AIRDRIE, Alta. – Getting the call to come to the PBR’s premier Unleash The Beast is a milestone moment in any rider's career. 

For Canadian standout Tanner Eno, finding out his performance this fall was more than enough to give him two exemptions to the Unleash The Beast was a dream come true. 

The 26-year-old Coronation, Alberta native is into his fifth year competing in the PBR. After taking the majority of 2023 off due to injury, Eno made a mammoth run this past fall to qualify for the PBR Canada National Finals off the back of riding at just 14 events the entire season. 

“You are always chasing better,” Eno said. “I have a saying I have been going with, which is ‘brick by brick.’ I am building to where I want to get to. The end of 2024 was the start of who I want to be in 2025. I just want to be in the moment right now, don’t look too far ahead.”

“Enjoy the blessings I have right now and chase this dream I have had since I was a little kid. The end goal this year would be to get on tour, make a big push to make the PBR World Finals and then hopefully go to a team and chase that journey.” 

Receiving the news that he’d be competing on the biggest stage in bull riding brought a flurry of emotions to Eno.

“It was surreal to be honest when I got the message. I write down my goals and being on the Unleash The Beast is one of those goals, just further down the list. It’s a dream. This is for real, this is exciting, nerve wracking. It’s everything all in one emotion.” 

Eno is demonstrating veteran maturity in considering both the big picture alongside the day-by-day, out-by-out, jump-by-jump task at hand. 

“At the end of the day I remember my job is the same no matter where it is or how bright the lights are,” he said.

Eno will be competing at the next two PBR Unleash The Beast events in Manchester, New Hampshire (Dec. 20-21) and Albany, New York (Dec. 27-28). Fans can go to PBR’s YouTube Channel to see Eno and all the Unleash The Beast action both weekends.

One huge advantage that Eno has over most elite tour rookies is his familiarity with the events themselves. His father Darin has been a stock contractor in the PBR for two decades, hauling the explosive Unabomber, who was 2008 Rookie Bull of the World.

Darin also raised Nobody, a bull who is clearly somebody as four-time Bull of the Event in Canada in 2024 before being sold stateside, bucking twice at Unleash The Beast events and already becoming a fan favorite.

After tossing Dalton Kasel in 1.94 seconds during his debut in St. Louis, Missouri, marked 46.25 points, he was slotted for the championship round last weekend in Wichita, Kansas. Sage Kimzey became the first rider ever to cover Nobody, snapping his 8-out career buck off streak, scoring 91.75 points, with the bull marked 44.5 points.

“I have gone to these events for so long. The first one I went to was still called the Built Ford Tough Series, with dad and Unabomber. The lights are bright, everything at those events is the best of the best. It’s the NHL or NFL of our sport,” Eno said. 

“I remember sitting on the back of the chutes and J.B. Mauney was sitting next to me and I am just a little kid. I was shell-shocked. The atmosphere is amazing. Everyone there is a winner. I have always said this is where I want to be. This is the best of the best. But now I am one of those guys who gets to be at these events. It’s all the same, they might just buck a little harder, and I will have to be a bit faster.”

One part that makes his premier series debut special is who he will be there with, including good friend and 2024 PBR Canada Champion Nick Tetz. Eno says that having such a good friend with him will only give him more tools in his toolbelt this weekend.

“Nick was a guy that at my lowest of lows I really leaned on and who was there for me. He was short and sweet, he said he has got me. It means a lot when someone says they got you. I have got his back, too. We grew up together, high school rodeoed together and played hockey against each other. We have always pushed each other, and to go down there with him and have him be a guy reinforcing that I belong there, that I am good enough to be there, is special,” Eno said.  

“That is a big thing for me, I know I am good enough, but that belief that I deserve these shots to be the best in the world is important.”

Eno says he is excited to get down there and take it all in, surrounded by winners.

But there is one rider competing this weekend who Eno says he has looked up to for much of his career who will make joining the world’s top tour even more memorable. 
He happens to be the rider who put up a monster score last week on one of his dad’s former bulls.

“I try to go at my career like a sponge and take as much from as many people as I can,” Eno said. “The one guy in that locker room I am most excited to be around is Sage Kimzey. He is a guy I have watched and broke down my whole career. I am not there yet, but I feel when I am dialed in, I make it look easy. And I have always thought that Sage makes it look easy.”

“That’s someone who, whether I pick his brain or say nothing to him, just being able to hang my rope by him is special. Every guy in that locker room is someone you have to look up to at that level. You must show up because that is what they do. But Sage is someone I admire. He is a class act.”

Photo courtesy of Covy Moore/CovyMoore.com