The Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar to Host 3rd Annual West Coast Hot Dog-Eating Championship

The legendary Takeru Kobayashi will make his highly anticipated return to competitive hot dog eating, as he goes for the title and the record

MISSION VIEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar will host the 3^rd Annual West Coast Hot Dog-Eating Championship (WCHDEC) on Monday (Labor Day), September 5, 2011. The all-day event will feature a family-friendly, carnival-like theme, live music, magic, concessions and more beginning at noon, with the contest to begin at 6 p.m.

Takeru Kobayashi, international celebrity World-Record holding competitive eater originally from Nagano, Japan, will end his 2-year hiatus from competitive hot dog-eating contests. Kobayashi will attempt to break his own world record of eating 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes when he takes on world-ranked, two-time WCHDEC defending champion, Thomas “Goose” Gilbert of Las Vegas Nevada.

Please R.S.V.P. for the following Press Conference:

WHAT:	PRE-EVENT PRESS CONFERENCE
	The Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar’s
	3^rd Annual West Coast Hot Dog-Eating Championship
WHO:	ON THE PANEL:
	Takeru Kobayashi – World Record-Holding Competitive Eater
	Thomas “Goose” Gilbert – The Derby’s 2009/2010 Reigning Champion
	“Furious Pete” Czerwinsky – The Derby’s 2010 Runner-up
	Dale “Mouth-of-the-South” Boone – Legendary Competitive Eater
	Rich “The Locust” LeFevre – 70-year-old Competitive Eating Pioneer
WHEN:	Friday, September 2, 2011 at 3 p.m.
HOW:	R.S.V.P. by Wednesday, August 31

A post-event press conference will take place immediately following the Labor Day Championship. All competitors will be available for questions and interviews.

“I’m already in training for this year’s contest,” “Goose” Gilbert said. “It’s my title and I’m not prepared to give it up. Being the premier event on the West Coast, I focus my entire annual training regiment around The Derby’s Championship.”

Last year’s runner-up, “Furious” Pete Czerwinski, who lost to Gilbert in an overtime eat-off, has also confirmed participation. Czerwinski, of Ontario, Canada, is a world-record holding competitive eater and promises, “I will go over 50 hot dogs if I have to, in order to win this year’s crown.”

Other top competitive eaters confirmed to participate are Dale “Mouth-of-the-South” Boone, the most colorful character in the last decade of competitive eating and actual descendant of the legendary Daniel Boone, and Rich “The Locust” LaFevre, the seventy-year-old competitive eating pioneer.

The last of three open-entry preliminary contests took place on Saturday, August 13, qualifying a total of nine additional contestants to advance to the September 5 Championship. In the final, they will compete against four invited world-ranked and top competitive eaters. Entry is free and the contest will have a prize purse totaling $10,000, twice that of last year’s contest. The money will be broken down into 6 cash prizes, 1^st-$5000, 2^nd-$2500, 3^rd-$1000, 4^th-$750, 5^th-$500, and 6^th-$250.

The Derby, located at Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo, at 27741 Crown Valley Parkway, opened in May 2009. The Derby is owned and operated by Dan Lauriano, who also owns Riptide Rockin’ Sushi & Teppan Grills and Rockin’ B’s Burrito Bandito, both also located at Kaleidoscope.