Great day and a great cause

| May 27, 2013
The fifth annual Riders 4 Relief motorcycle show and benefit for local food banks added a new twist this year with a National Onion Ring eating contest sponsored by the Warehouse Steak ‘n Stein. Mike “The Coshocton Crusher” Bechtol, (pictured), joined with three other local participants; Cyrus “Lord of the Rings” Granger, Shawn “Sloppy” Medley and Chris “Paralyzer” Unger, along with nine other eaters in the event. Nationally known eaters took home the major prizes but the local participants drew much applause and support from the crowd, who cheered them on as they downed another tray of the famous onion rings. Bechtol was announced as the local champion. (Beacon photo by Mark Fortune) More photos are online at www.coshoctonbeacontoday.com.

The fifth annual Riders 4 Relief motorcycle show and benefit for local food banks added a new twist this year with a National Onion Ring eating contest sponsored by the Warehouse Steak ‘n Stein. Mike “The Coshocton Crusher” Bechtol, (pictured), joined with three other local participants; Cyrus “Lord of the Rings” Granger, Shawn “Sloppy” Medley and Chris “Paralyzer” Unger, along with nine other eaters in the event. Nationally known eaters took home the major prizes but the local participants drew much applause and support from the crowd, who cheered them on as they downed another tray of the famous onion rings. Bechtol was announced as the local champion. (Beacon photo by Mark Fortune) More photos are online at www.coshoctonbeacontoday.com.

Dozens of motorcycles roared into Roscoe Village for the fifth annual Riders 4 Relief event on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend with several taking home prizes handcrafted by the village blacksmith. Boy Scout Troop 400 spent the day helping with the event – in fact, their effort began back in January when they sold hot dogs and other items in front of Auer Ace Hardware to help the event.

Debbie Chilcote, who helps coordinate the event with Amy Taylor, said, “It’s turning out to be a great day for us. It was very cold this morning when we got here at 6 a.m., but we have a great crowd and it’s a great feeling to be able to support such a good cause. All of the monies raised go to our local food pantries. No matter how bad things are in Coshocton, people always pull together to help the other person. And that means a lot to me.”

Pastor Mark Granger of New Life Ministries, said, “We love all of the motorcycles that are here. We can celebrate this day and everything going on. It’s exciting; we’re just raising money for extra food. Schools are now out, so there are no lunches and breakfasts so this helps us put some extra food in the bags now.” Granger said that the senior citizen group is now the biggest group for need. We noticed this last May and June. They are being forced to come in with medical and medicine costs. I love serving the veterans, our senior citizens, working people and just those that are in need.”

Pastor Granger said that people can drop food off at the church any day of the week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or they can send a check to New Life Ministries Food Pantry, PO Box 423, Coshocton, Ohio 43812.

Mike Bechtol, who participated in the onion ring eating contest, said, “This was my first ever onion ring eating contest and only my second competitive eating event – the first being the chicken wings in Chili. At first I was trying to figure out a way to do this with dignity and in a dignified manner, and I reconciled the fact that that wasn’t going to happen. That was quite a liberating thought and so I just went up there and let ‘er rip. I had a good time, it was fun and we made it a little bit competitive with those national eaters. Especially at an event like this you have to enjoy the day, helping Riders 4 Relief. A lot of people turned out here on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I had a lot of fun.”

John Larson, owner of the Warehouse Steak ‘n Stein, thanked all the participants and everyone for coming out on a great day for a great cause. Debbie Chilcote and Amy Taylor expressed a special thanks to Tom Edwards of Auer Ace Hardware for his support and helping make the event possible. Taylor also thanked Uncorked for providing the live music at 3 p.m., saying that “It’s a great day to enjoy with your family and to help with this cause. Thank you for coming out and helping support this event.”

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About the Author ()

I live with my beautiful wife Nancy on a small farm just outside Coshocton. We have been married for thirty two years and have two grown children, Jessica and Jacob. Jessica is married to Aaron Mencer and they are employed with Coshocton City Schools. Jacob is a sophomore at Kent State University. I graduated from River View High School, have a Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina Wesleyan University and am actively involved with the Roscoe United Methodist Church, serve on several local committees and am a member of the Coshocton Kiwanis Club, having served as Past-President. I love reading, especially military thrillers, the Civil War and history in general. My goal is to write a novel. My wife and I are also AdvoCare distributors and encourage anyone wanting to lose weight, gain energy and better health to explore AdvoCare at our website; www.fortunes4advocare.com. I love the media field, innovative technology and have worked in newspapers for over 30 years – in fact, my first job was delivering newspapers. The Beacon is a dream made possible by the support of this community and a great team. I hope to continue serving Coshocton County for many years.

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