PORT ANGELES — With his head in a helmet and one arm thrown in the air, Justin Witherow clung to the back of a bull for just seconds before the bucking animal tossed him into the dirt Saturday.
He quickly rolled his body to avoid the bull’s strong hooves, stood up and returned to the sidelines less than a minute after leaving the gate.
“It’s fun,” said 14-year-old Witherow of Port Angeles, a Junior Rodeo competitor who held his own — though didn’t score — against adults at Saturday’s Northwest Professional Rodeo Association rodeo at the Clallam County Fair.
Hundreds of people packed the stands in the hot afternoon sun to watch cowboys and cowgirls rope and wrestle calves, race their horses around barrels and ride bucking horses bareback.
The rodeo attracts riders from Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and Washington, including a handful of competitors from the North Olympic Peninsula who just participate in this fair rodeo.
Most, such as Witherow and Sequim chiropractor Marty Warren, have spent their lives around horses.
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The rest of this story can be found in Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News.