Omeo Rodeo in Omeo, Victoria | Sport & recreation

Omeo Rodeo

Locality: Omeo, Victoria

Address: 80 Bilton Street 3898 Omeo, VIC, Australia

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24.01.2022 Why Lane? It’s a question every one of us who knew and loved Lane Frost has asked countless times since July 30, 1989the day he died at the Daddy of ’em All in... Cheyenne. Lane had it all. He was talented, handsome, young and especially gifted with people. Lane was just 25 years old when he left, so full of life and with so much more to do. He'd be 55 now, and we all wonder what Lane would have done with that second half a life he hasn’t been here for. Part of what amazes his family and friends the most is how legendary and popular Lane has remained. He’s not just never been forgotten. He’s unforgettable. To this day, when a cowboy kid (born long after Lane died) finds out any of us knew Lane he’ll sit mesmerized for hours, asking for every detail of that smile and style this world will never get enough of. That’s leaving a lasting impression. I got to know Lane and his best friend and fellow World Champion Bull Rider Tuff Hedeman in 1987, back when the rodeo season ran the calendar year and I took my first full-time job out of college writing cowboy stories for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Lane had a way of making you feel like family about five minutes in, and I have fond memories of sharing rental-car rides in rodeo towns like Reno with them that year. I had the privilege of stepping out onto the Thomas & Mack Center dirt for Lane’s first world championship interview seconds after he clinched the gold buckle at that year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. I love looking back on that night, because to use one of Lane’s favorite phrases, he was plumb tickled and truly happy. Our PRCA stock contractor friend John Growney got the renowned seven-ride Champions Challenge match on in 1988, between his and Don Kish’s previously retired and unridden in his 309-ride career 1987 World Champion Bull, Red Rock, and 1987 World Champion Bull Rider Lane. It was a simple yet brilliant concept that caught fire even with the mainstream media, and Lane called me like clockwork before and after every ride. Red Rock jumped out with the early 2-0 lead, but Lane rallied and they were even at 3-3 going into the final Champions Challenge showdown on July 25 in Spanish Fork, Utah. Lane rode Red Rock that night, and made headlines in places rodeo had never been before. That next 1989 season had some injury-related ups and downs for Lane. But he always found a way to ride and win his way out of the occasional slumps. We were all laughing back behind the bucking chutes before the rodeo that day. Our late friend George Michael was interviewing Lane and Tuff for his George Michael Sports Machine Show on NBC, and Lane was slapping his leg and laughing up a storm. The silver dental apparatus holding his teeth in tight after they were loosened in a bull riding wreck not long before didn’t stop Lane from lighting up that dark and dreary day at the Cheyenne Frontier Days with his Hollywood smile. I was running back and forth between the timed-event end and the bucking chutes, interviewing each event’s champion as short-round Sunday unfolded. I naturally stopped taking notes to watch Lane’s ride, and it was a great one on Bad Company Rodeo’s Takin’ Care of Business. Lane wasn’t known for pretty dismounts, so his landing was not unusual. The bull took a poke at him with a horn on the way by, but the give in that muddy arena seemed a good enough shock absorber. We’d all seen Lane walk away from much worse looking wrecks. What made me run toward the bucking chutes from the timed-event end was when he got to his feet and waved for help before falling back down. Even Tuff revered Lane’s toughness. I took off running, sick that it looked like Lane would likely return to the injured reserves. When I’d almost reached the medic station back behind the bucking chutes, where I figured they’d taken Lane, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of another bull rider sobbing with his head against a fencepost. I stopped and put my hand on his back. They say Lane didn’t make it, he managed. I whirled around in time to see Tuff jump in by Lane’s side just before they slammed that ambulance door. I ran to my truck and headed for the hospital. I was met in the parking lot by Tom Reeves, a South Dakota saddle bronc rider who years later would win the world and be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Like that bull rider leaned up against that fencepost, Tom,too, was crying when he hugged me right there in that hospital parking lot. I was still running on adrenaline and denial. What finally stopped me was the sight of Cody Lambert stumbling out the front steps of that hospital on the brink of collapse. Tuff stayed with Lane while they unplugged all the tubes and machines used to try and pull off a medical miracle. He gave Lane a hug and a kiss, told him he loved him and said, See ya. Tuff then had the terrible task of calling Lane’s