FARMINGTON – The crowd surged forward in the misty damp Friday morning as the two contestants faced each other down. The box was opened and they stared into it, eyes wide with the weight of the task before them.
And then, Officer Ed Hastings and Fireman Jason Decker dug in, racing to be the first to finish the six donuts before them.
Not medieval duellers, these two, but public servants – cop and fireman – in a contest parodying cops jokes told for what seems like centuries, taking their battle stances outside the Wilton Road Dunkin’ Donuts.
Seated facing each other on opposite sides of a table, before a cheering crowd of around 20, Hastings and Decker both started strong.
Hastings’ took the initial lead, stuffing huge bites of glazed doughnut in and tossing them back with gargantuan chugs of water. But it was Decker’s more circumspect approach – slow and steady always wins – that garnered glory.
By the time they’d each thrown back three, crowd members had started to jeer. “Are you feeling sick yet?” came a voice from the crowd.
In seconds, they were neck and neck.
And when the last piece of Hastings’ last donut disappeared – long before Decker’s hand even reached his mouth – the fireman seemed to lose steam.
But suddenly, Decker rallied and shot to the finish, sticking his tongue out to show he’d “disappeared” the hole-y cake before Hastings ever even opened his mouth.
The crowd erupted. The winner smiled. The prize was given – a donut shop gift card.
When it was all over, both contestants recuperating, red faced, with their friends, Detective Mark Bowering of the losing side made a bid for his department’s honor. “I think we gave it to them. It wasn’t really a title we wanted,” he said.
But hearing of the Fire Department’s victory over the phone Friday morning, Wilton Police Chief Wayne Gallant let his disappointment show. “I think he overtrained,” he said, of Hastings.
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