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| New Champ Reigns in Hot Dog Land |
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Monday, December 05, 2005
By Ken Kolker
-The Grand Rapids Press (edited)
ROCKFORD -- For 23 years, she was queen of Corner Bar, the 110-pound legend who ate 42 1/2 hot dogs, chili and all, in one sitting.
No matter how others tried -- and they did -- they could not catch up with Sharon VanDuinen, the former Sharon Scholten. Nobody could knock her from the throne relished by so many. Then along came Balinda Gould. Step aside Sharon, there's a new hot dog-eating queen. Gould, a 41-year-old mother of one who works part time at a deli counter, on Friday gulped 43 hot dogs -- with chili and buns. She barely made it. With 90 seconds left before the mandatory four hours was up, and in front of a bar of cheering patrons, she swallowed. Down went hot dog No. 43.
She said she planned to use the money to buy Christmas gifts for her 8-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, and for airline tickets so she and her fiance can get married next spring in Las Vegas.
She tried breaking it twice in November -- eating 20 hot dogs the first time and 28 the second, she said. This time, she tried a new strategy -- no beer, less soda, less water and less coffee. She started at 2:21 p.m. The first 25 hot dogs slid down in about an hour, then she slowed. Corner Bar manager Diana France said she and others watched Gould closely to make sure she didn't go to the bathroom to make room for more hot dogs. That would be cheating.
"She had tears rolling down her face for the last dog, trying to swallow it," France said. "Everybody was doing the countdown." She finished just before 6:21 p.m. Corner Bar owners Jeff Wolfe and Andy Tidey wrote her a check.
VanDuinen, the dethroned queen, was 26 in March 1982 when she broke the record held by Dizzy Densmore. She became an ambassador, occasionally appearing as a celebrity and signing autographs. VanDuinen, married with three children, has no plans to face off against Gould over a plate of dogs. "My reign is over," she said. "I'm not capable of eating like that anymore." She hopes Gould will take over as a figurehead.
"With the title comes responsibility," VanDuinen said.
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