Braydon Wellby will arrive in Weipa in red-hot form after delivering a dominant performance to win the 2024 Mount Isa Mines Rodeo open bull ride earlier this month. Photo: Supplied.
He is flying high after blowing the competition away to claim the prestigious open bull ride at the 2024 Mount Isa Mines Rodeo, but 27-year-old Braydon Wellby is hoping to change his fortune in Weipa this weekend when it comes to Cape of Origin glory.
“Hopefully this year I can get a winner,” he laughed when asked how he was feeling about returning to the Weipa Rodeo to captain one of the three Cape of Origin teams on 23-24 August.
“Third time’s a charm, they say.”
Wellby is yet to taste Cape of Origin success in Weipa but said he believed he was coming western Cape York in some of the best form of his bull riding career and praised the format of the series, which pits cowboys and cowgirls from across the top of the state against one another in the arena.
“It’s a really good concept,” he said.
The Townsville cowboy is currently fourth in the 2024 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) national standings and impressed the Mount Isa crowd with a 168-point effort to claim the open bull ride, including a thrilling 87-point ride on Nine Ball on 3 August.
Wellby said he was looking forward to coming out of the chutes in front of a big Weipa crowd at Andoom Oval.
“It’s a real good spot up there and you can hear when they get really vocal, and you can hear when they get right behind you,” he said of the venue.
“It definitely pumps you up and makes you bear down and focus on the ride, and grip a bit harder.
“It’s always a good atmosphere and they always put on a great show.
“I’ve got family up in Weipa, so it’s always good to get up there.”
Despite his red-hot recent form, Wellby said part of the lure of bull riding was that it was impossible to foreshadow how either he or his opponents were going to perform when the beasts started bucking on Friday night.
“All it comes down to is riding the bull in front of me and taking it as it comes,” he said.
Braydon Wellby shows he is a class act on and off the back of a bucking bull as he helps a young competitor after a fall at the 2023 Weipa Rodeo. Photo: Supplied.
