La Sanbe has a blog entry commenting on an article from elmanana.com.mx about the Jalapeño Festival that will take place in Laredo, Texas on February 20 & 21 which mentions the eating contest where Pat Bertoletti holds the record of 266 peppers in 15 minutes:

One issue of concern, though, is that participants for the jalapeño eating contest are not being solicited via the Food Network website as was done last year. Organizers want the contest represented more by locals. Great. So now we’re lowering the standards of our recreational activities too. Way to go Laredo.

The Spanish paragraph about the contest and its translation by Google follows:

Para la competencia de Jalapeño de esta edición, ya no se anunciará en internet, como se hizo el año pasado en la página de la Food Network, pues se quiere que los participantes sean locales, ya que es un festival de Laredo.

Jalapeño competition for this edition is no longer advertised on the internet, as it did last year at the site of the Food Network, as it is to the participants are local, as it is a festival of Laredo.

If the Laredo jalapeño contest is not affiliated with IFOCE in 2009, there could be a 4+ month gap between contests since the last IFOCE contest was the Battle at the Big Apple World Pizza Eating Championship in Fort Pierce, Florida on November 8.

The Stockton Asparagus Festival’s website announces that the contest on April 25 will have IFOCE eaters, so that will break the drought at 5.5 months if no other contests take place before it.

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• MosesNews.com will return to covering competitive eating
• Crazy Legs Conti podcast on Strangeland Radio
• Video of eating contest with #9 ranked “MILF”
• Arkansas Krispy Kreme eating contest results – video
• Laredo jalapeno eating contest on February 20 or 21

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• SyKoBOZO emails that he won the men’s contest at the Fulton Oysterfest by 181 oysters in 5 minutes
• Boston.com report on the March 1 bacon eating contest at the Atwood Tavern – apparent runner up was female
• The Houston Chronicle reports the matzoh ball eating contest will be made an annual event
• SignOnSanDiego.com has a profile of Jason Tagle, who received a trip to Hawaii after winning a corned beef musubi contest. Tagle competed in the Knott’s Berry Farm PB & J sandwich eating contest and ate 11 sandwiches.
• BeautifulBrian.com has reruns of the Crazy Legs Conti and Kevin Lipsitz shows
• Domenico Alesi calls for more local competitive eating groups
• Kobayashi has a tribute to Kaz Arai, the 2000 Nathan’s champion
• Sonya Thomas praises Juliet Lee and mentions “Stick to Blogging”

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Erik Denmark has posted a blog entry and gallery from the February 23 jalapeno eating contest in Laredo, Texas.

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The Laredo Morning Times has an article about last night’s jalapeno contest. The top 3:

1. Pat Bertoletti, 266 peppers, 15 minutes, new contest record
2. Sonya Thomas, 170 peppers
3. Erik Denmark, 147 peppers

The previous record was 141 in 15 minutes, set in 1991 by Braulio Martinez

The article reports that competitors were banned from drinking beers during the contest, but Pat Bertoletti drank a beer in “about a second” after he was announced as the winner.

Erik the Red has a blog entry about his contest participation and made the cover of the Laredo Times entertainment section.

Sonya has a contest report on her news page.

The IFOCE contest report does not mention Sonya by name; the runner up is listed as “Major League Eating’s top female eater”.

IFOCE’s press release to promote the contest called for a jalapeno eating contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to decide the Democratic nomination.

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On her News & Notes page, Sonya Thomas announces that she will compete in Saturday’s Jalapeno eating contets in Laredo, TX.

It appears that Pat Bertoletti and Erik Denmark will also compete in that event based on a comment in Pat’s myspace blog.

Joey Chestnut will probably not attend, since he has been saying that his next contest is the Houston matzo ball contest.

This will be the first matchup of between members of the IFOCE top 10 since the Krystal Square Off.

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(From an anonymous comment) An announcement for the La Costeña Jalapeño Eating Contest in Laredo, TX appears on the IFOCE website. The contest will be held on February 23 at the Jalapeño Festival. The total purse will be $5000. Registration opens Jan 22 at noon.

