McMaster student takes top speed-eating prize

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 2:35 PM ET Comments0Recommend2

CBC News

A Canadian university student known as Furious Pete took the top prize at a weekend eating championship in San Diego.

Peter Czerwinski, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., won the title of 2008 Collegiate Nationals Eating Champion and a $1,000 first prize on Saturday.

The competition was the first official eating contest for Furious Pete, so dubbed for the speed at which he can eat. He was the only Canadian to qualify for the event.

To win, Czerwinski wolfed down 3½ platters — each stacked with two hot dogs, two cheeseburgers and a quarter pound of french fries — in seven minutes.

The competition uses picnic-style rules, meaning the food must be eaten in the traditional manner. For example, this would prevent competitive eaters from wetting buns to make them easier to eat.

The second-place eating champ finished nearly three plates.

According to a press release distributed by the university's engineering department, Czerwinski is a former anorexia sufferer-turned-bodybuilder

The release said Czerwinski, who is six-foot-two, ended up in hospital in 2002, weighing only 126 pounds. To battle his anorexia, he turned to bodybuilding, beefing up to a "ripped" 225 pounds.

His friends suggested he turn to competitive eating after watching him during meals.

The release said he has previously broken two records, eating a 72-ounce steak in less than seven minutes and 18 bananas in two minutes. That's one banana every 6.5 seconds.