Windermere residents attempt the Allen's Chain of Lakes Challenge

There's nothing like a friendly competition ... right? 

For Windermere residents John Pilgrim and Ted Glance, this meant spending 15 minutes on the afternoon of Friday, April 22, eating 11 scoops of ice cream with six different toppings, bananas, whipped cream and cherries while attempting the Allen's Chain of Lakes Challenge at Allen's Creamery & Coffee House. 

Pilgrim finished his ice cream before the 15 minutes were up, while Glance still had a little left when the timer stopped. 

"I feel great," Pilgrim said. "My stomach's grumbling, I am looking at all the food trucks over there, I think I see me some meat after that ice cream."

Pilgrim let his kids choose the flavors for the scoops, with only one requirement: "All the heavy ice cream; no sorbets." 

For Glance, the only regret was having a snack at the office earlier in the day. 

"If I hadn't (snacked), I probably would've smoked (John)," he said. "I wasn't hungry before this, now I am. ... I thought I was going to throw up, but I feel 10 times stronger." 

The two contestants had a group of people cheering for them, as they competed outside the ice cream parlor.

The idea originated Monday, April 11, during one of Thomas Stroup's gratitude walks. Stroup began organizing the walks after COVID-19, as a way to exercise, but then realized the walks were more fun by bringing the kids and dogs. 

"That week I wasn't here, so they basically played hooky and went on an ice cream walk," Stroup said. "That's when they challenged each other." 

Now, the group of friends are calling this the first "quarterly" Ted and John Challenge. 

Stroup awarded Pilgrim and Glance some medals he found earlier while cleaning the library. 

"(Those) were the ones for the 2020 10K that was canceled because of COVID," Stroup said.