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Fifth Annual Independence Burger Eating Championship

WTOP Staff | WTOP_Web_Team@wtop.com

July 3, 2013, 5:46 PM

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Fourteen contestants traveled from all over the country to compete in the fifth annual Independence Burger Eating Championship at the Z-Burger in Tenleytown. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Z Burger employees spent the morning making 400 burgers for the championship. Contestants have 10 minutes to eat as many burgers as they can, and they must keep it all down for two minutes after the competition to prevent being disqualified. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, a Chicago native, and Jamie "The Bear" McDonald, from Connecticut, kick off 10 minutes of binge eating by literally stuffing their faces with back-to-back burgers. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Dale "Mouth of the South" Boone, 42, spends just a second of time to check out his competition. Boone has 12 years of experience as a professional competitive eater, and took home third place in Wednesday's championship. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
From pancakes to wings, Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti arrived in D.C. with lots of professional eating experience. He has won more than 90 competitions, including today's fifth annual Independence Burger Eating Championship at the Z Burger in Tenleytown. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Heather Cahill, 25, was the only female competitor, and at only 5'4" the smallest eater in the Z Burger challenge. Cahill claims she can eat more than anyone she knows. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
He may have just started exploring the world of competitive eating last August, but Wayne Algenio from Queens, N.Y., does not disappoint as downs his 10th burger. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Bertoletti listens to music to help "stay in the zone" during the 10 minutes of intense competition. He says it's all about turning his brain off while dunking the burgers in water and getting them to his stomach. His key to recovery? Lots of Pepto-Bismol. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
At 25 burgers, Bertoletti is just short of breaking the record of 26. He finished with 28 burgers down, setting the record and winning this year's competition. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Bertoletti says he didn't realize 26 was the record to beat; he wanted to just eat as many burgers as he possibly could. With 14 Guinness book records under his belt, he doesn't give up any opportunity to chow down alongside some hungry competition. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
With a little help from his hand, Bertoletti forces his last burger down his gullet outside the Tenleytown Z Burger. He won $2,500 in cash and benefits for stuffing 28 burgers into his stomach in just ten minutes. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
Bertoletti's mouth is stuffed with what looks like the entire burger that broke the previous record. Contestants have 15 seconds following the ten minute mark to swallow any burger already in their mouth. Luckily, Z Burger offers them water to help it all go down. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
"Deep Dish" smashes the record by snarfing down 28 burgers in 10 minutes. (WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck)
WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck
Algenio's 14th burger makes its way to his nearly bottomless stomach at the end of the competition. He has eaten his way down the east coast from the San Gennaro Pizza Championship in New York City to the Philadelphia Wing Bowl. (WTOP/Natalie Tomlin)
WTOP/Natalie Tomlin
"Deep Dish" doesn't look like he feels so good after downing 28 burgers in 10 minutes, but he walked away with the $2,500 first prize. (WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck)
WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck
(WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck)
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