Oxford's Esper finishes 6th in July 4 Nathan's hot dog eating contest
· Yahoo Sports
Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.
Oxford's Geoffrey Esper finished out of the running in the July 4 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.
Esper, 51, downed 40.5 hot dogs in the competition's 10-minute window to finish in sixth place.
As expected, Joey Chestnut took home the $10,000 first prize and champion's Mustard Belt. He devoured 66 hot dogs to earn his 18th Nathan's title, comfortably ahead of second-place finisher Patrick Bertoletti, who consumed 51 dogs.
Esper didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. He wore a weathered Boston Red Sox hat and competed next to the 42-year-old Chestnut on the stage in front of a big crowd as the gorge fest was broadcast live on ESPN.
Chestnut's probation officer allowed him to make the trip to Coney Island after he pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor battery charge for slapping a man in an Indiana bar.
Maybe the heat index of nearly 100 degrees at competition time affected Esper and the other competitors. Chestnut was way off his Nathan's personal best of 76 dogs set in 2021.
Esper has several second-place finishes in this event and told the Telegram & Gazette days before this year's competition that it was Chestnut's to win.
Last year, Esper finished fourth by consuming 44 dogs. In 2024, he had hoped to take the top prize because Chestnut didn't compete due a sponsorship snafu. However, he finished second to Bertoletti.
Besides being ranked the third-best competitive eater in the world, according to Major League Eating, Esper is an electronics teacher at Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton.
He has bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Clark University.
On the women's side in this year's Nathan's event, Miki Sudo finished off 38.75 dogs, winning for the 12th time in 12 tries.
Contact Henry Schwan at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Oxford's Esper finishes 6th in July 4 Nathan's hot dog eating contest