Finals of Chow Down

The finals of the 2nd Annual Chow Down for Charity hot dog eating contest took place at Steve's Snappin' Dogs on July 26th. Results:

1. Jimmy "The Jimineater" Mares - Tied Contest Record of 13 in 8 minutes
2. Phil Soderborg - 12 in 8 minutes
3. Mark Sutherburg - 11 in 8 minutes
4. Andrew "A-Bomb" Lane - 9 in 8 minutes
5. Fred Manly
6. T-Dog Fields
7. Andy Benke
8. Lana Nicolarsen

This was a great event and Steve did a great job as usual. In the time between the qualifiers and finals, Big Sexy joined the IFOCE so he was a no-show as well as one of the other guys who qualified. And the chick showed up late - she had to be called and reminded to get down to Steve's. Steve had replacements, though, so the contest began a little late when things finally got squared away.

Each of us began with trays of 13 hot dogs. Before starting we could condimentize the dogs. I went with ketchup. I wanted to stay off the water, and the ketchup would be good lube. I was eating next to Lana, and she was pretty grossed out by my squeezing of the buns and dogs and causing the ketchup to ooze out. She stopped eating after 2 dogs.
Lana's tray is in the upper right. Then mine. Then Phil's, Jimmy's, Mark's.

I finished one place better than last year, and I also ate one more than last year. I was shooting for double digits, maybe even low teens. But it was not to be. Jimmy has had a pretty good couple of months!

A full gallery of pictures can be seen here.