Cheyenne Frontier Days featured some of the earliest competitive rodeo events for women, beginning with the Ladies Cowpony Races in 1899, when Anna McPhee, a ranch girl from north of Cheyenne, won the first race and received $45. Along with the Denver Post Ladies Relay Race, these contests formed the backbone of women's competition for nearly 50 years, and the women who entered them were among the first professional women athletes in the world. Prairie Rose Henderson became an early standout at Cheyenne Frontier Days after demanding a chance to ride in the cowboys' broncbusting contest in 1901 and being allowed an exhibition ride; for 25 years she remained a rodeo personality, competing in races, making exhibition rides on bucking broncos, and becoming one of the first trick riders. In 1912, the Wyoming Tribune reported her roughriding in a red velvet divided skirt and high boots, and later she became known for flamboyant outfits including Turkish Trousers, bloomers, a long fur-trimmed vest, a big hat, high boots, white silk stockings, and a mischievous grin; she also rode in Wild West Shows, traveled the circuit, won many prizes, and had several husbands. Another notable woman, Bertha Kaepernick of Sterling, Colorado, seized a chance in 1904 when bad weather and a cowboy strike threatened the contest at old Pioneer Park; she mounted a notoriously bad bucking horse, stayed on through its violent performance in the mud, and helped persuade the cowboys to compete so the show could continue. After World War I, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Committee promoted the event through Helen Bonham, dubbed Miss Wyoming, who under T. Joe Cahill's guidance rode a horse into Chicago's Congress Hotel to deliver an invitation from Governor Robert Carey to Mayor William Hale Thompson, rode up Fifth Avenue in New York City, and carried the McAlpin trophy as the award of the champion cowgirl; she represented Cheyenne Frontier Days from 1919 to 1921 before the later Miss Frontier tradition. Leona Trickey, a ranchowner from Oregon, dominated relay racing and bronc riding from 1920 to 1924, won the McAlpin Trophy in 1921, and was credited as the first woman to ride under the belly of a running horse. Mabel Strickland, married to champion cowboy Hugh Strickland, traveled the rodeo circuit with him in the 1920s in a specially adapted horse trailer that also served as their living quarters, helping pioneer life on the road; she won the McAlpin Trophy in 1922, learned to bulldog steers and rope from Hugh, and continued competing in relays and trick riding until 1941. In 1924, a delegation of cowgirls taken to England by promoter Tex Allen encountered jodhpurs, which soon replaced divided skirts and Turkish Trousers as rodeo style. The number of these competitors never exceeded 20 in a year, though many leading performers appeared, including Tad Lucas, Vera McGinnis, Bonnie Gray, Gene Kreig, Ruth Roach, Alice Greenough, and Marge Greenough. After Bonnie McCarroll was killed while competing at Pendleton in 1927, ladies' bronc riding was eliminated that year.