Contestants in a past year's National Cheese Eating Competition munch their blocks of cheese. The contest, held every year in Arthur, will take place at 3 p.m. this Saturday.
To read more about the Arthur Cheese Festival, including a list of scheduled events, click hereThe objective might not seem that difficult to devour a one-pound block of Colby cheese in less than 5 minutes.But George Fritz of the Arthur Cheese Festival said it has only been in recent years that contestants in the annual cheese-eating competition have made it all the way through.The 10th Annual National Cheese Eating competition will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday in Arthur as part of the 37th Annual Arthur Cheese Festival.Fritz supplies the contestants with a bottle of water to 'chase' the cheese. "No one has ever requested any other type of chaser; seems as though the water works quite well," Fritz said.In previous years, the title went to whoever could finish the most cheese in the shortest amount of time. Only in the past couple of years has the entire block been finished. "It's taken pretty close to the 5-minute range," Fritz said. The rules are simple: no vomiting, and whatever is in the contestant's mouth at the end of the competition must be swallowed to count. The event is limited to first 36 contestants to enter the competition. The contestants are divided into a youth division (12-years-old and under) and an adult division (13-years-old and above)."It's strictly an individual competition, though support helps the more serious competitors," Fritz said.The typical cheese-eating contestant hails from the local area and has often competed more than once. Many of the contestants have come from University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Eastern. As with consuming any large quantity of food, particularly of one type, health becomes an issue. Fritz counts that he has not seen any health issues spurt out from the competition. "I don't know of anyone getting sick as a result of the competition," Fritz said. In the time that Fritz has been organizing the contest, he has not known of any preparation or training for it. "This isn't like the hot dog eating contests in that I don't know anyone that really takes time to prepare for it," Fritz said.Those competing do not have to fill out any forms in advance. They may simply show up on the day of the competition and sign up for it.
