Forget Wimbledon and The Ashes, the 2009 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is coming up on July 4 and this year it will be more fierce than ever!
The contest was started way back on July 4th 1916 on Coney Island in New York. Four immigrants had a hot dog eating contest to see who was the most patriotic, ten minuets later Neer Sehgal had eaten thirteen hot dogs and was crowned the victor. I bet they didn’t realise what they had just started!
The contest has been held just about every year since and 92 years on in 2008 Joey Chestnut was awarded the mustard belt for winning the annual event. He downed a massive 59 hot dogs in 10 minuets! The contest went into overtime when long time rival Takeru Kobayashi from Japan equaled his effort of 59 and a 5 hot dog eat off was announced. The first one to finish their plate won the contest. Chestnut finished his plate in 50 seconds, seven seconds before Kobayashi. Checkout the video below
This year they are set to go head to head again (along with about 18 others) with both competitors confident on winning the competition and taking the $10,000 prize money.
Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest is very big in the US and there is expected to be over 50,000 people to watch the contest this year and millions on TV. They not only watch it for the two main competitors going head to head and attractive girls but the struggle of the remaining 18 people and the eventual reversal (competitive speaking for spewing) of many of the people after the event is done and won.
The IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating) has been quoted in saying that they don’t approve of any home training or training methods for the event.
The eating contest will be shown live into Australia on Foxtel’s ESPN with full coverage of days events. Check your guide for the time closer to the date.
Sportsbet have opened the betting market to this great contest with plenty of value to be had.
How many Hot Dogs will the winner eat?
Over 60.5 Hot Dogs $1.77
Under 60.5 Hot Dogs $2.02
Who will be the winner?
Joey Chestnut $1.65
Takeru Kobayashi $2.20
Both Chestnut and Kobayashi need to compete for bets to be valid and overtime is not included.
I’ve looked into this further and found that the under 60.5 hot dogs is a great bet at $2.02. As stated earlier last years effort was 59 which was a new world record, I predict that they will either match the 59 or go one better but can’t see them going over the 60.5 hot dogs.
My tip is Joey Chestnut to win with under 60.5 hot dogs. Get your bets on at Sportsbet here.
If you havent already got a Sportsbet account they will now give you a free $50 bet on the hot dog contest just for joining. They will also match your first deposit dollar for dollar up to $100. For more info and the latest odds on the contest check the site out here.
Heres the video from the 2008 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
