GUTHRIE, Okla. – At just 26 years of age, Paul David Tierney has found his calling at the CINCH Timed Event Championship.
In just three days inside the Lazy E Arena, the Oral, S.D., cowboy made 25 runs in a record cumulative time of 267.9 seconds to win his second Timed Event title in three years. In all, he pocketed $113,000, nearly doubling his earnings from the previous four years in this unique competition.
“That’s a lot of money, life-changing money,” said Tierney, who also won the title in 2014 and became just the second cowboy in the event’s 32-year history to earn the $100,000 prize for first place overall. “That feels pretty dang good right now.”
In addition to his record run over the five-round, three-day affair, Tierney finished twice among the top six in the fastest-rounds portion of the competition. He added $10,000 by finishing second (48.5 seconds) and fourth (50.8), then pocketed another $3,000 for the record run.
“Winning this feels great,” he said. “Just being able to compete in this is an honor, and to be able to win it is even better.”
This title marks the sixth Timed Event gold buckle in the Tierney family. His father, Paul, was a four-time winner, earning his championships in 1987, ’91, 97 and 2000. The Tierney patriarch earned his first title before his youngest son was born, but the legacy has definitely been passed on.
“It all just lined up this year,” Paul David Tierney said.
In fact, it was a two-man race for most of the weekend between him and seven-time champion Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas. Tierney held just a 6.8-second lead heading into Sunday’s final go-round, but he expanded that lead after the second event, tie-down roping. After Brazile was saddled with a long time, the event was Tierney’s to lose. Brazile finished as the reserve champion and has pushed his Timed Event earnings to $779,000, the most ever.
By finished second and fourth in the fastest rounds, Tierney matched round earnings with Trell Etbauer, who won the fastest-rounds competition with a 44.7-second run worth $10,000. It marked the first solid day for the Goodwell, Okla., cowboy since the Timed Event began Friday afternoon.
“I drew some really good cattle today, so I knew I had a chance to set up a good round,” Etbauer said. “I’ve been sick all week, and I finally woke up this morning feeling a lot better. I guess I could think better, too.
“This is an event I wait for every year.”
So do all the other elite all-around timed-event cowboys in the game.
RESULTS
AVERAGE: 1. Paul David Tierney, 267.9, $100,000; 2. Trevor Brazile, 295.9, $25,000; 3. Dustin Bird, 361.5, $15,000; 4. Josh Peek, 367.7, $10,000; 5. Cody Doescher, 369.1, $7,500; 6. Rhen Richard, 388.7, $5,000; 7. JoJo LeMond, 416.8, $4,500; 8. Kyle Lockett, 427.6, $3,000.
FASTEST ROUND: 1. Trell Etbauer, 44.7 seconds, $10,000; 2. Paul David Tierney, 48.5, $6,000; 3. Jess Tierney, 50.0, $5,000; 4. Paul David Tierney, 50.8, $4,000; 5. (tie) Trevor Brazile and Dustin Bird, 51.1, $2,500 each.
RECORD TIME: Paul David Tierney, fastest average, $3,000
TOTAL MONEY: 1. Paul David Tierney, $113,000; 2. Trevor Brazile, $27,500; 3. Dustin Bird, $17,500; 4. (tie) Josh Peek and Trell Etbauer, $10,000 each; 6. Cody Doescher, $7,500; 7. (tie) Rhen Richard and Jess Tierney, $5,000 each; 9. JoJo LeMond, $4,500; 10. Kyle Lockett, $3,000.