SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- The key to this competition is being the first to slam down a pint of ice cream.
“It was one minute and 11 seconds. I was surprised I was able to do it this fast actually,” said Mitchell Schepps.
Adult champion Mitchell Schepps brought his sweet tooth to the table.
"Well we are a big ice cream family. We usually have 8 to 10 pints in the freezer at all times so we're always used to eating ice cream, just usually not for speed, but I have done pints in single sittings," Schepps said.
The same goes for this pint size champ. Ben Costello creamed his competitors.
“I wanted to give up after my first bite but I kept thinking about the prize," Costello said.
Fans saddled up with spoons for Wednesday's meet. As part of the 13th Travers Festival, the track played host to the annual Stewart's Shops Ice Cream Eating Contest. As our Dave Detling reports, competitors had to either chill out or go home.
There's no trophy for these spoon shoveling warriors, only more dessert. They goy gift certificates for pints of Stewart's Shop ice cream.
“I just shoved it all into my mouth and tried to swallow it all at the same time. I had big heaps of piles in my spoon,” said Kristina Rosenberger.
Whether you're eating ice cream for fun or for competition, there's only one thing you have to remember and that's the dreaded brain freeze.
“My braces started to freeze though, so my mouth was kind of cold. It was bad," Rosenberger said.
"I couldn't feel my mouth and I think I got frost bite," said Costello.
“Instead of putting the whole spoon in your mouth, I was doing a half of spoon at a time," Schepps said.
It's all about pacing, even if it's not your flavor of choice.
“I was really hoping for vanilla but I got stuck with chocolate and I really like chocolate more, but I thought for speed, vanilla would be better," Schepps said.
Now the next plan for these champions is figuring out where to store all the winnings.