Guild Mortgage of Kirkland knew they had their work cut out for them if they had a shot at dethroning three-time Hopelink Can Madness champion Hancock’s Bakery of Redmond.

Last year the Kirkland business came close but fell short of the championship. This time, the second-year competitor took home the trophy.

Accepting the trophy, an elated Scott Estes, sales manager for Guild Mortgage, said, “This is just amazing – the things we can do in the community when we all come together.”

In the end, it was a squeaker. During the final week of the competition to stock Hopelink’s food banks, Guild Mortgage brought in 7,432 pounds and $619 for a weekly score of 805 points, finishing the contest with a total of 12,454 pounds and $619.

Hancock’s Bakery collected 2,364 pounds and $507 this week for a score of 798, with a grand total of 4,923 pounds and $607 during the competition.

To ensure that businesses of all sizes were able to compete on a level playing field, the competition used a unique scoring system: the total pounds of food donated by a business were divided by the total number of employees, resulting in a competitive “score.”

During the five-week competition, 25 businesses in Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Shoreline and Seattle collected a total of 27,116 pounds of food and $2,050 in cash. Last year, 32 businesses brought in 23,535 pounds and about $3,000 in donations.

This was the fourth year of the contest, which is similar to the national spring college basketball tournament. The food drive matches businesses in weekly contests to see which one can bring in the most food. Teams are bracketed together in pairs and one winner from each 2-member bracket advances to the following week.