folks, Clyde and Elsie, before flying Lane back to Oklahoma one last time. Tuff knew the situation was serious from that first wave for help. Lane had the kind of toughness that if he had two broken legs he’d have walked out of the arena, Tuff said. His pain tolerance was very high. When we were in that ambulance, I was hoping and praying. A million things were going through my head, but I knew it was bad. They tried to revive him in the ambulance, and kept going in the emergency room. But Lane was gone before he left the arena. Losing Lane changed Tuff. But then knowing him inside that brotherly bond they shared did, too. And all for the better. By the time Lane died, Lane and Tuff, or Tuff and Lane rolled off the tongue easier than either name on its own. They first met at the 1980 National High School Finals Rodeo in Yakima, Washington, where Lane was the reserve champ. A year later, Lane won the National High School Rodeo Association national bull riding title at the finals in Douglas, Wyoming. When we first met in high school, Lane was already the guy, Tuff said. It was already Lane Frost this and Lane Frost that. It was the first time I’d ever heard of him, and all the kids were just in awe of him. When I met him I didn’t want to like him, because he was everything any of us wanted to be. He was kicking ass, and everybody wanted to be him. They all wanted to be his friend. I think he could see I wasn’t like that. He was so used to everybody telling him how cute he was, how cool he was and how great he was, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t even want to like him when we first met. But you really couldn’t help but like him. Compared to Tuff’s rough edges, Lane was so naturally polite and personable. Lane changed me more than any single person, Tuff says. Just in the way he conducted himself and handled things. He was outgoing and just so nice. He never met a stranger. I, by nature, was pretty shy. And I didn’t have all of his social graces. He was one of those guys who always wanted to do what was right and what you’re supposed to do. He was truly a good guy. And cowboy to the core. Elsie tells of Lane sleeping through Clyde’s rodeos, but always rising and shining just in time for the bull riding. The first time I noticed it was at San Antonio a few months after Lane was born, Elsie remembers. When the bull riding started he’d wake up and get wide-eyed. I just thought it was the noise at first. But if I tried to leave during the bull riding, he would cry. And if I turned around to go back in, he would stop. There was just something about bull riding that fascinated Lane. As Lane got a little older and was a toddler, I had to get his attention to watch Clyde (who qualified for the first-ever NFR in 1959, among others) in the bareback riding, then he’d go back to playing in the dirt. But when the bull riding started, he’d be glued to that arena with both hands on the fence. It was just amazing. By all accounts, including Clyde, Elsie and Tuff’s, bull riding great, family friend and mentor Freckles Brown had a huge influence on Cowboy Lane. Lane always looked up to Freckles, and Freckles was the god of bull riders in his era, Tuff said. Freckles told Lane, ‘If you’re going to be a champion, you need to be a great champion and represent yourself and your sport in a positive way.’ Lane took that to heart, and he lived it. Back in the day, a lot of cowboys were viewed as a bunch of renegade outlaws who blew into town once a year, but Freckles told Lane that in order for rodeo to grow and be popular he needed to be one of the guys who helped make it better. Lane listened to Freckles. He really did. Win, lose or draw, he never disappointed a fan. So many parts of the movie 8 Seconds were fictionNo. 1 being that Clyde was less than impressed by his son and impossible to please. But the part about Lane leaving his traveling partners waiting while he kissed babies and signed autographs was for real. And he didn’t just sign his name. He engaged in complete conversations about the cattle market, hay crop or whatever else people wanted to talk about. He looked those people in the eye, and remembered them the next year. Five minutes and they were his friends and fans for life. Losing Lane changed how I look at everything, Tuff said. I never thought that could happen to one of the great ones. When I lost Lane, I thought, ‘Wow. This can all go away tomorrow.’ I’ve never really been one to hold back. I always lived for today. But losing Lane really reinforced that. In Lane’s absence, Tuff took the time for every last fan. They’re both Hall of Fame cowboys, but still today Tuff signs every last autograph, looks each person in the eye and goes out of his way to make others’ day. I asked Tuff what he thought Lane would be up to today, besides a lifetime leader of the bull riding pack. Lane knew he couldn’t ride forever, and we talked about what we needed to do while we were riding so that when we quit rodeoing we didn’t have to get a job working the stripping chute, Tuff said. Lane and the Gaylord family started it all for bull riding in terms of the best guys and the best bulls, when they put together the first Bullnanza at the Lazy E (Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma) in 1989. That event became a tribute to Freckles and Lane after Lane died (Freckles died in 1987, and Lane spent as much time as possible by his side in the hospital). That was one of the first events that revolutionized bull riding, and made it possible for the best guys to ride for a lot more money. But Lane’s true love was being outside on a ranch. He loved cattle, and winning was how he was making that happen. He loved ranching and ranch work. After Freckles died Lane leased his place from Freckles’ widow, Edith, and bought their cows. He was making payments on those cattle to get them paid off. When Lane died, Clyde asked Tuff if he wanted to partner on those cows, which he did. Tuff and Lane had also partnered on some yearlings as part of their cowboy diversification plan. We sure miss him popping in from the rodeos, Elsie said. When he got home he couldn’t get things done fast enough. He’d always have things lined out that needed to be done, and he’d jump up every morning and run to the barn. Clyde was already down there. It was almost like a little tornado came through and hit the house. Lane loved Elsie’s spaghetti and chocolate cake, and she loved how he’d dive into that spaghetti cold, straight from the fridge when she had it waiting for him. It’d be interesting to get a head count on the number of kids named Lane, but Tuff and I both proudly stuck that brand on our first-born boys. I guess it doesn’t surprise me to still see Lane’s parents there in their same seats right behind the bucking chutes year after year at the NFR, cheering for everyone else’s kids after the heartbreaking loss of their own. Still, I marvel at it every time. If we walked away from rodeo we were going to lose all our friends and all of Lane’s friends, Elsie said. We sure didn’t want to do that. Lane wouldn’t have changed anything about what he did or how he lived. We just couldn’t see not continuing on. Leaving rodeo wasn’t an option for us. We know where Lane is. It still hurts, but that’s such a comfort. Lane was always so tickled when someone asked him for an autograph. He must be blown away that he’s still getting so much attention. I can just see him grinning and rubbing his hands together. And you haven’t heard the last of the Frost family in rodeo. The last thing my younger son, Taylor, and I did before leaving the 2013 National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and racing to Spanish Fork, Utah, to see Lane and Growney inducted into that rodeo’s Hall of Fame that summer was have breakfast with Lane’s cousin Shane Frost and his family. Our kids are cousins, and it’s been fun seeing a brotherly bond build between our boys. Joe, who 29 years after Lane won the national high school bull riding title in 2010, is named after his late grandpa, Shane’s dad and Clyde’s brother Joe (who married Lucille Karney). My son Lane (Karney) was in Joe and Kylee's wedding. Lane and Joe’s little brothers, Taylor and Josh, are hitting it pretty hard out there on the rodeo trail right now. Lane Frost left such a strong legacy and impacted our lives in profound ways. He brought a few of us together and built such a tight bond between us that it'll never be broken. These days, I judge ultimate friendships on who I am absolutely certain would run into a burning building for me. Let’s just say that to save me you’ll have to outrun Tuff and Growney. And I would do the same for them. Clyde and Elsie, Sue Rosoff, the late George Michael and Luke Perry. We were an unlikely cast of characters. But Lane knew we needed each other. So he made it happen. The legend of Lane Frost lives on. Lane had a great life, Tuff said. He did exactly what he wanted to do. Nobody gets out of here alive, and he made a pretty great exit. He kicked ass and took names at a great rodeo, then he left. Losing Lane is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life. I still think about him every day. ~ P.S. This is not a day we celebrate, but it’s one we’ll never forget. Before I head out to the porch to have dinner with my son Lane, I feel the need to say something to you, Marty Staneart. As we've talked every now and then these last 30 years, I've sensed somethingsurvivor's guilt, maybeabout your unforgettable 93-point ride on Mr. T at the 93rd annual Daddy the day Lane died. Please know that we all view that ride as nothing short of spectacular. Lane was a "May the Best Man Win" guy, and he was as pumped for you as anyone. I know you'd toss those 93 points in the trash in a heartbeat to have Lane back. We'd all do that and then some. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. We're all really proud of you for that ride of a lifetime, including our cowboy angel, who as you know was sincerely happy for his friend's successes. It's just how Lane rolled. Great ride on Mr. T, Marty. . . . #cowboy #lanefrost #rodeo #bullrider #bullriding #bullriders #cheyenne #cowboys #tuffhedeman Official NFR Experience Tuff Hedeman Cheyenne Frontier Days

