PIE EATING CONTEST

History

In 2006, bowing to pressure from the Government's

 healthy eating drive and from the Vegetarian Society,

 the contest has been changed. In the past, contestants

 were required to eat as many meat and potato savory

pies as they can in three minutes. The rules have been

changed so that the emphasis on speed rather than volume.

And for those health-conscious professional pie-eaters, the

 competition includes a vegetarian option. Now the winner is

 the person who can eat any pie in the shortest possible time.

The annual World Pie Eating Championship is usually held at

Harry's Bar on Wallgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.

The competition has been held since 1992. In 2006, a vegetarian

 version was added ^[1] after "relentless pressure" from the

 Vegetarian Society.^[2]

In the 2006 competition, the meat and potato pies were all

12 cm (5 in) in diameter with a depth of 3.5 cm (1.5 in). In

the separate vegetarian contest, the pies were 10 cm

(4 in) by 3 cm (1.2 in).^[3]

In the 2007 competition, entries included a competitor's

 dog, Charlie, who had eaten 20 pies and damaged a

 further 10 the night before the competition, nearly

 jeopardising the event.^[2]

RULES

The competition rules dictate that the meat and potato pies

 have a diameter of 12cm and a depth of 3.5cm when cooked,

 with a pie angle from base to top of between zero and 15

 degrees. The vegetarian option will be 10cm by 3cm.

Winners

The inaugural winner of this event, in 1992, was Dave Smyth,

 a painter from Hindley who ate four pies in three minutes.

 The 2005 winner was Anthony "The Anaconda" Danson, a

weight trainer from Lancashire, who managed to eat seven

pies in three minutes, setting a new record. Under the new rules

, the 2006 winner was Brendan Brockbank, aged 18, who ate his

 pie in just 78 seconds.