The town of Fulton Texas is holding an oyster festival and eating contest this weekend. Joel Pruitt won the men’s contest (registration or bugmenot.com required) and a prize of $200 by eating 134 oysters in five minutes. The event was obviously not an IFOCE affair because a four year old participated in it and there were separate contests for men and women. The women’s division will be held today.

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IFOCE.com announced that goldenpalace.net will sponsor two eating contests open only to college students that will be held at the Spring Break destinations of South Padre Island, TX and Panama City Beach, FL. The food item and duration have not yet been determined, but the first place prize will be $1000. If graduate students are allowed entrance, Hall Hunt will be the probable favorite for the Florida contest if Joey Chestnut and Pat Bertoletti stay at home. Contests at other Spring Break destinations are expected.

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The Laredo Morning Times’ article is now available in .pdf format: Part 1 (with Menchetti picture), Part 2

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from Erik “the Red” (not Gumby) Denmark:

Jalapeno Festival Jalapeno Eating Contest, Laredo, TX updated 2/20 7:30
1st – Getleman Joe Menchetti – 105 jalapenos (Wallingford, Connecticut), $1000
2nd – Erik “The Red” Denmark – 98 jalapenos (Seattle, WA), $500
3rd – Benjamin Navarro – 74 jalapenos (Laredo, TX), $250
4th – Jose A. Mar – 71 jalapenos (Laredo, TX)

Erik has the following comments about the contest :

Just wanted to give you the results of the Laredo Jalapeno eating contest. I finished second, I had a big lead in the beginning but slowed in the second half to allow Menchetti to catch up and pass me- though I didn’t know that the guy who strategically sat next to me was Gentleman Joe until after the contest.

Anyway, it was brutally cold in Laredo, around 35 degrees with a wind chill factor, which I think made the winning totals lower because it took a while to get the jaw warmed up.

Link to article… (article has expired as of Monday morning)

http://www.lmtonline.com/ (picture)

http://www.lmtonline.com/news/s1.php#lmt (article)

The article mistakenly claims that Mar holds the record for 141 jalapenos – the most he ever ate was 113 last year. Also, they don’t recognize Donahue as holding the record although they do say that the 141 jalapeno record was set in 1992.

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A hot dog contest was held in Houston in which the prize was a pair of World Series tickets. The winner, Bill Hedge, consumed an impressive 16 hot dogs in about 10 minutes, which makes him a potential threat to qualify for Nathan’s.

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dallasnews.com has an article (registration required) about the Krystal Square Off qualifier at the State Fair of Texas. Rich LeFevre won the contest by eating 35 burgers. No other competitors or totals were listed. Hopefully Carlene recovered sufficiently from her hospital stay to make the trip with her husband.

Updated 10/3 11:33 PM top 3 (from ifoce.com)

1. Rich “The Locust” LeFevre 35 burgers
2. Kurtis Wright, 22 burgers
3. Levi Oliver, 21 burgers

The ifoce.com writeup mentions that Carlene was present. Hopefully she will complete her recovery soon and return to competition if she desires.

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From the February 2, 2004 The Daily Texan (UTexas school paper) Defensive Stopper by Elizabeth McGarr:

“She [Kala Bowers] eats more than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Schreiber said. “Pretty much every two or three hours, she has to have a meal. Before practice, she’ll eat a buffet meal, then she’ll eat after practice, then she’ll eat again that night.

“At halftime, she’ll eat a Power Bar or something. In the four hours between pre-game and game time, she’ll go get McDonald’s because she’ll just get so hungry.”

You wouldn’t know it to look at Bowers’ trim six-foot-two-inch frame.

“I can eat probably all day, every day,” she admitted. “I don’t know what it is – I guess high metabolism – but I love to eat. Make any bet with me about food, and I’m going to be excited.”

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From the steak finishers database at bigtexan.com

The database claims there have been 1686 successful attempts at the 72 ounce steak since 1991 with 23 having been performed by women. This gives females just 23/1686 = 1.36% of the finishes. It is really surprising that this fraction is that low given that Sonya Thomas and Kate Stelnick have accomplished feats that no male American competitive eaters have matched.

Carlene LeFevre has accounted for 9 of the 23 completions by women, almost 40% . Richard LeFevre is listed as having finished the steak 10 times, giving the LeFevres more than 1% (19/1686 = 1.12%) of the total completions. The LeFevres first bested the Big Texan’s challenge in 1985, so some of their finishes will not be in the database.

All but 4 of the female finishers have their weight listed. The heaviest listed weight is 160 pounds.

The LeFevres’ January 2000 attempt was filmed for Ripley’s Believe It or Not television show. From amarillo.com (Google cache)

On Jan. 22, six people attempted to consume the Big Texan’s signature stunt of a 72-ounce steak plus a baked potato, salad, roll and a shrimp cocktail. The contest was recorded for the television show Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

Richard LeFevre, a 135-pound resident of Henderson, Nev., nearly toppled a record held by a man four times his weight. LeFevre consumed the first steak and trimmings in 19 minutes, then asked for a second steak. He was unable to finish the second, but ate about 134 ounces of meat. …

LeFevre’s wife, Carlene, was next person to finish the feast, needing 32 minutes.

Two women from Houston, Tammy Hooker and Annette Havard, both won a radio contest to compete in Amarillo. Both women finished their meal in the allotted time. Havard, whose announced weight was 95 pounds, joked after finishing the meal that she was ready for dessert.

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