General News
5 February, 2025
Mount Isa Rodeo enters a new era of leadership
The new committee held its first official meeting on Monday afternoon.
The new chair of the Mount Isa Rodeo committee admits there is a lot of work to be done between now and the second weekend in August, but says he and his new team are up for the challenge.
Mark “Tommo” Thompson was elected as the chair of the committee at the group’s first official meeting on Monday.
“We’re still in the process of setting up a new entity but it was a good meeting,” said Tommo.
“Everyone’s been given a few jobs to do and we’ll meet again in a couple of weeks.”
Ensuring that Mount Isa continues to put on the biggest rodeo possible was the priority, he said, which would then attract visitors to the city and the best cowboys and girls to compete.
“We want it to be a big show, mate,” said Tommo.
“Peter (Gosch) is starting to work out a budget but we know we want to lift the prizemoney if we can.
“I think Natalie (Flecker) had $12,500 for the open events and we’re going to try and do $15,000 if we can.”
However, Tommo is adamant that this year’s Mount Isa Rodeo will be affordable for families.
“The main focus for us is putting on a high quality rodeo at affordable prices,” he told North West Weekly.
“We want gate prices and drink prices to be affordable.
“Once we have a budget in mind, we’ll let you know about ticket prices, but they won’t be as expensive as last year.”
Tommo, who has competed in previous rodeos in Mount Isa and has also run the successful Great Northern Rodeo series, said he wanted the event to return to its Mount Isa roots.
The chair confirmed that the new committee would likely hire a staff member to help with the administration and day-to-day business of the Mount Isa Rodeo.
“That’s still to be worked out but we want to get an office back in Mount Isa,” Tommo said.
“The sponsors we have talked to have been very supportive and Glencore will stay on as the naming rights sponsor through Mount Isa Mines.
“We know we’ll need some money in the bank to get things up and running and we spoke at the committee meeting about getting a loan from the council to get up and running.”
Expect this year’s Mount Isa Rodeo to be held over three days instead of four, which will no doubt be welcome news for the Mount Isa Race Club, which has been forced to compete with the Mount Isa Indigenous Rodeo Championships in recent years.
“It’ll be a three-day rodeo – Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Tommo confirmed.
“We’re going to run the Indigenous rodeo on the Sunday morning and then all the finals will run after that so it’ll be back to what it was traditionally.”
Expect to see entertainment, but the days of paying big money for singers and bands are likely long gone.
“It’s a rodeo so we’ll have a band or some music, definitely, but we can’t be spending tens of thousands of dollars on flying in entertainers,” the chair said.
Flanked by recognisable local faces and representatives from Glencore, Mount Isa City Council and Rotary, Tommo said he was confident the committee picked by Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae and Traeger MP Robbie Katter were the right people to take the reins of the rodeo.
“I think we’ve got a very good committee; we’ve got some very good local business people that are switched on.
“They’re very keen to make this first show a success to show that it can be done and we can make a profit.
“We want to show the locals that we’re going to cut back on costs and hopefully get all their support. We should do really well come August, I think.”