Competitive hot dog eating in Ireland is struggling at the minute. In countries such as Japan international standard facilities have been built for the training of these high level athletes.
These facilities are equipped with latest features such as humidity control to ensure that the dogs maintain the correct amount of 'flop' for maximum consummation and peak performance. In Ireland our athletes are still forced to train out of outdated facilities like this.
Often these facilities have no running water or basic toilet facilities with Irish athletes often sharing with local teams in other sports with sufficient bathroom facilities to cope with the inevitable outcomes of high level eating.
Another problem is the influence of native sports such as potato eating. This reduces the talent pool further. Heavy government sponsorship of potato eating makes it difficult for smaller sports such as hot dog eating to attract the young talent they so desperately need.
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The final obstacle facing athletes is the lack of sponsorship available to athletes. While internationally athletes are supplied with competition standard hot dogs which are extra smooth to go down easy, Irish athletes are forced to source their own hot dogs often with disastrous results.
Fortunately Eddie Rockets have come to the rescue backing the Irish effort for the next Olympics in Rio 2016. After failing to qualify for London last year the hope is to get a team representing Ireland at the next games. The first step is the preliminary qualifier for the world champs in New York that takes place this Thursday the 4th of July in Eddie Rockets South Anne Street. Turn up and show your support for the men and women in green.
