By Brent Walton

Like last year we really looked forward to this contest. It is a good one! It is set up by a great community Ò the people of Boulder City" they are building this contest into one of the best. We had some wind to contend with this year but were able to deal with it. We also could stay over Saturday night and that is really important to us. It is nice to sit around with all of the BBQ'ers and talk about BBQ, Bs and have some beverages and snacks (and Todd's great soup). We can get a good nights rest after the brutal cooking schedule and then clean up and head home.

The caliber of teams at this contest was really high, like last year so I really wanted to excel here to redeem us from a less than steller results at the Modesto contest in May.

Well the BBQ gods really smiled on us here!!! We took first in pork, which is the item we have been focusing on to improve. The results have been good. We also scored a first place in brisket! That's right-Brisket! No one was more shocked than me. As they called the top five and we had not heard our name from 5-2nd which I was hoping for. Believe me when QN4U was called for 1st place you could have knocked me over with a feather. I thought our brisket was good but we were up against some of the top brisket cookers.

With the pork and brisket scoring so well we hoped it would propel us to a Grand Championship repeat and it did!!! It really feels good to hear your name called. It is never blaise. Always a thrill.

They had corian cutting boards in the shapes of the animals (pig, chicken, cow) which made for a unique and coveted trophy. The Sponsor (Findley Honda ) at the last minute announced that the Grand Champion would also receive a 5 day Cruise in addition to the generous prize fund & a one of a kind corian cutting board. I love sponsors like that!!! BBQ could use a few more companies that really appreciate what we do and recognize that BBQ is a great thing to be associated with.

Thanks to the folks in Boulder City for the great contest and like our governor says, "I'll be back!"