New York City, 2012 Dec 10

On Monday, December 10, Speed Rack headed back home to NYC for the last stop of the calendar year of the Speed Rack 2012-2013 National Tour. Ladies from all over the 5 boroughs practiced for months just to make it past the prelims and into the top eight in one of the most talent-heavy competitor pools of the year thus far.

The Santos Party House was packed as soon as the doors opened at 6pm. Our 300+ guests were treated to sponsors’ punches and cocktails, as well as beer and nonalcoholic offerings and food from Mercury Bar and Clover Club. Host Chris Patino resumed his duties following the birth of his daughter and DJ Kimiko Masuda kept the crowd entertained as the ladies prepared to go to battle. Our competitors were supported by a strong group of barbacks including Sergio Serna, Michael Neff, Toby Maloney and Dom Venegas.

The impressive panel of judges included Julie Reiner, Tony Abou-Ganim, Steve Olson and Jordana Rothman. The round began with the judges each calling out a drink for the girls to make. The contestants had to make the drinks as quickly – and as accurately – as possible. The judges then compared the girls’ drinks side by side and issued penalty seconds to the girls for any mistakes made. The girl with the lowest time was declared the winner and moved on to the next round.

Six heated battles ensued, until we were down to the final two: Eryn Reece vs. Jillian Vose. Eryn – who has now competed in 3 Speed Rack events – was able to pull out the win and will be representing The Big Apple in the finals in NYC in May.

A fun time was had by all, and most importantly, over $7,000 was raised for breast cancer research, education and prevention!