Fourteen-year-old Sydney van Pelt shows her dislocated finger to the crowd after she injured it falling during the junior steer ride at Andoom Oval on Saturday afternoon. Photo: Lyndon Keane.
Pulling yourself up out of the dust to find your middle finger at an angle medical professionals would describe as unadvisable would be enough to deter most people from wanting to get straight back on a bucking beast.
Fortunately, for the big crowd at Andoom Oval on Saturday afternoon, Weipa cowgirl Sydney van Pelt is not most people.
After being dislodged from her ride during the junior steer event at the 2024 Weipa Rodeo, the 14-year-old suffered a dislocated finger which threatened to stop her competing in her favourite event, the mini bull ride.
Adopting an “it’ll be fine” attitude, van Pelt waved her injured hand to friends and family in the crowd as she left the arena to seek medical attention, which turned out to be the young rodeo star resetting the finger herself.
“It didn’t hurt at all actually, it just went back in,” she laughed after she backed up minutes later with strapped fingers in the mini bull showdown.
“I for sure knew I was going to get back on the mini bulls.”
While van Pelt seem unphased by the injury, the same could not be said for her father, James, who shared the reaction of the crowd after watching her fall.
“I got a little bit sick when I saw Sydney’s finger,” he said.
Sydney van Pelt will certainly be a name to watch when the 20th anniversary edition of the Weipa Rodeo returns in 2025.
Sydney van Pelt tackles the mini bull ride with strapped fingers minutes after suffering a dislocation during the junior steer ride on 24 August. Photo: Lyndon Keane.
