Regional hot dog eating contest held in Cleveland

CLEVELAND - Some of the best professional eaters in the country were in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon. At stake was a spot in Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in New York on July 4.

The regional contest that was held at Tower City featured Pat Bertoletti who is ranked second in the world of competitive eating. Local competitive eater Scott “Beefcake” Bickel is not ranked in the top 50 but had announced plans of upsetting Bertoletti and moving on to Coney Island.

Bickel, however, could only slide down 18 dogs. The regional trophy went to Pat Bertoletti of Chicago who shoved down 38 hot dogs in a 10-minute period.

The Nathan’s Famous contest circuit holds regional competitions in a dozen cities and each winner advances to the July 4 championship. This is the first year that Cleveland has hosted a qualifier.
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Pete Kenworthy anchors Good Morning Cleveland. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter . Email Pete at kenworthy@wews.com .