No bellyaching, this contest is for serious eaters
By FREDA R. SAVANA
The Intelligencer

Competition Photos

Some took out the meat and cheese and crammed that down first. Others forced water into their mouths to help slide the enormous bites of Italian hoagies down their throats.

And then there were the more polite eaters, who simply shoved mouthful after mouthful of the sandwich into their already dangerously full stomachs.

A hoagie-eating contest can be a pretty amazing sight.

For Arnie "Chow Hound" Chapman, a self described professional eater, it's just a good way to get out of yard work on a weekend afternoon.

The New York man, who came to Lee's Hoagie House in Horsham Sunday to compete for a $250 check and a 3-foot high trophy in the business' first hoagie-eating championship, walked away the winner.

To claim the prize, Chapman ate two 18-inch hoagies in 10 minutes and was half way through his third when time was called. And you have to keep the meal down for 10 minutes. "No throwing up," state the rules.

Chapman, wearing a large silver dog chain around his neck, said it's all about stretching your stomach.

"I power slam a half gallon of water a day in 25 seconds," to prepare for a contest, he said.

Contestants from 13 of the hoagie chain's 19 restaurants competed in the event. Each had to qualify by winning a contest at his or her local hoagie shop.

Randi Walck, who eats at Lee's in Quakertown, said the idea "sounded like fun" so he entered.

"It was great," said the sales manager, after the contest. Although he didn't win the big money, eating just 11/2 hoagies, Walck said he was happy to get $25 in coupons for his next hoagie meal.

And it wasn't only men who could put away the hoagies in a hurry. Priscilla Garrison, representing the Upper Southampton Lee's, tried too, although she couldn't match the heavy hitters. Garrison didn't even clean her plate of one hoagie.

Onlookers who came to support their favorite eater or just have a look at the event had mixed feelings.

After watching the spectacle, Danielle DeGele, of Warrington, had one thought.

"That's the most frightening thing I've ever seen," she said with a smile.