World Hot Dog Eating Record Eaten Up

The world record for the most hotdogs eaten in a short time span of 12 mintues was broken at the weekend by a man from California, the Associated Press reports.

The contest took place on Saturday and the winner managed to eat 59 hotdogs and buns in just 12 minutes, breaking the previous world hot dog eating record, 53 ¾, that was held by a Japanese man named, Takeru Kobayshi.

The previous record was set just last year at one the US's best known hot dog eating competition, the Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, which takes place in New York City at Coney Island. This famous contest will be the next stop that the new record holder will make in an attempt to better his record smashing number.

The new hot dog eating champion is Joey Chestnut, a 23-year-old man from San Jose California. The competition took place in Tempe, Arizona at the Arizona Mills Mall. It was called the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship. Last year at the Nathan's Hot Dog eating championships, Joey Chestnut finished in second place eating just one and ¼ fewer hotdogs than the winner, Takeru Kobayshi. Kobayshi is a six-time winner of the coveted hot dog eating contest and will face a very difficult competitor this summer.

The emcee, Ryan Nerz, for the regional championships in Arizona, where Joey Chestnut broke the world hot dog eating record, spoke to the Associated Press. He said, "These guys' number have just been going up at a tremendous clip. I always thought there was a limit a limit to the human stomach and a limit to the human willpower, but I guess not."

Besides winning the prestige of setting a hot dog world record, Joey Chestnut also walked away with some other great prizes. These included a paid trip to New York, a gift card worth $250 to the mall where the contest took place and enough hot dogs to keep him going for a whole year.

When Joey Chestnut competes at the famous Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest he will be vying with other regional champions to win the 'Mustard Yellow International Belt'. The famous competition is held each summer at New York's Coney Island and it has been running for just over ninety years.

The story behind the famous contest goes back to four immigrants who were having an argument about who was more patriotic. The very first contest took place on the Fourth of July, 1916 on Coney Island, at the very spot where the first Nathan's stand sits. Since then the hot dog eating contest has been held at the same spot each year.

To compete in the Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest a person must only be a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. The 20 odd competitors all sit at a long table, each seat stocked with hot dogs and beverages. Condiments such as mustard and ketchup are allowed and made available to competitors, but these are very seldom used. Once the grilled hot dogs are cool enough to eat, the competitors battle against a 12 minute clock to see who can eat and keep down the most hot dogs in bun during the time limit. To enter the championships a person must either have qualified through a regional content, won the previous year or be a special celebrity guest.

Sources
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3239464
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan's_Hot_Dog_Eating_Contest
http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/sns-ap-odd-hot-dog-record,0,6893230.story?coll=hc-headlines-topnews
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-06-02-hot-dog-eating-record_N.htm