World Pie Eating Championship facts for kids
The World Pie Eating Championship is a fun and unique competition. It happens every year in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The contest usually takes place at Harry's Bar on Wallgate. People have been competing to eat pies since 1992!
In 2006, something new was added. A special vegetarian pie contest started. This happened because groups like The Vegetarian Society asked for it.
About the Competition
In December 2006, the main pies were meat and potato pies. They were about 12 centimeters (5 inches) wide. They were also 3.5 centimeters (1.5 inches) deep. For the vegetarian contest, the pies were a bit smaller. They were 10 centimeters (4 inches) wide and 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) deep.
In December 2007, a funny thing happened before the competition. A competitor's dog, named Charlie, ate twenty pies! He also damaged ten more the night before. This almost stopped the event from happening!
Past Champions
1992 Winner
Dave Smyth, a painter from Hindley, won the very first contest in 1992. He ate four pies in just three minutes.
1995 Winner
Dave Williams from Preston, Lancashire took home the title.
1998 Winner
Scott Ormrod from Aspull, Wigan, ate eleven pies in thirty minutes to win.
2005 Winner
Anthony "The Anaconda" Danson, a weight trainer from Lancashire, set a new record. He ate seven pies in three minutes!
2006 Winner
Matt Dunning, an Australian Rugby Union player, won this year.
2007 Winner
Adrian Frost, 42, from Wigan, set a super-fast record. He finished his pie in just 35.86 seconds!
2008 Winner
Fred Wyatt, a 61-year-old warehouse packer, won the 2008 Championship. This event was even shown live on the internet!
2009 Winner
Barry Rigby, a warehouseman, won by eating his pie in forty-five seconds.
2010 Winner
Neil Collier, 42, won this contest. He set a new World Record of 23.91 seconds!
2012 Winner
Martin Clare won with an even faster record time of 22.53 seconds.
2013 Winner
Ian Coulton from Wigan won the title. His winning time was 1 minute and 6.61 seconds, which was the slowest winning time ever!
2014 Winner
Former champion Barry Rigby won again with the best time.
2015 Winner
Martin Appleton Clare, who won in 2012, got his title back. He had missed the 2013 contest and had a problem with the "wrong size pie" in 2014.
2016 Winner
The champion, Martin Appleton-Clare, won for a record-breaking third time.
2017 Winner
It was the third win in a row for Martin Appleton-Clare!
2018 Winner
Martin Appleton-Clare won a new category called "Chicken and Carrot." He finished in 19.6 seconds after a tough "Pie Off."
2019 Winner
Ian Gerrard won the contest with a time of 34.5 seconds.
2022 Winner
Barry Rigby, 49, ate the regular meat and potato pie in 35.4 seconds. This was his third time winning the pie crown! The championship was a bit late and happened in January 2023 instead of December. Barry had also won in 2009 and 2014.
2023 Winner
Ian Coulton beat all the other competitors. He made sure the trophy stayed in Wigan! This was his first win since his victory ten years earlier, in 2013.
Why Wiganers are Called "Pie Eaters"
People from Wigan are proud to be called "pie eaters." But this nickname isn't just because they love to eat pies! The name is thought to come from the 1926 General Strike. During this time, miners in Wigan had to go back to work before miners in other towns. They were forced to accept difficult conditions, which was like being forced to eat "humble pie".
