Liz & Krista of urbanhonking.com, who produced excellent writeups about last December’s meatball contest and last month’s grilled cheese finals are going to Boston to cover Thursday’s corned beef contest.

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MSNBC has an article about the Volvo Ocean Race which is held every four years. The Phillips Crabcake eating contest will be held while the ships are stopped in Baltimore in late April.

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GoldenPalace.net will sponsor a corned beef and cabbage eating contest at Ned Devine’s Irish Pub in Boston on March 16. This will be the second corned beef contest in two months and the third goldenpalace holiday themed contest since Thanksgiving. Since Pat Bertoletti won the first corned beef contest in Arkansas last month, the fact that the contest is on Saint Patrick’s Eve might be an omen.

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IFOCE.com announced that goldenpalace.net will sponsor two eating contests open only to college students that will be held at the Spring Break destinations of South Padre Island, TX and Panama City Beach, FL. The food item and duration have not yet been determined, but the first place prize will be $1000. If graduate students are allowed entrance, Hall Hunt will be the probable favorite for the Florida contest if Joey Chestnut and Pat Bertoletti stay at home. Contests at other Spring Break destinations are expected.

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Two contests in late April have been added to the IFOCE schedule, the asparagus contest in Stockton, California and the Sweet Corn Contest in Palm Beach, Florida.

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The Chicago Sun Times has a preview of today’s goldenpalace.net Valentine’s Day Chocolate Massacre which contains a profile of Pat Bertoletti. It is difficult to see how Bertoletti has rookie status if his first contest was the Bacci Pizza contest from 2004.

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The Queen Mary website has a page about Saturday’s chili cheese fries contest. The list of expected entrants includes the top two finishers in last Friday’s Wing Bowl 14, Joey Chestnut and Rich LeFevre, along with Southern California’s top eater, Jed Donahue. Sonya Thomas is not listed as one of the expected competitors. Garret Morris, a member of the original Saturday Night Live cast, will compete in a celebrity sausage eating contest.

Updated 2/9 9:48 am The LA Times has a brief preview of the contest

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Liz Kellermeyer, author of an excellent article on December’s meatball contest, will report on Wednesday’s goldenpalace.com grilled cheese finals. She has posted a preview of the event and is requesting readers submit questions they would like her to ask the eaters.

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Less than two weeks after the grilled cheese finals, goldenpalace.net will sponsor a chocolate eating contest in Chicago on February 13. Rising star Patrick Bertoletti will get a chance to compete in front of a hometown crowd.

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The IFOCE circuit resumes today after a six week hiatus in Hot Springs, Arkansas (hometown of former president Bill Clinton) with a corned beef sandwich eating contest. Sonya Thomas and Joey Chestnut are expected to resume their rivalry. Ms. Thomas has a two contest winning streak, but the expected 2005 rookie of the year, Joey Chestnut, had a two contest winning streak before that. The top contenders for 2005 rookie of the year runner up, Pat Bertoletti and Chip Simpson, are also expected to compete.

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AICE has updated their rankings (only the top 23 have been changed, #24 and below are exactly the same as the October rankings) and eaters to watch with profiles of Michael “The Mongoose” Dodd and Angela Michaud. Ms. Michaud was the only female to crack the top 3 of an IFOCE or AICE event in 2005 (at last month’s hot dog contest in Ontario) other than Sonya Thomas and Carlene LeFevre and she will compete in tommorow’s latke contest in Long Island. There is also a profile of Joel “The Cannon” Podelsky from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Joe Menchetti will not appear at the latke contest (he will be reselling tickets for the UConn-UNH game) or the zucchini contest next month and casts doubt on whether he will compete in any AICE event in the future.

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New York Magazine has a short preview of Wednesday’s goldenpalace.com turkey contest in New York City.

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(From IFOCE.com) Kobayashi weighed in at 172 pounds. His added mass is surprising as he blamed increasing his weight to the 140s from the 130s last year for his not breaking the record at Nathan’s in 2005. Kobayashi’s weight increase makes Sonya Thomas the world’s greatest eater pound for pound by a considerable margin.

A third wild card slot was added to the field, enabling Hall Hunt to compete. Jane magazine writer Claudine Ko will also appear thanks to a sponsor’s exemption.

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The Boston Herald has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon VoiceWing Buffalo Wings finals consisting mainly of “bib sheets” for Joey Chestnut, “Badlands” Booker and “Crazy Legs” Conti. Conti’s appearance implies that Kevin Lipsitz has definitely vacated his spot for Conti since Conti finished in the sixth position in the DC qualifier and only the top five will advance.

Updated 11/12 12:48 pm – The Boston Globe has an interview with Rich LeFevre about the contest (No questions about Carlene’s status are asked)

The expected contestants for the contest are
Seattle (Everett, WA) qualifiers:
1. Joey Chestnut, 4.5 lb.
2. Eric “Badlands” Booker, 3.6 lb.
3. “Humble” Bob Shoudt 3.5 lb.
4. Patrick Bertoletti 2.93 lb.
5. Jason “The Erbivore” Erb 2.9 lb.

San Francisco qualifiers:
1. Rich LeFevre 4.92 lb won in double OT
2. Cookie Jarvis 4.92 lb lost in double OT
3.-5. ? (Does anyone know who else qualified)

DC (Bethesda, MD) qualifiers:
1. Sonya Thomas, 5.75 lb
2. Tim “Eater X” Janus, 4.0 lb
3. “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz, 3.85 lb
4T. “Big” Brian Subich, 3.2 lb
4T. Chip Simpson, 3.2 lb
6. “Crazy Legs” Conti, 2.9 lb. (will appear due to Lipsitz missing)

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November is appearing to shape up as an exciting month in competitive eating. The action will begin the first day of the month with the Smirnoff Twisted V Wild Grape World Grape Eating Championship at Grand Central Station in New York City. Most of the top eaters from the northeast are expected to attend including Badlands Booker, Cookie Jarvis and Tim Janus. No word on whether Sonya Thomas will compete, but the $2,000 first prize would apparently make it worth her while to appear.

