Corn Record Obliterated

The big men came to the table Sunday, April 25, for the Sweet Corn Eating Championship in Palm Beach, Flordia, shocking the crowd with a display of eating never before seen in South Florida.

When Ed "The Animal" Krachie, Ray Meduna, Joe LaRue, Michael Parish and Cookie Jarvis arrived at the Sweet Corn Fiesta, fans and onlookers alike knew that history would be made.

Krachie, testing the waters for a possible return from retirement, seemed loose and focused in the early minutes of the 12-minute sweet corn eating contest. The second annual contest, overseen by Ann Holt and Florida corn growers Brad and Buddy, was the ideal environment for Krachie. However, at the six-minute mark it became clear that Ray Meduna and Joe LaRue were setting a world record pace.

While most of the eaters slowed, succumbing to jaw fatigue produced by the grueling corn-on-the-cob discipline, Meduna, LaRue and Jarvis actually picked up the pace.

At the end of the event, a full seven eaters -- three of whom were rookies off the street -- beat the previous world record of 21 ears of corn in 12 minutes. Meduna placed third with an impressive 28 1/4 ears, while LaRue put in his second big performance in two weeks, eating 28 1/2 ears.

Cookie Jarvis, who had flown in on the red eye from California, where he placed second to Sonya Thomas in Saturday's asparagus eating championship, fought off fatigue to consume a new world record on 33 1/2 ears of sweet corn in 12 minutes.

The event was sponsored by First Community Bank of Palm Beach County, the oldest bank in the county.