Young Phenom Invited to Become Real Ironman
Fresh off winning the all-around championship at the National High School Finals Rodeo in July, teenage rodeo star Ketch Kelton of Mayer, Arizona, has accepted his first invitation to compete at the world’s most prestigious professional timed-event competition in 2025 inside the Lazy E Arena.
The Timed Event Championship of the World – where each cowboy competes in five different timed events and the eventual winner is dubbed rodeo’s “Ironman” – will be held in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Feb. 27 through March 1, with tickets going on sale November 7. Kelton will join a field that already includes champs like World Champion Team Roper and native Oklahoman Clay Smith and reigning and three-time champ Paul David Tierney, among others.
“I wasn’t expecting an invitation this soon,” said Kelton, 18. “It’s cool to have this opportunity at this young an age.”
The teenager is also the back-to-back champion of the Jr Ironman, or youth version of the Timed Event pinnacle. Kelton won that event in 2023 by breaking the aggregate record in heading, heeling, tie-down roping and steer wrestling to earn $20,000. He clinched the title again this spring to take home another $21,750.
Incidentally, the 2025 Jr Ironman contestants are also starting to be announced. Invitations were extended to top finishers from both the National Little Britches Rodeo Association Finals and the Cinch World Championship Junior Rodeo, including Colin Fox, Damian Padilla, Jake Holmes, Kreece Dearing, Jake Shelton, Wyatt Williams, Luke Tippman, Jesse Vesperman, Leo Loucks and Micah Kearney.
Kelton’s feats as a Jr Ironman prompted Lazy E’s general manager, Dan Wall, to personally invite him to take part in the pro competition along with 12 other contestants announced thus far. But Ketch also virtually grew up at the Timed Event Championships, considering his father, Chance Kelton, competed there 14 times and finished as runner-up a few of those years.
“There’s been a lot of preparation and coaching behind this,” Chance said after Ketch won his first Jr Ironman title. “He’s prepared his whole life. We’re Timed Event Championship guys, this is what we do.”
The younger Kelton said the best mental strategy at the grueling event is taking it one run at a time. The Timed Event Championships differs from the Jr Ironman in that it adds steer roping, which Kelton said will be his favorite discipline in 2025.
“It’s the funnest event, ever,” he said. “There’s just something about it that makes it so much fun. It takes more finesse than anything else.”
While he hasn’t competed as much in that event, Chance is a former National Finals Steer Roping qualifier who still ties steers at the house. As for the Timed Event Championships schedule, it prompts adrenaline and the need to hurry and get different horses ready. But that will be like what happened at the NHSFR, where young Kelton recently made the short round in heading, tie-down roping, steer wrestling and reined cow horse. In recent years, he’s been mistake-free on major stages in final rounds.
“I guess I take a final run like just another run,” he said. “You can’t think about it too much. It comes from all the jackpotting I’ve done. I grew up in the jackpotting capital of the world.”
Kelton is classified as an 8 header and 9 heeler, incidentally, in team roping’s Global system. It appears the newest rookie at the Timed Event Championships may be just as competitive next spring as the veterans.
The current field that has been announced to-date includes Paul David Tierney, Nelson Wyatt, Cody Doescher, Jess Tierney, Erich Rogers, Dylan Hancock, Thomas Smith, Marcus Theriot, Blane Cox, Russell Cardoza. Seth Hall, Tyler Pearson, Clayton Hass, Brushton Minton, Billy Good, Kolton Schmidt, K.C. Jones, Cade Rice, Colby Lovell, Justin Thigpen, Clay Smith. Kyle Lockett, Jojo Lemond, John Douch, and Ketch Kelton
Tickets go on sale November 22, for more information, visit lazye.com.
