Golden Circle of Champions helps raise awareness and funds to help children battling pediatric cancer
On the third night of the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, bull rider Tristen Hutchings had scored the highest-marked ride of the 10-day championship to that point.
He matched Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Smokin Hott for a 90.5-point ride to win the round. It was the culmination of a big day for Hutchings, a four-time NFR qualifier from Monteview, Idaho. He won the round, which meant a trip to the South Point Hotel Casino stage for the go-round buckle presentation.
That’s where he shared some details about his day, part of which was spent with children during the Golden Circle of Champions Day. He was paired with Casyn Cates, who was just two years old when he was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoma in February 2022. Casyn and his mom, Cashlee, joined him on stage.
“This is actually my champion today,” Hutchings said. “He’s actually had to fight hard.”
A lot of kids have had to fight diseases like Casyn’s. That’s how Golden Circle of Champions was founded in 2016 in partnership with the Santa Maria (Calif.) Elks Rodeo. The organization helps raise awareness and funds to distribute to families of children who are battling cancer.
Each year, 20 children and their families are honored on opening night of the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo. The children take part in a dinner and meet contestants, then they watch the rodeo from a specially reserved section in the grandstands. The money raised through Golden Circle of Champions is used by families to fulfill their most urgent needs.
The organization also has its day in Las Vegas during the NFR, and dozens of cowboys and cowgirls take part. From world champions to many-time qualifiers to Sin City rookies, they turn out to spend the day with children who have been in a dogfight with cancer. In Casyn’s case, he’s in remission, but others involved over the years have been in the middle of the fight while sitting inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
“Our goal is to bring the much-needed education and awareness, locally and nationally, to pediatric cancer and to offer a ray of hope to the families that are navigating through this journey,” the organization’s founder, Tina Tonascia, said in a statement on the Golden Circle of Champions website.
“They desperately need our help as a community, and we want to let them know we are here for them. It is our job to tell their story about pediatric cancer in the hopes that one day we will be able to make a difference.”
What began as a local campaign expanded in 2018, the first year of the NFR event. The group worked in conjunction with the PRCA, Las Vegas Events, Red Bluff Round-Up and Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation to honor 24 children from across the country that year. It has become an event the NFR contestants appreciate.
“I was in a poor mood, and then I got to participate,” Hutchings said Dec. 6 while looking at Casyn on the South Point stage. “I know this one personally. I’ve been cheering him on for two years. Being there brightened my mood, and it reminded me how blessed I am.”
Cattlemen’s Days in Gunnison, Colo., has a longstanding history of giving back. For years, it was one of the top Tough Enough to Wear Pink events in PRORODEO. Over the last couple of years, the volunteer committee has transitioned its beneficiary to Golden Circle of Champions.
“Our purpose was always to give back, and I think we’ve done that very well over the last 20 years,” said Karla Rundell, an officer on the Gunnison committee. “Kids are our future. Cancer is devastating enough, but children with cancer hits everyone hard, which is why we are now dedicated our giving to the Golden Circle of Champions.”
Pediatric cancer is nothing new, and neither is the fight against it. More rodeos are getting involved in that battle.
“We want to walk beside these families and give them a helping hand,” Rundell said. “We want to tell the story of pediatric cancer, because we hope that will make a difference.”
-PRCA
