Bull Rider Hangs On To His One Good Break
Newcastle Herald
Friday February 18, 2005
BREAK a leg is said for luck but as for the neck it is stretching a point.
Such is life for bull rider Nick Birch, who will marry the woman he fell for. "I met her a week before I broke my neck and I wouldn't have got to know her so well otherwise," the 24-year-old said.Bull riding has been his life since he was 15, growing up on his parents' dairy farm at Dartbrook, in the Upper Hunter.Serious injury has been Birch's lot."It is the same as any professional sport but it is my dream and I'm not about to give up," he said.Birch will ride at the Newcastle Show's Herald Hunter Pirates' Bullarama on March 4 and 5, which carries a $1000 prize. He suffered many of the injuries during bucking sessions after his day job as a water truck driver at Dartbrook coalmine.He was looking forward to riding with friends after talking to The Herald yesterday.He has competed on the US professional circuit but is yet to win a title."Every time I get close I get injured," Birch said.He is thinking of quitting at 30 or 35, "if my body lasts that long".Birch said the bulls he rode were "bred to buck". Given his steadfastness, perhaps the resilient rider could be described the same way.No prizes for guessing how he should spend his buck's night before his September wedding. The Bullarama is affiliated to the Rodeo Services Association and is bound by the animal welfare code of conduct of the National Rodeo Council. Bullarama animals will wear flank ropes, which have been criticised by animal rights organisations. The association said the ropes led the animal to buck in consistent pattern.
© 2005 Newcastle Herald