By Brenda Starkey
Chronicle correspondent

     Two city slickers came to Republic last weekend intending to check bull riding off their life-long to do list.
     The men from Spokane traveled to the Republic Family Rodeo Saturday, July 28, because they heard they’d be able to pay an entry fee to participate in the bull riding event.
     Ben Hatcher and Bob Cunningham have been friends since their high school days, according to Ben Hatcher’s dad Lyle Hatcher. In those days they were all-city soccer players.
     Lyle Hatcher said he tried to talk his son out of this bull riding plan, but was unsuccessful, in part because the senior Hatcher also rode a bull when he was younger.
     “He said ‘No one stopped you,’” Lyle Hatcher said.
     Ben Hatcher, who was in the Coast Guard on September 11, 2001, was picked to serve in the Special Forces, according to his dad.
     He had tours in Iraq and Somalia. He was part of the first group of U.S. military personnel to aid victims of the Dec. 2004 tsunami, Lyle Hatcher said.
     Ben Hatcher is presently training to become a firefighter paramedic.
     Cunningham meanwhile earned a business degree and works for the city of Airway Heights.
     Justin Luhr, who works with Cunningham, told them about the Republic Family Rodeo.
     So, maybe duty in the special forces is good preparation for riding a bull.
     Although none of the five competitors in the over-17 bull riding event managed to stay on his bull for the required eight seconds, Hatcher came away with the longest ride.
     He hung on for 3.9 seconds, nearly half the required ride and appeared happy with his ride.
     Luhr, who is not considered a city slicker, had a 3.4-second ride.
     Cunningham stayed on his bull for 1.9 seconds, not the shortest in the competition.
     Neither man said whether he would try again.
     Lyle Hatcher was somewhat incredulous with his son’s accomplishment. He recalled a 10-year-old Ben Hatcher who wasn’t much of a horseman.
     “The horse took off into someone’s yard and I had to go get him,” Lyle Hatcher said.
     Still, Lyle Hatcher is obviously a proud dad.
     “These are just super young men,” he said.