High-water mark
683.9428
career-best overall
95.0% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 683.9428 at American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest — 95.0% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Nov 5, 2025
Runnin' Buddies BBQ
Runnin' Buddies BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2025 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 122nd of 158 at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest (2025). They finished #846 in the 2026 Master Series Team of the Year standings. Also listed in KCBS results as “Runnin� Buddies BBQ”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1503
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 22 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Nov 5, 2025
latest Sep 30, 2026
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 71%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
0%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±8.33
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 169.98 · weakest Chicken (166.53)
Road miles
12
across 5 mapped stops
Purse competed for
$212K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg
671.89 / 720
4 Master contests · 0 GCs
Still inside their first twelve months: see what a first season usually looks like.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Master | #846 (120 pts) | #909 (120 pts) | #980 (120 pts) | #863 (120 pts) | #872 (120 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Runnin' Buddies BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
Runnin' Buddies BBQ has 2 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 122 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,108 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1503
1–1 in 2 shared contests (50% to Runnin' Buddies BBQ)
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Runnin' Buddies BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,127 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1517
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Runnin' Buddies BBQ)
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,132 of the rated field
- Contests
- 13
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 54%
- Peak
- 1521
1–1 in 2 shared contests (50% to Runnin' Buddies BBQ)
Their rating is built on 1 Grand Championship in 13 contests, alongside a 54% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,100 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1514
They were already cooking in 2015, 10 years before Runnin' Buddies BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,107 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1511
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Runnin' Buddies BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,118 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
Level with Runnin' Buddies BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.7028 | 162.8112 | 166.53 | top 74% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1544 | 158.2056 | 168.69 | top 54% |
| Pork | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176.5828 | 162.8000 | 169.98 | top 53% |
| Brisket | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1200 | 153.6456 | 166.69 | top 55% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
3 contests
Contests a season
2.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
5 of 5 contests
Contests visited
4
a different one every time
Opponents faced
525
finished ahead 387 times, behind 686
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20261 milestone
- Most recent contest American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Sides
20254 milestones
- First tracked contest American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score675.3372 American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest
- Career-best overall score683.9428 American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest
- Career-best single call (Pork)176.5828 American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 84% | 92.3% | 92.2% |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 57% | 95% | 94.4% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Sides Kansas City, KS | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sep 30, 2026 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest unrated Kansas City, KS | 146 / 158 (663.8284) | 98 (169.7028) | 156 (158.2056) | 145 (162.8000) | 55 (173.1200) |
| Sep 30, 2026 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Kansas City, KS | 273 / 360 (664.4456) | 228 (168.5256) | 154 (171.4172) | 161 (170.8572) | 332 (153.6456) |
| Nov 5, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest 🏅 Kansas City, KS | 149 / 401 (683.9428) | 328 (162.8112) | 129 (171.9888) | 40 (176.5828) | 100 (172.5600) |
| Nov 5, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest unrated Kansas City, KS | 122 / 158 (675.3372) | 139 (165.0856) | 64 (173.1544) | 102 (169.6800) | 109 (167.4172) |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.