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With the clock ticking, Jeffries downs 11 to take Fair eating title
Sandy Dodson better have a big fridge.
An organizer of the hot dog eating contest Saturday at the Fauquier County Fair, Dodson cooked enough frankfurters to fill a deep aluminum serving tray. Despite the best efforts of more than 20 consuming contestants, there were a lot of leftovers.
“When I was counting up to see how many to cook, I saw the winner last year ate 22 hot dogs,” Dodson said afterward. “I’d rather have too many then too little.”
Ian Kach set a Fauquier County Fair record by eating those 22 dogs in the 18-and-over contest last year, but he didn’t return to defend his title in 2009.
In Kach’s absence, Alex Jeffries, a tall 22-year-old with a theory for bankrupting buffets, won this year’s contest by downing 11 hot dogs, sans buns, in the three-minute contest. His finance, Bonnie Stribling, 23, was also under the contest tent, cheering on Jeffries as he sat at a table and plucked hot dogs off a plastic plate.
“I knew he could do it,” Stribling said. “He doesn’t have a problem eating — healthy appetite. He can pack it away.”
Compared to Kach, though, Jeffries ate off the light menu. He couldn’t comprehend how Kach ate so many frankfurters in 2008, but said he can try to match the mark next year.
“He likes buffets,” Stribling said. “He knows how to stretch his stomach out. He has a whole entire theory how to get food in there.”
The theory isn’t new to competitive eaters, loading up with food leading up to the contest and fasting just before it, but Jeffries didn’t implement that strategy Saturday. Perhaps he was pacing himself in the hot dog eating contest because a stomach full of more than a dozen dogs would have hampered his efforts in other Fair contests.
“[We’re] going to do the strongman competition. Hopefully with it being five hours away I’ll be alright,” said Jeffries, after the noon hot dog eating contest. “I wasn’t going to do this at first, but then I was hungry.”
While Jeffries took the 18-and-over title without having to challenge the defending champion, the 9-13 age group winner last year did return to the table in 2009. He let everyone know who he was, too, after claiming the contest title for the second consecutive year.
“The Champ is back in action,” Kenny Linton, 10, yelled after winning the 9-13 contest with six hot dogs. The Midland resident edged out a couple of competitors who finished four or five dogs.
“This year it was a lot harder — the competition. They were eating faster,” Linton said. “I just didn’t feel good at one time, but I held it down and just went off eating again...”See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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