Matt Wikum qualified for the NTR National Eight Finale at the Red, White & Blue tour stop in Gill, Colo., in July heeling for Josh Clarkson.
“My wife, Robin, and I tried to qualify for the National Nine last year. We went to three or four trying to get that done but didn’t get it, so I was happy to get that Eight spot knocked out this summer. We’re still going to try our best to get qualified for the National Nine too.”
With multiple National Eight and National Nine qualifiers remaining between January 1 and the NTR National Finals at Rancho Rio in March, Matt and Robin are going to give it all they’ve got for their shot at the $100,000 prize awarded in each division.
“Ty’s ropings are just so fun,” Robin said. “They move them right along—they can get 300 teams and it doesn’t feel like they have 300 teams.”
The Wikums have owned a winter residence in Arizona for eight years. They bought their first place in Wickenburg after visiting family during a blizzard in their home state of Colorado. But it wasn’t until they finished raising their four kids (Austin, 25, Jay, 24, Taylor, 21, and Tyler, 21) and sold their business, Energes Services (formerly Riata Roustabout and Backhoe Service Inc.), two years ago that the couple of 16 years could really start enjoying all that the Grand Canyon State has to offer. They relocated from Wickenburg to nearby Whitman.
“We can rope as much or as little as we want,” Robin explained. “When we’re down here we are generally roping four or five times a week, sometimes more.”
And Matt agrees, “We can spend a lot more quality time on our horses because of the weather. We can tune our horses and tune our own roping and there’s never a problem finding someone to rope with. We’ve gotten a little more consistent with the amount we can do. There’s so much at our level of roping, Robin can go to the 7s and 8s and I can go to the 9s and 10s and we can rope together too.”
Matt grew up in a ranching family near the small Front Range town of Berthoud, Colo. He came up through the ranks of Little Britches and high school rodeo followed by a couple years of college rodeo, but was always a tie-down roper and steer wrestler.
“I went to ProRodeos for quite a few years,” he said. “I filled my permit around 2008, I think I was 38 when I filled it. I probably didn’t have as much success as some but we really enjoyed it.”
Eventually he phased out of the steer wrestling adding more and more team roping to the mix. At the same time, Robin quickly realized she wasn’t one to sit in the bleachers and watch her husband rope.
With little prior horse experience she learned to breakaway rope soon after the two were married and they competed side by side at many of the Colorado Professional Rodeo Association and Wyoming Rodeo Association rodeos.
“I got sick of opening the chutes really fast,” she laughed. “I said, ‘Get me a horse and get me a rope.’ The hardest part was probably learning to ride at the same time I was learning to rope.”
As their business flourished, the Wikums didn’t get to rodeo or rope as much as they would have liked but in the last four years the opportunity began to present itself more and more. Robin transitioned from breakaway roping to heading and the two are now self-proclaimed, “avid team ropers.”
Matt still ropes a lot of calves in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association, where Robin competes with him in the ribbon roping.
“We really enjoy those Senior Pro Rodeos,” Matt said. At press time they had just returned to Arizona after competing in the NSPRA Finals in Las Vegas and were embarking on their third full winter in Arizona.
During the summers the Wikums call Fort Collins, Colo., home. They live on a small lake north of town where they are able to regularly keep up with their other pastime on the water. Both have been avid boaters and water skiers most of their lives.
“If we’re not roping we’re probably skiing or surfing,” Matt said. “That’s the one hold we still have on the kids to get them to come hang out.” This summer the duo won their first buckle together at a local jackpot at Blake Nelson’s Arena in Longmont, Colo.
“That was actually my first buckle team roping,” Robin said. “And our fi rst buckle together so that was fun. Matt has really been the inspiration for me to rope. He’s the cowboy—I just started so I’d have something to go do with him.”
Robin is looking forward to potentially qualifying for the National Nine or National Eight Finale herself.
“I think that would be really fun. I’ve got two horses right now. One has been hurt all summer and I’m just bringing her back. I probably rope a little better on my Paint horse, but it will be good to have them both and get more practice in. We brought our 3-horse bumper pull down this year so I can go my own way when Matt wants to go the higher-numbered ropings. I’m looking forward to going a little more.”
Still contemplating joining the snowbird revolution? The Wikums agree, “Just come down and try it. As soon as you do you’ll get hooked.”
