Summer is here and so is the WindMill...

7th Annual National WindMill Hot Dog Eating Championship
August 13th at Bar Anticipation

Congrats to Pat "The Kid" Gleason on winning the 5 minute Amateur WindMill Hot Dog eating competition in Belmar, NJ by downing 4 9/10 Big Monster WindMill hot dogs. In close second was Kevin "Keep Your Distance" Hurley followed by Dan "The GraveDigger" Sorg. Great job by Jason "Burger Boy" Trojanowski and Mike "Sisco Kid" on their 4th and 5th place finish. Kudos to Jeffrey "The Food Villain" Venizia, Brian "Fish" Patkus, Slim Jim Stoddard, Paul "The Bun Master" Wagar, Peter "Never Too Many" Bratton, Charles "Full House" Ade on their participation in the competiton-they quickly learned it's not as easy as it looks! Despite much encouragement from his Windmillette, Dave "What the Heck" Coulombe needed to be reminded that this was an eating competition and not a day out at the bar-he did finished his one hot dog in the allotted 5 minutes.

Congratulations to Gentleman Joe Menchetti on retaining his title as WindMill Hot Dog Eating Champion. In this 10 minute picnic style rules monster hot dog eating competition Gjoe downed 11.5 dogs. Second place went to Karl "Special K" Cramer who downed 10 followed by Ian "The Invader" HIckman with 9. Pete "Broken Wing" Maurizio was a bite away from finishing in the money followed by Chris "The American" Schlesinger with 7 3/4. Elvis "The Legend" Van Gorden downed 6.5 monster dogs, followed by Joel "The Cannon" Podelsky.

A valiant effort was made by WRAT winner Brian "Golden Boy" Goldberg who succumbed to urges contrary to swallowing and KRock winner John "Beast Master" Bennett who we are still not sure where that 'spray' came from.

Sara Finicio, GJoe's Windmillette was awarded a hugh trophy for her enthusiasm, encouragement and inspiration.
Delicious WindMill hot dogs and give away's were plentiful throughout the day at Bar A.  MTV, WRAT and KROCK were in the house along with Bacardi Ardie

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For Karl Cramer of Valley Cottage, NY the Race was "warm up" for the Annual Windmill Hot Dog Eating Contest held later that day at Bar Anticipation. Karl was the runner up taking home a big trophy and a need to go for a long run the next day.

Jersey Shore Running Club: Like his moniker "Special K", Karl Cramer symbolizes fitness and seems to be part of a new generation of Competitive Eaters who believe in healthy diet and exercise. In only his 3rd Competitive Eating Event 'Special K' placed second in a highly competitive field of "Food Warriors" at the 7th Annual Windmill National Hot Dog Eating Championship in Belmar New Jersey. In doing so, the 5' 6 inch 155lb Cramer beat a group of nationally ranked eaters, not to mention some Eaters who were twice his weight. Also known as "Galactus" by his friends and colleagues (Galactus is a comic book villain who eats entire planets), Cramer gobbled down 10 1?4 pound Hotdogs in only 10 minutes and earned $200 and a handsome trophy for his efforts. "I was pretty hungry," says the 35 year old Research Assistant and freelance writer. "I ran the Asbury Park 5K this morning to get a real hunger going.I knew that both the other competitors and the 1/4 pound Hot Dogs would be a real challenge". Cramer's time of 24:20 in the 5K probably won't earn him national recognition in the world of Road Running, but his surprise performance at the Windmill Hot Dog Eating contest is likely to earn him a top 20 spot in the national rankings by the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters. Says, AICE Chairman Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman, "Special K" certainly deserves to be ranked in the Top 20, especially considering he recently won the NJ Seafood Festival Pie Eating Contest and decisively beat two top-15 nationally ranked Eaters and one top-10 Eater at the Windmill National Hot dog Eating Championship". As far as Bigger being better, Chapman says, "Karl might be the biggest guy out there in terms of spirit and determination."