Step aside, Joan of Arc. Take a number, Billie Jean King. The Black Widow has just eaten her way into women's herstory.
Labor Day weekend's 10th annual "Wingfest" drew a crowd of 85,000 to the Bison City, and all were excited to see the showdown between competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and "Black Widow" Sonya Thomas. They were not disappointed.
Chestnut, the defending Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champ, faced off against Thomas in the "U.S. Chicken Wing Eating Championship," and it was the 105-pound woman who scarfed down 183 wings in 12 minutes to set a new world record and beat Chestnut by nine. The 44-year-old Thomas resides in Alexandria, Va.
Competitive eating continues to grow at a wild pace; this contest drew visitors from every state in the nation and over 39 different countries. Consider that 85,000 wings fans beats out the 63,195 fans who attend a typical Bills game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
This weekend's mob enjoyed more than 50 tons of wings, prepared at least 100 ways.
Thomas holds 20 world eating records including:
• 11 pounds Downtown Atlantic Cheesecake / 9 minutes
• 65 Hard Boiled Eggs / 6 minutes
• 44 Maine Lobsters (11.3 Pounds of meat) from the shell / 12 minutes
• 7 3/4 pounds Turducken.com Thanksgiving Dinner / 12 minutes
• 80 Chicken Nuggets / 5 Minutes
