Brown featured on Rundown for Life flyer

Rainbow’s Lori Brown and her horse Bud are featured on the flyer for Rundown for Life, a June 1-3 mounted shooting competition in City of Industry which will raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

The photo was taken during a Ghost Town Riders match in Norco in early 2007. Brown is also featured on a video which provides background about the event and is aired on the Website of Rundown Rodeos, the organization hosting Rundown for Life. “It’s an honor,” Brown said of being on the flyer.

“She’s just a picture perfect rider,” said Rundown for Life founder and organizer Robyn Renner. “She always dresses so elegantly.”

Renner noted that Brown’s attributes aren’t limited to being photogenic. “Lori is a fantastic person. She’s one of those people who just never complains. She’s helpful,” Renner said.

Brown’s father, Jerry, will participate in a cancer survivors’ run which will be part of the weekend at the Industry Hills Expo Center. Jerry Brown, who has survived skin cancer, will likely shoot in a special competition for cancer survivors only. Lori Brown’s maternal grandmother passed away from cancer in the 1950s, and Brown will be participating in memory of her grandmother.

Brown and her parents also participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade with the Spirit of the West Riders, who ride for the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.

“I’m looking forward to an exciting and great shoot that’s also fantastic because it’s going to a good cause,” Brown said. “The prize money is always the lure, but it’s such a great cause.”

The prize money is the highest in the history of a mounted shooting contest. The winner in each of four divisions (Lori Brown will shoot in the Ladies’ 4-6 division, based on her Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association and Single-Action Shooting Society levels, while Jerry Brown will likely shoot in the Men’s 1-3 division as well as in the cancer survivors’ contest) will receive $10,000, and the shooters with the overall top ten times after the division competition will compete in a runoff for a Ford Truck.

“This isn’t just a local venue shoot,” Renner said. “We have contestants coming from all over the country.”

Sponsors have provided a significant amount of the prizes, which will also be paid to top finishers in addition to the first-place shooter and will total more than $100,000 in money and merchandise. Entry fees are $500 apiece, and contestants are seeking donations which are tax-deductible with checks payable to Rundown Rodeos rather than to the rider. “For my sponsorship any amount is greatly appreciated,” Lori Brown said.

Brown will likely ride once on Bud and once on Ben, so she will be raising $1,000 for entry fees. Any donations beyond the entry fee, as well as the entry fee itself, will be given to the American Cancer Society.

Renner was born and raised in Covina. She is a survivor of squacamous carcinoma, which gave her one tumor on each eye, two on her nose, and two on her jawline. From 2000 to 2003 she was totally blind, but vision in one eye returned and in April 2006 surgery was performed to restore vision in the other eye.

“I just became very thankful,” Renner said. “I felt obligated to do something.”

Renner utilized the mounted shooting contest as a way to give back to cancer treatment. “I love the sport of mounted shooting so much I figured I’d put the two together.”

Renner is a member of CMSA, SASS, and Mounted Shooters of America, although Rundown for Life will not be sanctioned by any of those organizations.

Renner took up mounted shooting three years ago, despite being blind in her left eye at the time, after seeing a mounted shooting video at an equestrian fair. “I wanted to get into some kind of competition,” she said. “I was not going to die without getting a buckle on my horse.”

Renner, who currently lives in Lake Arrowhead, has six horses. She uses Trenton for mounted shooting.

The weekend’s festivities will also include Western entertainment. “It’s shaping up to be a really great event,” Brown said. “I’m looking forward to it.”