“Now that’s a cowgirl,” the announcer said as Brookside Elementary School’s Lauren Flaherty, riding her sister’s horse, Rocky, rode their victory lap.
A month later, Lauren, a hard-working seventh-grader, headed to the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Gallup, N.M., because of her accomplishments on May 19, 2013 in the California state finals.
Lauren was California’s junior high school champion in pole bending, a rodeo-like event requiring precision horse riding, tenacity, speed and strength. She’d only been at it for two years.
A pole bending pattern is run around six poles. Each pole is 21 feet (6.4 meters) apart. The first pole is positioned 21 feet (6.4 meters) from the starting line. Pole bending involves weaving, in a series of repeating figure 8s, through the six poles and then reversing course and going back through them a second time. Knocking over a pole results in a five-second penalty.
1. What is the total length of the pole bending course? Give your answers in metres or feet. (Watch the video below to be sure you are clear on what makes up the entire course.)
2. What two ways can be used to calculate the answer?
“I’m a little scared,” said Lauren, a 12-year-old honor roll student. “The nationals are far away and very competitive. I’ll try my hardest.”
She earned the right to compete against contestants from 41 states and five Canadian provinces by riding her sister’s horse, Rocky, through six poles in a fixed line faster than 45 other junior high finalists in California.
Each competitor raced three times over three days. The times for each run were then added together.
Here are the finishing times for the top four competitors:
3. You be the judge. Add the times for the three runs and calculate their total finishing times.
4. In the 3rd Go round both Madison Hawkes and Payton Lopez finished with much slower finishing times. How do you account for this?
Lauren navigated the serpentine, barrel-racing-like event with crisp turns and laser-like focus and said the difference maker was “practice, practice, practice.”
“You have to trust your horse and yourself and believe that you can do it,” Lauren said. “I was nervous.”
The national competition took place June 23-29 and featured 1,000 contestants and was the world’s largest junior high rodeo. It’s definitely a step up – $75,000 in prizes and $100,000 in college scholarship funds.
Lauren, ever humble, credited others with helping her win. Her sister, Taylor gave her tips during practice and she rode her own horse, Ferdinand, during qualifying rounds.
Lauren summarized the priorities of her young life as rodeo, school and family. One of her grandmothers might add that she’s also a student of human perseverance.
“None of us expected her to win the entire state,” said Ruth Flaherty, her paternal grandmother.
“We were shocked. She was so nervous the night before competing that we thought she might cancel.” She made some personal history and earned a trip to New Mexico instead.
Would you like to see a video of a pol bending ride? Here’s Keanna Ward and her horse competing in a High School pole bending competition.
1. What is the total length of the pole bending course? Give your answer in metres or feet.
Answer: Metric: Step 1 – The total distance of 1 length of the course is 6.4 m + 6.4 m + 6.4 m + 6.4 m + 6.4 m + 6.4 m = 38.4 m. For the entire course however, riders must ride, first 1 length in a straight line, then two lengths riding through the serpentine, then race a final length back to the finish line. Step 2 – 38.4 m x 4 = 153.6 m. The entire course is 153.6 m long.
Imperial: Step 1 – 21 ft + 21 ft + 21 ft + 21 ft + 21 ft + 21 ft = 126 ft. One length of the course is 126 ft long. Step 2 – 126 ft x 4 = 504 feet. The entire course is 504 feet long.
2. What two ways can be used to calculate the answer?
Answer: Method 1: Each distance can be added together to get the length of 1 lap as was shown in the answer to question 1. OR Method 2: – use multiplication instead of addition to calculate the length of 1 lap (6 x either 21 feet or 6.4 m).
3. You be the judge. Add the times for the three runs and calculate their total finishing times.
Answer: Lauren Flaherty – 20.986 + 21.365 + 21.123 = 63.474
Sadie Levine – 21.625 + 22.969 + 21.418 = 66.012
Madison Hawkes – 21.015 + 21.179 + 26.907 = 69.101
Payton Lopez – 21.278 + 21.204 + 26.966 = 69.448
4. In the 3rd Go round both Madison Hawkes and Payton Lopez finished with much slower finishing times. How do you account for this?
Answer: They each must have knocked over a pole and received a 5 second penalty.
Photos:
Western pole bending by Noveltek1; CC BY-SA 3.0
Diagram of pole bending by Kelly; CC BY-SA 3.0
Pole Bending (slalom race) by Rob Bixby; CC BY 2.0