If no earlier IFOCE contests are held, there will be almost 4 months between full-fledged IFOCE competitions (not counting the Wing Bowl as a 100% IFOCE event). The announcement alludes to this hiatus:

The nations greatest athletes have been resting their gullets in the off-season and are ready to make a serious mark on 2008.

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There will be oyster eating contests (men on Saturday, women on Sunday) this weekend at the Fulton Texas Oysterfest. The purse for both divisions is $350.

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(From comment by Rich) A gallery of Saturday’s Jalapeno Eating Contest held in Laredo, TX can be viewed at http://www.ourlaredo.net/ldoimages/thumbnails.php?album=233

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Here are the top three finishers of yesterday’s huevos rancheros contest in South Padre Island, Texas courtesy of Erik “the Red” Denmark:

1st – Rich LeFevre 7.75 lbs. $1500
2nd – Crazy Legs Conti 4.5 lbs. $750
3rd – Erik the Red Denmark 3.5 lbs. $250

Joey Chestnut was scheduled to be at the event but the news just before the contest was that he missed his flight. This opened the door for LeFevre to run away with this competition, which he did. He left Crazy Legs and I behind at about the 4 minute mark where he got in a serious zone and plowed through the rather disguisting huevos rancheros at a frantic pace. Nice work Rich, that was impressive.

IFOCE.com lists Bobby Bodea as the winner of Friday’s amateur contest. No additional finishers are given.

I believe this victory gives Rich his fourth Texas win in four contests in that state. Rich’s previous wins:

2005 Oct 2 1st 35 burgers 8 min Krystal Square Off qualifier Dallas, TX
2004 Sep 26 1st 15.5 corny dogs 10 min World Corny Dog Eating Championship Dallas, TX
2004 Apr 3 1st 6.25 spamburgers 12 min Spam Burger Eating contest Austin, TX

And this does not include all the free steaks Rich and Carlene have won at the Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo.

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Please list any results from yesterday’s and today’s goldenpalace.net huevos rancheros contests in South Padre Island, Texas in the comments of this post. I have not been able to find any articles or other information about those events.

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Carolyn Prophet of Rockport won the women’s division of the eating contest at the Fulton Oysterfest. Her mark of 118 oysters won her $200 and was 4 behind the third place finisher in Saturday’s mens division and 16 behind the men’s winner.

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The town of Fulton Texas is holding an oyster festival and eating contest this weekend. Joel Pruitt won the men’s contest (registration or bugmenot.com required) and a prize of $200 by eating 134 oysters in five minutes. The event was obviously not an IFOCE affair because a four year old participated in it and there were separate contests for men and women. The women’s division will be held today.

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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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The Laredo Morning Times’ article is now available in .pdf format: Part 1 (with Menchetti picture), Part 2

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from Erik “the Red” (not Gumby) Denmark:

Jalapeno Festival Jalapeno Eating Contest, Laredo, TX updated 2/20 7:30
1st – Getleman Joe Menchetti – 105 jalapenos (Wallingford, Connecticut), $1000
2nd – Erik “The Red” Denmark – 98 jalapenos (Seattle, WA), $500
3rd – Benjamin Navarro – 74 jalapenos (Laredo, TX), $250
4th – Jose A. Mar – 71 jalapenos (Laredo, TX)

Erik has the following comments about the contest :

Just wanted to give you the results of the Laredo Jalapeno eating contest. I finished second, I had a big lead in the beginning but slowed in the second half to allow Menchetti to catch up and pass me- though I didn’t know that the guy who strategically sat next to me was Gentleman Joe until after the contest.

Anyway, it was brutally cold in Laredo, around 35 degrees with a wind chill factor, which I think made the winning totals lower because it took a while to get the jaw warmed up.

Link to article… (article has expired as of Monday morning)

http://www.lmtonline.com/ (picture)

http://www.lmtonline.com/news/s1.php#lmt (article)

The article mistakenly claims that Mar holds the record for 141 jalapenos – the most he ever ate was 113 last year. Also, they don’t recognize Donahue as holding the record although they do say that the 141 jalapeno record was set in 1992.

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