Taylor Santos dominates the Cinch Timed Event Championship, but fierce competition and surprise performances keep the Ironman title race wide open.
Cowboys from across the United States have been pouring into the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, this week for their chance at the Iron Man Championship. The Cinch Timed Event (CTEC) and Junior Cinch Timed Event Championship are both well underway, with the first few rounds down.
With last minute changes to the roster due to injuries, the final competitors for the CTEC list came down to: Dylan Hancock of Texas, Ketch Kelton of Arizona, Brushton Minton of California, Seth Hall of New Mexico, Kyle Lockett of California, Riley Wakefield of Nebraska, Paul D. Tierney of Oklahoma, Russell Cardoza of Oregon, Cody Doescher of Oklahoma, Zane Kilgus of Texas, Blane Cox of Texas, Erich Rogers of Arizona, Stetson Jorgenson of Idaho, Clayton Hass of Texas, Taylor Santos of California, Coleman Proctor of Oklahoma, Will Lummus of Mississippi, Quade Hiatt of Texas, Wesley Thorp of Texas, Dalton Walker of Arizona, JC Flake of Texas, Justin Shaffer of Texas, Nelson Wyatt of Alabama, Slade Wade of Texas, Tyler Worley of Arkansas, and Tyler Wade of Texas.
In this tough field of competitors, a few didn’t have the runs they needed and will not progress to the next rounds. The bottom five that were eliminated after the first two rounds include: Riley Wakefield, Nelson Wyatt, Slade Wood, Justin Shaffer, and Cody Doescher. They will surely be back to try their luck again in a future competition.
In the meantime, the rest of the cowboys are actively making a run for the money in round 3. So far, eyes have been on several special cowboys. Coleman Proctor is competing here for his first time and has shown that his years of experience have earned him the spot. Proctor won Round 2 with a time across all five events of 66 seconds. This will not only earn him $3,000 but will also put him in the second-place spot in the overall competition.
The current first-place overall leader is California’s Taylor Santos. Santos won the CTEC during his first time competing in it in 2020. He currently has a two-round aggregate score across events of 138.7 seconds.
After rounds 3 and 4, there will be an additional competitor cut. This will narrow down the field to the final 15. These fifteen cowboys left will have the chance to compete against each other during the fifth (and final) round.
While Santos and Proctor have been performing extremely well, other nice runs have been seen across the board, serving as a reminder that it could be anyone’s game to win. Ketch Kelton and Seth Hall had eye-catching runs as well. In fact, Ketch Kelton won round 1 and was also the champion of the whole event last year. Will he score another win? Or will Santos add a second? Perhaps Proctor will add his first, or another CTEC newcomer like Wesley Thorp will stop the clock the quickest.
With three rounds still to go, stay tuned to see who the world’s newest Ironman will be.