CARNDUFF - Two young rodeo stars from Carnduff are among those who qualified to compete at an upcoming event in Las Vegas.
Piper Bigney, age 15, and Hayden Bigney of Carnduff, 17, will rope at the Mike and Sherrylynn Johnson Vegas Tuffest Jr. World Championships from Dec. 1-5. They will be among the 840 contestants from different states and four provinces.
The Tuffest Jr. Worlds happen during the first weekend of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
Hayden will be in the 19-and-under boys' tie-down roping and Piper will be in the 15-and-under girls breakaway roping.
"We held 38 qualifiers across the United States and Canada to give our rodeo youth an equal chance to make it to Vegas and the opportunity to win their share of $1 million-plus in cash and prizes," said Sherrylynn Johnson, the event's organizer and four-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo.
Mike Johnson, meanwhile, qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 23 times. He noted the event offers barrel racing, double mugging, goat tying, breakaway roping and tie-down rrping. There are different age groups, with 19U, 15U, 12U and 10U. Each champion will take home $10,000-$30,000 in cash.
"We're the highest stakes payout in four events for youth in rodeo history," he said.
The event will also be live-streamed at www.johnsonsportline.com.
