05/07/2024
Marlene McRae already had one of the ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ in ProRodeo barrel racing and on July 13, it will get just a little more stacked as she will be inducted into the PRCA ProRodeo Hall of Fame in its 2024 class.
โItโs definitely an honor and icing on the cake, the last part of the equation,โ McRae said. โ๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ.โ
Already highly decorated in youth rodeo, Marlene McRae exploded into the awareness of ProRodeo fans in 1983. Riding Dutch Watch, a renegade former race and reining competitor that McRae introduced to barrel racing, she qualified to her first of ten National Finals Rodeos (NFR).
Competing in Oklahoma City, then the home of the NFR, McRae ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐จ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ. In an epic conclusion, she won the 10th go round to clinch her first NFR average and claim the World Championship.
What followed was a string of eight consecutive NFR qualifications and an epic rivalry with the legend Charmayne James and her Hall of Fame horse, Scamper.
En route to those NFR qualifications, McRae and Dutch won nearly every major title available, some multiple times. She dominated in Calgary, winning the famed Calgary Stampede five times, still the most of any barrel racer in history. In fact, she was honored in 2018 by Calgaryโs Pioneers of the Rodeo with induction into their Hall of Fame.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง, ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐๐.
And it was in Calgary, but not at the Stampede, that she solidified one of the most unique accolades owned by any barrel racer, that of being both a WPRA World Champion and an individual Olympic Gold Medalist.
๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ โก๏ธ https://bit.ly/McRaeHOF24 โฌ
๏ธ and find more ProRodeo barrel racing coverage all year long, thanks to Equinety.
Image courtesy The Women's Professional Rodeo Association: (left to right) Charmayne James, Marlene McRae and Martha Josey-Josey Ranch at the 1988 Olympic Games.