On November 12, the finals for the Verizon Voicewing Buffalo wing contest will be held in Boston in which the top five finishers from the three regionals will appear. Sonya Thomas and Joey Chestnut will face off for the first time since their series of four epic contests held over August and Labor Day weekend. While Sonya bested Joey Chestnut’s mark from the qualifying round by more than a pound, comparing results from the qualifiers is difficult since each sportsbar hosting the contests apparently used their own recipe for Buffalo wings.

One week later, the Krystal Square Off finals will be held in Chattanooga in which Kobayashi will defend his title from 2004 and face Sonya Thomas, Joey Chestnut and other top eaters. It is conceivable that the Tsunami could be vanquished if he does not bring his A game as a result of Joey Chestnut’s meteoric rise and Sonya Thomas’ steady improvement. If Joey Chestnut beats Sonya in this contest and the Verizon wings final, he can make a legitamite claim to being the top American eater.

In addition to the scheduled contests, the finals for the GoldenPalace.com grilled cheese contests are expected to be held at an currently undetermined date and place.

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gazette.net has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon voicewing qualifier which will be held in Bethesda on Saturday containing brief interviews of Sonya Thomas and Tim Janus. Sonya self-confidence does not seem to be affected by her recent struggles with Joey Chestnut.

Bethesda is also the home of the National Institute of Mental Health. Determining which, if any, of the entrants should check into the institute after the contest will be left as an exercise for the reader.

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The site for the DC Verizon VoiceWing qualifier has been set at Union Jack’s British Pub in Bethesda, MD. Sonya Thomas will make her first contest appearance since Labor Day weekend. “Beautiful” Brian Seiken also expects that he, Pat Philbin, Don “Moses” Lerman, “Big” Brian Subich, “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz, Tim”Eater X” Janus and Allen “Shredder” Goldstein will compete, giving the contest the most ranked IFOCE members since the US Open in July. Philbin will begin his campaign to win Wing Bowl 14.

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The Arizona Republic as a preview of Friday’s grilled cheese contest focusing on two local eaters.

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WLTX has a video of ultramarathoner/competitive eater Ray Krolewicz competing against one of its anchors.

The Durham Herald sun has a general preview of the fair mentioning that Joe LaRue will attend the grilled cheese contest.

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The San Jose Mercury has an interview about Cookie Jarvis in conjunction with the Verizon Voice Wing chicken wing contest to be held Saturday. The contest will be held at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf, which seems a more apt location for a seafood eating contest.

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This column by G. D. Gearino at newsobserver.com laments the replacement of last year’s sweet potato contest at the NC State Fair with a grilled cheese qualifier.

This article profiles an ultramarathoner, Ray Krolewicz, who plans to compete in the South Carolina State fair grilled cheese qualifier and then run a 50K (31 mile) race the next day.

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The Seattle Times has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon VoiceWing chicken wing qualifier focusing on expected entrants Joey Chestnut and Eric “Badlands” Booker. The training methods of both competitiors are described. The article incorrectly states that Booker holds the Buffalo Wing Festival contest record (which was set by Sonya Thomas in 2004). It is surprising that Joey Chestnut would make the trip north when he has a qualifying contest in his hometown in two weeks. “Humble” Bob Shoudt states on his website that he and Patrick Bertoletti are also planning to compete. The top five competitors in the three qualifiers (also in SF and DC) will make the finals in Boston.

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Friday September 16, Cannoli Eating Championship, Little Italy, NYC
Eric “Badlands” Booker will defend his title. Brian Subich will also compete. The Black Widow might want to avenge her defeat to Booker at the Buffalo wing contest, but no mention of this contest is on her website. I am not sure what prizes, if any, will be awarded for this contest.

(Updated 9/15 10:41 pm) NY1 has a video of a previous cannoli contest and a short article

Saturday September 17, GoldenPalace.com Grilled Cheese qualifier, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State fair
There might be a possibility for a lower ranked eater to reach the finals at this contest because I am not sure if any top-ranked eaters will attend.

Sunday September 18, Krystal Square Off qualifier Gwinnett County Fair, (North Atlanta, GA)
The IFOCE returns to the suburbs of North Atlanta for the second time in two weeks. Tim Janus will compete. Will he have another breakthrough technique like he did at the Nebraska Grilled Cheese contest?

Sunday September 18, GoldenPalace.com Grilled Cheese qualifier, Salt Lake City, Utah State Fair
Brian Subich will compete in this contest. Carlene LeFevre would probably enter if she was not recuperating from her hospital stay.

(Updated 9/15 10:52 pm) Salt Lake City Weekly has a preview of the contest focusing on Brian Subich

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The Buffalo News promotes this weekend’s Wing Festival. No new information is provided about the eating contests.

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The Atlanta Journal Constitution has a short preview of Sunday’s Waffle House World Waffle Eating Championship. The contest will be 10 minutes long. Sonya Thomas is the only listed expected entrant.

With $5,000 for first place, it might make financial sense for Kobayashi to put the “world” in World Waffle Eating Championship, as that prize could pay for a transpacific flight and have a considerable amount left over.

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