(AP) -- It's time again for the annual Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island - where contestants scarf down thousands of calories in mere minutes.
This year, the women have a separate Fourth of July match that starts a half-hour earlier than the men's competition.
The star of the female pigout is Sonya Thomas, who ate a record-setting 41 wieners and buns in 10 minutes in 2009.
The same year, world champion Joey Chestnut put away 68.
Absent again Monday is his chief rival, Takeru Kobayashi, who will mount his own, unofficial contest from a Manhattan rooftop.
He's ineligible to compete because he won't sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating, the fast-food equivalent of the NFL. He was arrested last year after crashing the show.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
