Pancake and team fly through the flapjacks

By Denise Dick

Organizers plan to make the contest a regular part of the annual festival.

BOARDMAN — Destiny may have played a role for the team who wolfed down the most pancakes at the Boardman Rotary/Boardman Park’s first pancake-eating contest.

Garrett Pancake is one of the team members.

He and teammates Richard Pipak and Ryan Giambattista, all 16, choked down 30 pancakes among the three of them to take home the $100 prize.

Drinking water in between bites was their secret.

“Eat then drink, eat then drink,” Garrett explained.

The boys ate sparsely before the afternoon event.

“We had Taco Bell at 1 a.m.,” Richard said.

“The fourth meal,” Garrett chuckled.

“We beat my brother’s team,” Ryan boasted.

Older brother Craig Giambattista and teammates Mike Koziorynsky and Kyle Blase took the $25 third prize.

Second place and $50 in the team competition went to Mike Libbey, Dewey Slagle and Jamal Nasser, all 17.

They gulped down 29 pancakes, with Jamal responsible for 15 of them.

“He ate all 12 of his and then three of mine,” Dewey laughed.

Jamal was drinking water straight from a nearby pitcher in between pancake bites to help the food go down.

Mike spread his plate with maple syrup before digging into his stack.

“I can’t eat pancakes without syrup,” he said.

This was the first pancake-eating contest for the Boardman Rotary/Boardman Park as part of their Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival, but organizers plan to make it an annual event. The festival continues today and next weekend at the park.

Nine teams and five individuals competed for the prizes. Most participants were male teenagers.

Each contestant was given 3 minutes to try to down 12 pancakes. The person or team who stuffed the most down their gullets won.

In the individual category, twins Evan and Ryan Beil, 16, took first and second place, respectively.

“I ate a light breakfast,” Evan explained of his strategy.

He ate 6 1‚Ñ2 pancakes, one more than his brother. Each boy dunked his handful of pancakes into a cup of water before stuffing it in his face.

That helped them go down more easily, Ryan said.

Both boys returned to the table after the contest for more pancakes.

Evan won $50 and Ryan took home $25.

“I’m going to buy more pancakes,” Evan joked.