24.01.2022 The cowgirl to beat. Landry Hauge leads the average in Barrel Racing at the Junior High Finals Rodeo. Tune-in for the rest of the week on the Ariat RidePass Summer of Rodeo Series to see if the South Dakota cowgirl can run away with the title.

23.01.2022 Ready for our Easter Saturday rodeo! The forcast is for 27 so don't forget your sunscreen and hat. (And your mask, just in case.)

22.01.2022 Champion stuff!!!

21.01.2022 Coffee withdrawal. If you own a coffee van business and are interested in being at the Omeo rodeo please drop us a message.

19.01.2022 #frostfriday In honor of #lanefrost and the start of Cheyenne Frontier Days We originally posted this back 2016 when we received the hat back from Jim Sharp. ... The hat #lanefrost was wearing during his last ride. For almost 27 years no one had seen it, Jim Sharp had it put away safe and sound. He sent the hat back to my grandparent Clyde and Elsie Frost. When we opened the box I got chills !!! It was still covered in mud and still had a feather in it. Pictured above is Grandpa Clyde Frost (Lanes dad), the first person to wear it since #july #30th #1989 ... #legend Championship Bull RidingLane FrostBull riding LANEFROST.com #LF #lanefrostbrand

16.01.2022 "Please check the Victorian Government COVID-19 Rules regarding the new outbreak in Queensland if you have travelled from there recently. Please DO NOT ATTEND the Omeo Rodeo if you have ANY SYMPTOMS of COVID-19" A Full COVIDsafe Event Plan is completed and available on request.... https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-upda

14.01.2022 Hi everyone, Please note - no dogs at the rodeo thank you. There is limited camping in the paddock next to the rodeo grounds. The owner is kindly letting us use the paddock so make sure your camp sites are cleaned up when you leave. No camping in the Rec Reserve. There is a caravan park in Omeo, showers available for $5. Please call in at the caravan park office if you want to use them.... See you all Easter Saturday! See more

12.01.2022 Good old Overlander @ Omeo '19 Photo cred Petrina Lee #equinefinancesolutions

11.01.2022 This is what ‘wild & free’ looks like!!

10.01.2022 Mick Speedy winning the Australian buckjump championship at Emerald Queensland 1957 on the left and a champion bloke. And a name gone but not forgotten Lance Skuthorpe, happy trails

09.01.2022 Don't forget our sister rodeo, Buchan running Easter sunday after Omeo. https://www.facebook.com/BuchanRodeo

01.01.2022 Well, Omeo dodged a bullet today. The main fire was first pushed by a nw wind, heading straight for town. The wind shifted more northerly about mid day, pushing the fire towards the Mt Hotham side of town. There were a few spot fires in town but they were pounced on. The arena and grounds are unburnt, not sure if the lawn mowing at 11pm last night would have made any difference. Our thoughts are with cobungra residents who bore the brunt of this particular fire.

01.01.2022 When he was a little boy, Lane would sleep through the rodeo until it was time for bull riding, Frost said. He would ride the arm of the couch, and had a hor...se on wheels he pretended was a bull. We enjoyed watching young Lane trying to make bucking bulls out of our dairy calves, remembered Frost. The movie 8 Seconds, according to Frost, has many differences in the real story of Lane. After reading one of the first scripts for the movie, Frost rejected it. It had foul language and just wasn’t what Lane was about. I sat up one night, went through the entire script, and wrote it the way I thought it should be, said Frost. One week before filming, the director who was hired liked the first script and that is what they used to film the movie. The movie was filmed in San Antonio. Kellie Frost (Lane’s wife) was on location during the entire filming working as a consultant. New Line Cinema paid for Elsie and Clyde Frost to be on location as often as they chose to be. Not knowing what actors would be portraying Lane, Kellie or Tuff, Frost said she was pleased with those selected. When I saw Luke Perry all dressed up as Lane, the resemblance took my breath away. I was so pleased with Luke’s portrayal of Lane, said Frost. As portrayed in the movie, Frost was eager to say that the relationship between Lane and his dad was a great one, nothing like the movie portrayed. Cody Lambert never wrote any poetry either, Frost said. And the trailer with the guitar painted on it? No, they never lived in a trailer with a guitar painted on it, Frost said with a chuckle. There were some rough times in his marriage to Kellie, but nothing they didn’t overcome. His friendship with Tuff Hedeman was a strong and competitive friendship. The one truth in the movie was the scene of the accident that cost him his life. They portrayed that scene pretty much true to life, said Frost. I knew when Tuff called that something was wrong, I asked him, how bad is it? Frost said. Tuff’s response was, they just pronounced him dead. Told by Elsie Frost (Lanes Mother)