Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas talks with fans after Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y. on July 4, 2010. (Frank Carnevale / Canvas)
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Updated: Thursday, 30 Jun 2011, 10:13 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 30 Jun 2011, 10:13 AM EDT
(EndPlay Staff Reports) - For the first time in the history of the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y, this Fourth of July, women will have the opportunity to compete in their own division for the prize of the Mustard Belt.
Officials from Major League Eating and Nathan's Famous decided that this was the year to make the move to give women the opportunity to really compete in the hot dog eating contest, AOL News reported. Professional eating contests are mostly dominated by men.
George Shea, chairman of Major League Eating, told Major League Eating News , "Leading sports organizations including the NCAA, USTA and professional golf have long had separate championships for men and women."
Shea alluded to the fact that there should be no reason that Major League Eating shouldn't have a separate division too.
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, a five year competitor in the Nathan's Famous competition, and a favorite to win in the women's competition, agreed.
Thomas told AOL News, "Sometimes, women and men are equal, body-wise. In other sports, they have women's divisions and men's divisions. This is one sport where they should have different divisions."
The women's contest will start a half hour before the men's, at 11:30 a.m., and just like the men's, the competition will last a total of 10 minutes.
After hearing a outcry of disapproval of an initial prize offering of $5,000 for the winner in the women's competition, the prize money was changed to match that of the men's, and was brought back up to $20,000 in purse money, AOL News reported.
"We felt, wrongly, that since this was the first year of the contest this was an appropriate initial prize. It didn't seem wrong to us, but we were wrong. When there was an uproar, we listened to the fans. They were right, and we made change," Shea said.
The first Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest for women can be viewed online on ESPN3 this holiday weekend.
