UK Eating Championship

The International Federation of Competitive Eating will hold a UK Eating Championship in England, on Sunday May 1, 2005.

The 12-minute, all-you-can-eat contest, is open to all aspiring eating athletes 18 years of age or older. The winner will receive the title of UK Champion and will win a place at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York City.

The UK Eating Championship, which will be featured in a Channel 4 documentary on the fast-growing sport of eating, will include six top eaters chosen from a UK-wide audition/time trial to be held in Birmingham in April.

Entrants may apply by emailing eatingchamp@twofour.co.uk or by calling 0870 062 2803. Rookie athletes are welcome, but those with an eating pedigree will receive special consideration.

Competing in the Fourth of July event will be Takeru Kobayashi, the 9 ½ stone number-one ranked eater in the world, who has consumed 53.5 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, and Sonya Thomas, the 7 stone, number-two ranked eater, who has consumed 432 oysters in 10 minutes.

“While the European Union has grown in political strength and stature during the past five years, it has fallen woefully behind in the competitive eating arena,” said IFOCE Chair George Shea. “This is an opportunity for the UK to showcase its top athletic talent and get the UK back on the sporting map.”

The IFOCE hopes that the UK championship will help bridge recent differences between Europe and the US. Associating the UK and American championships promises to strengthen both while creating greater understanding between the cultures on opposite sides of the Atlantic.