By Howard Poole, MABA Board member and pitmaster of Plum Crazy BBQ. 

It’s not often that BBQers get associated with Ironman competitions. Most of us aren’t considered brisk joggers, let alone a group known for running through intense triathlons. Yet, at the beginning of April, teams come from miles around to try their hand at the Ironman KCBS Contest in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Instead of running or swimming, teams are tasked with cooking old school. That means no electronics, and limited meat per each team. It is an intense match to find out who truly knows the smokers they use, and who can pull off near perfection with so little room for error.

Teams started Friday night with the Ironman Steak Cook-off. A lot of great steaks were turned in, and even though it rained most of Friday evening, the rain did let off in time for new SCA reps Keith and Angel Todd to announce the winner. Congrats to Michael Rosenthal of Dr. Pearls Medicinal Smoke on achieving Grand Champion at the cook-off, and for securing the golden ticket to the World Steak Championship!!!

Friday night broke into some great early April weather (woohoo Ironman!!) and made for some great cooking conditions. To truly give the Ironman its namesake, teams must take the meat into account. Teams are allowed to cook 1 pork butt, 1 brisket, 1 rack of ribs, and 7 chicken thighs max. So if one mistake is made, it could cost a cook big. Even with all of these extra challenges, teams came back with some great scores, and turned out some fantastic BBQ. Congratulations to Wolf’s Revenge BBQ for the Grand Championship and to Piggin Whiskey on RGC.

Click here for full results