Church’s Chicken and World’s Fastest Drummer (WFD) recently hosted the 2015 World’s Fastest Drummer Southeast Championship, where Charles Goodwin was named Hands Champion and Joshua Robinson was named Foot Champion. Church’s was an exclusive sponsor for the 2015 Southeast Championship, which highlighted its commitment to bringing exciting and unexpected experiences to their guests, while supporting music education in the Atlanta area.

The extreme sport drumming competition took place April 15 through 18, 2015 at the Atlanta Institute of Music and Media (AIMM) 2875 Breckinridge Blvd., Suite 700, Duluth, GA.

“We strongly believe in the education of the youth within the communities we serve, as demonstrated by the Church’s Scholars Program, which provides funding to high school seniors pursuing a college degree. This year, we will be awarding $175,000 in scholarships,” said Mark Snyder, Chief Marketing Officer for Church’s Chicken. “We are now expanding our scope through our music education initiatives, and with partners like World’s Fastest Drummer, we can truly make a lasting impact in these communities, while helping to emphasize the important of music.”

The 2015 World’s Fastest Drummer Southeast Championship began April 15 with auditions that took take place through April 17. Finalists that made it through to the championship round competed against other contestants, within several drumming categories, for the title of World’s Fastest Drummer. Advertisement

Church’s hosted festivities and drumming-inspired activities throughout the week, including an interactive drumming session with the George Washington Carver Boys and Girls Club that featured drum influencers Casey Cooper and Beatin’ Rhythm Path. They also toured Stone Mountain High School with Big Kidz Foundation, where they visited students and pledged to help continue the school’s music program with a corporate contribution. Championship week wrapped with a celebration on April 17 at the Church’s restaurant located at 538 Lee Street S.W. in Atlanta featuring a local drumline and fun for the whole family, and the grand finale was on April 18.

The championship finals included a surprise guest. Greg Leakes of the “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” presented two proclamations, one from Gwinnett County and the other from the City of Duluth, that named April 18 “National Drumstick Day.” On April 18, participating Atlanta area restaurants celebrated “Dollar Drumstick Day” with one-dollar chicken drumsticks. Chicken lovers across Atlanta enjoyed a leg or thigh for just a buck all day on April 18.

The finals for the World’s Fastest Drummer Southeast Championship concluded on April 18 with the crowning of two new champions. Charles Goodwin, of New Orleans, and a current AIMM student, took home the Hands Championship with 926 strokes in one minute. Another AIMM student, Joshua Robinson of Washington D.C., was able to secure the Foot Championship with 825 strokes. As part of the competition, the two winners of the Southeast Championship earned bragging rights as champ, as well as ‘Free Chicken for a Year’ courtesy of Church’s. Advertisement

WFD is a sporting event that challenges speed drummers and employs an instrument called the Drumometer that counts drum strokes. The Drumometer is accepted by both the Guinness World Records organization and the WFD Extreme Sport Drumming competition as the official device used to determine the World’s Fastest Drummer.

The primary goal of the competition is to determine who can play the most single strokes in sixty seconds. There are a variety of categories and World Records involved in WFD. After experimenting with various WFD competition formats in the United States, the event achieved international prominence as contestants began traveling from around the globe to compete at WFD World Finals.

For more information, visit www.WorldsFastestDrummer.com.