New Spot Shrimp Record Success!!

Here are the official results from the 2006 Groz-with-Gas-a-thon spot shrimp world record attempt, 9-22-2006:

12 minute contest

Erik the Red Denmark(12), 4 lbs. 15 ozs. - New World Record



Ok, so I wasn't competing against anyone but myself, time, and the aura of the Godfather, Hungry Charles Hardy. This contest was really a new experience for me, all of the attention was on me, which seems to elevate things a bit in a good way. Of course, the goal of my stunt was to bring some excitment and attention to the purpose of the event, which was to rasie money for three great local charities. I am proud to say that this years event also set a record for the most money they have rasied in one day in the ten year history of the event with over $77,000 dollars rasied for charity.

The shrimp were very well prepared, spot shrimp is a meatier breed of shrimp and the tails are about 25% bigger than normal size shrimp. There was about 25-30 shrimp on each one pound plate and I managed to make through almost seven plates in the 12 minutes. I estimate I ate around 185 shrimp. It is difficult to say when exactly the record was broken because the tails ended up weighing around 2 pounds, which made the final outcome very close. In the first five minutes of the contest I was soaking the shrimp in cocktail sauce to make them easier to swallow but I noticed that I was getting a lot of sauce on the tails and in the "dump" bowl which would count against me in the end. I had to stop using the cocktail sauce and drink more liquids to facilitate swallowing at that point. As far as my performance, I am very proud of it, I was in a good rhythm the entire contest and I think I put out my best effort, which is all I could hope for.

It was pretty sweet to be able to perform for the first time in my hometown of Seattle and to be able to have many of my friends and family there to support me. Anthony's on Pier 66 is an amazing venue perching right on the shore of the Puget Sound with views of the majestic Olympic mountains in the background. Ray the Bison Meduna was on hand to judge the event and to oversee the final numbers. Ray is a class act and I knew with his presence that the contest would run smooth and our competitive eating strength would be doubled in Seattle.

There was a very impressive list of local sports and other celebrities that were present at some point during the day of the event. I feel humbled and honored to be listed with the following people who participated:

Tyrone Willingham - UW Husky Football Head Coach
Lorenzo Romar - UW Husky Basketball Head Coach
Greg Lewis - Former UW Husky Football Running Back
Bob Rondeau - UW Husky Play-by-Play Announcer
Warren Moon - Former Husky, Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback
Mike Holmgren - Seahawk Head Coach
Sean Alexander - Seahawk running Back 2005 NFL MVP
Mack Strong - Seahwak Fullback
Ken Hamlin - Seahawk Safety
Rashard Lewis - Supersonic
Nick Collison - Supersonic
Luke Ridnour - Supersonic
Bob Hill - Supersonic Head Coach
James Donaldson - Former Supersonic
Dale Ellis - Former Supersonic
Jack Sikma - Former Seattle Supersonic
Kevin Calabro - Supersonic Play-by-Play Announcer
Norm Charlton - Formet Seattle Mariner Pitcher
Dan Wilson - Former Seattle Mariner Catcher
Bill Krueger - Former Seattle Mariner Pitcher

It was truly a great day. Check out video and photos below...

Click Here for the Flickr gallery of pics from the event
Click Here for video of the contest introduction
Click Here for video of the last 10 seconds of the contest

I hope to get video of the entire contest posted soon.