World Pie Eating Championships cancelled for second year running
Indoor restrictions have caused the Wigan competition to be cancelled
Last updated 16th Dec 2021
The World Pie Eating Championships in Wigan has been cancelled for the second year in a row!
Pie industry experts say there is no way they can stage the event indoors while competitors have to wear masks.
They say they’ve even looked at angled straws and pureed pies, but haven't been able to find a solution.
Tony Callaghan, runner of the competition, says he's bitterly disappointed for the athletes.
"The competitors are gutted", said Tony.
"They have been practising for another 12 months, we couldn't do the competition last year because of COVID, so they've all been practising you. You see them on the street corners eating their pies, drinking their cough mixtures for all the lubrication, so they're just gutted. Hopefully we can have the competition next year.
"Having to wear a mask during the competition itself, but not before or after, has proven to be a fundamental hurdle."
"The committee experimented with things like pureed pie, angled straws and funnels"
The organiser added: "The technical members of the organising committee experimented with things like pureed pie, angled straws and funnels, as well as those things plumbers use to seal the gap between bath and wall tiles, to allow pie consumption while still wearing a mask.
"There wasn't an elegant solution resulting in less than half-an-hour to consume a pie when we'd be expecting around 30 seconds in a sporting environment. This event has always been a sprint not a marathon".
Mr Callaghan told Hits Radio that there were discussions about bringing the competition to an outside audience, but he believed that it would affect the competitions signature atmosphere.
Tony said: "I just don't think it would have the same atmosphere as everybody together, getting their pies down their gobs, I just don't think it would work outside.
"We wouldn't have the excitement, and the amount of judges we would have to have for it would just be a nightmare, so unfortunately 2021 World Pie Eating Competition ain't going to be."