A local first-timer made mincemeat of the competition in the World Pie Eating Championships, devouring his in under a minute.
Supermarket worker Barry Rigby, 36, won the title by finishing his regulation meat and potato pie in 43 seconds at Harry’s Bar in Wigan, northwest England.
However, it was not quick enough to beat the world record of 35.86 seconds, set by Adrian Frost in 2007
“I was really surprised to win, I think my two boys will be very proud of me,” said Rigby, who only entered the contest on a whim.
“The pie tasted great. I am a big pie fan, I eat between 10 and 20 a week at least.”
Last year’s winner Fred Wyatt, a 61-year-old warehouse packer, came second.
The competition started in 1992. The pies are 12cm wide by 3.5cm deep and must have a 66 percent meat content.
Harry’s Bar owner Tony Callaghan said cheating was not tolerated.
“Gravy has traditionally been the performance-enhancing drug of choice amongst pie eaters at this level, but we banned it after a series of questionable concoctions were created by contenders,” he said.
“Specifically we’re told that dry tickly cough linctus works particularly well in lubricating the throat and causing a mild anesthetic effect which enables faster swallowing,” he said.
The championships took place a day after Chinese snooker player Ding Junhui won his weight in pies — 276 of them, four for each of his 69 kilos in weight — by claiming the UK Championship title.
(AFP)
世界吃派大賽冠軍出爐，英國當地一位首次參賽的參賽者，一分鐘內就狼吞虎嚥地吞下他的派。
三十六歲的超市員工貝瑞．瑞格畢在四十三秒內，吃光規定的肉餡馬鈴薯派；這場比賽在英格蘭西北部韋根的哈利酒吧舉行。
然而，他的成績沒有打破艾德里恩．佛羅斯特在二ＯＯ七年創下三十五秒八六的世界紀錄。
臨時起意決定參賽的瑞格畢說：「能贏得比賽連我自己都嚇了一跳，我想我兩個兒子會為我感到非常驕傲。」
「派很好吃。我超愛吃派的，我每個星期至少吃十到二十個派。」
去年的冠軍弗萊德．維特（六十一歲的倉儲包裝工），今年則得到亞軍。
這個比賽始於一九九二年。比賽中的派每個直徑十二公分，高三點五公分，而且肉餡必須佔餡料的百分之六十六。
哈利酒吧的經營者湯尼．卡拉漢說，比賽嚴禁作弊。
他說：「傳統上肉汁被這個階段的參賽者當成提高成績的「靈丹妙藥」，但自從出現一連串參賽者自製的可疑混合醬汁後，大會就禁止使用肉汁了。」
他說：「確切地說，有人告訴我們止咳糖漿效果奇佳，不但能潤滑喉嚨，還有輕微的麻醉作用，可讓參賽者更快速吞嚥。」
這場比賽舉辦的前一天，中國斯諾克撞球選手丁俊暉贏得英國斯諾克撞球冠軍，得到兩百七十六個和他體重等重的肉派（他體重六十九公斤，每四個派重一公斤）。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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