in Las Vegas. For more information, click here.