The 20th Annual BBQ on the Bow in Calgary, AB Canada was this past weekend Sept. 1-2. http://www.bbqonthebow.com/ It was my first every BBQ competition. I had intended to attend another local one this summer but it got cancelled for this year at the last moment. This year the BBQ on the Bow competition was KCBS sanctioned and the head judges came up from San Diego.
For my first competition I just focused on the four meats and didn't participate in a sauce or chef's challenge competition that was held on Saturday. There were 35 teams at the event, and I believe 12 or so were first timers.
We had great weather save for a brief hail storm on Saturday, and we had a lot of fun. My team, Smoldering Dung BBQ, basically consisting of my wife and I and our chief taster, our 14 month old daughter, somehow managed to take 5th in Chicken and placed 24th overall. I was pleasantly surprised with the chicken call as I rarely even do chicken on my smoker and wasn't even planning to enter that category, but did after prompting by the organizer. I wasn't all that pleased with my output for the other categories as I feel like I've done better, but I came into the event with no expectations about getting a call at all so I'm pretty happy with where things ended up.
The overall champion for the 2nd year in a row was Jon Lord and his team, Lords of the Grill. It is my understanding that just a few days prior to the event he also received an invite to the Jack Daniels invitational next year, so good on him. I believe he's been smoking for the better part of 20 years.
Kevin
For my first competition I just focused on the four meats and didn't participate in a sauce or chef's challenge competition that was held on Saturday. There were 35 teams at the event, and I believe 12 or so were first timers.
We had great weather save for a brief hail storm on Saturday, and we had a lot of fun. My team, Smoldering Dung BBQ, basically consisting of my wife and I and our chief taster, our 14 month old daughter, somehow managed to take 5th in Chicken and placed 24th overall. I was pleasantly surprised with the chicken call as I rarely even do chicken on my smoker and wasn't even planning to enter that category, but did after prompting by the organizer. I wasn't all that pleased with my output for the other categories as I feel like I've done better, but I came into the event with no expectations about getting a call at all so I'm pretty happy with where things ended up.
The overall champion for the 2nd year in a row was Jon Lord and his team, Lords of the Grill. It is my understanding that just a few days prior to the event he also received an invite to the Jack Daniels invitational next year, so good on him. I believe he's been smoking for the better part of 20 years.
Kevin