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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 3,2019
How bullfighters fared in Gainesville event
By Layne Saliba
DCN Regional Staff
Bulls made a visit to
the Chicopee Woods
Agricultural Center in
Gainesville on Saturday,
June 29, and they weren’t
there to be ridden. They
were there to fight.
Bullfighters Only made
its way to town with 15
bullfighters from around
the country to see who
could last the longest and
rack up the most points in
a minute against an angry
bull.
“This is a full-blown
action sport,” said Luke
Kaufmann, organizer for
the event. “And this is the
largest freestyle bullfight
ing event that’s been done
east of the Mississippi as
far as money and number
of contestants.”
Bullfighters stand in the
middle of the ring as a
bull is released and charg
es toward them. The bull-
fighter has to stay
engaged with the bull by
dodging it in whatever
way he can.
One of those contestants
was Weston Rutkowski of
Haskell, Texas. He’s a
three-time world champi
on bullfighter and was
ready to take on whatever
bull showed up to chal
lenge him. He’s been at it
for about eight years and
seemed destined to be in
the sport.
He grew up in a rodeo
family, and got his first
taste of bullfighting after
playing football in col
lege didn’t pan out.
“I fought a bull one day
and the rest is history,”
Rutkowski said. “I’m a
competitor at heart. I like
to know if I won or lost.
And fighting a bull, you
know immediately. You
either handled him and
won your match or you
got handled. It’s an
instant satisfaction or an
instant regret.”
He said it’s a humbling
sport — yes, it’s consid
ered a sport and the fight
ers are considered ath
letes — where one sec
ond he can “be on top of
the world and the next
second be underneath it.”
“I train like a football
running back,” Rutkowski
said. “Footwork drills,
conditioning, cone drills. I
need to be explosive, fast
and turn on a dime all in
the same 60 seconds. I
need to be fast enough to
get away but quick
enough to stop, turn and
go back toward (the bull).”
Rutkowski loves the
sport and the community
he’s found in it, but there
is one part he doesn’t
like: the waiting. The
anticipation as fight day
approaches gets to him
every time.
“You know you’ve got
to fight a bull that night,
but you’ve got to wait
until 7:30 at night,”
Rutkowski said.
For Andy Burelle, he
spends each bullfighting
round waiting. He’s used
to it because he’s the one
who jumps out in a barrel
to distract the bull when
the athlete needs to get
away for a moment.
That means Burelle can
go from hiding inside a
barrell to having his ear
ripped in half and needing
13 stitches, which is what
happened Friday night, in
a matter of seconds.
He used to fight bulls
himself, but as he’s gotten
older, he’s turned to pro
tecting the fighters.
“It’s like any other
action sport,” Burelle
said. “There's this adrena
line high and I love it.”
He said most people
come out to watch so they
can get a taste of that
adrenaline.
“I think that’s the biggest
thing is the danger factor,”
Burelle said. “It’s good to
go watch football or hock
ey or baseball or whatever
because it’s athletics. But
when you add athletics and
danger, now you’ve got
something to see.”
The Sanders family
from Homer was there in
Photos by Austin Steele DCN Regional Staff
Aaron Mercer is struck by a bull during the Bullfighters Only Southern Classic at Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center on
Saturday, June 29.
Weston Rutkowski leaps over a bull.
the stands getting its fill
of bullfighting for the
first time.
“We thought it would
be great for the little girl
to come out and enjoy
and so far she’s having a
blast,” Eli Sanders said.
His wife, Savannah,
was watching next to him
Flames and fireworks fire off as the show begins.
and had to laugh as she
was describing what she
thought of it all.
“Very interesting,”
Savannah Sanders said.
“It’s definitely something
I couldn’t do and definite
ly something he’s not
doing either.”
Even if their family
won’t be bullfighting any
time soon, their daughter,
Autumn, was enjoying
every second of it. When
asked what her favorite
part was, she only had
one word.
“Everything,” she said.
Attendees scream for free shirts during the
Bullfighters Only Southern Classic.
Dylan Idleman puts a barrel between himself and
a bull during the event.
Chance Moorman performs a backflip over a bull
during the Bullfighters Only Southern Classic.
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