Navajo Nation Fair Rodeo

First round winners looking to make Sunday’s short round

WINDOW ROCK

Every veteran taking part in the 70th annual Navajo Nation Fair knows what it’s like competing in final day of the weeklong event.

That is when the top 12 cowboys and cowgirls take part in the short round performance where the atmosphere reaches an all-time high.

“It’s always good to come back on that final day,” said Victor Begay, a nine-time Navajo Nation Fair team roping champion. “It’s packed and the crowd is always awesome.”

The Seba Dalkai cowboy made that first step at returning to Sunday’s final performance by placing first during the men’s timed event slack performance in the team roping event on Tuesday at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena.

On Tuesday, Begay recorded a 5.5 run with his son Derrick Begay to open up the world’s largest Indian Fair.

“It’s a good feeling to win the first round,” Victor said. “The steers are big and strong and some of them run.”

On Saturday, they will get their second steer with the top performers moving into the championship round.

As for their run, Victor said his son got a good start but during their run they ran into some trouble.

“We didn’t expect our steer to set up in the corner but he did,” he said. “I was pretty lucky that I roped him with two feet.”

With his son competing as a professional, the elder Begay said the fans are in for a real treat to see Derrick participating in the Fair since he missed the last nine years competing in the PRCA circuit.

“This year has been different for me,” Derrick said. “I stayed home a lot and I think a lot of people won’t really understand this, but this was one the best years that I have ever had.”

Surprisingly, the father-son duo will be gunning for their first ever title together here in Window Rock.

“I’ve won a couple of rounds with my dad and we won the first round one year when he was heading then,” Derrick said. “We came back for our second steer but I missed.”
Naturally, they are hoping to change that later this week.

“With what we did we’re fixing to win the average,” Victor said.

Following the Begay duo, there was a two-way tie for second with Kyle Tallsalt and Henry Benallie III recording the same time of 6.0 seconds with the Reggie Sells and Shariff Sells team.

Other first round winners on Tuesday included Brandon Boyd and Myron Lee.

Lee won the steer-wrestling event with a 4.4 run ahead of Kyle Dennison (5.1), Darryl Boyd (5.2), and Matthew Jodie (5.3).

Lee said he had a good start to win the round on Tuesday but he was more focused on catching his steer.

“Everything worked out but all I wanted to do was catch,” said the 2008 average champion.

As a regular, Lee said coming to the Navajo Nation Fair is a memorable moment, partly because most of the contestants are some of his good friends.

“I think I can speak for everyone, but this means a lot to us Indian contestants,” he said. “Every year this is what we look forward to.”

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