Feel the heart burn

Published 9:56 pm Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tim "Eater X" Janus celebrates after winning the Creek Indian taco eating contest Saturday at Foodabluza.

Tim “Eater X” Janus celebrates after winning the Creek Indian taco eating contest Saturday at Foodabluza.

Two of the world’s most prolific competitive eaters took home top honors during two Major League Eating-senctioned events during Wind Creek Casino’s Foodabluza Friday and Saturday.

Tim “Eater X” Janus took first home first place and $2,500 in the Foodabluza Creek Indian Taco Eating Championship, while Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas took home the crown in the Foodabluza Oyster Eating Championship.

Thomas, the fourth-ranked eater in the world, devoured 37 dozen oysters in five minutes. Janus, the third-ranked eater, consumed 20.5 tacos in eight minutes.

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“I thought we’d do more,” Janus said of the open-faced dish of fry bread adorned with meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream. “I thought it would be a little easier.”

Janus finished four tacos ahead of second-place finisher Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco, who ate 16.5 tacos.

Thomas finished third on Saturday, but polished off the competition Friday, eating 10 dozen more oysters than Janus, who took second. Adrian “The Rabbit” Morgan took third with 26 dozen oysters downed.

Thomas said she could’ve eaten 40 dozen oysters, but they kept sticking to the shell.

“That’s why I slowed down,” she said.

Thomas holds the world record for oysters with 47 dozen consumed in eight minutes.

The two competitions were very different, said MLE Emcee Sam Barclay. Eating the oysters quickly comes down to hand speed, whereas the tacos required capacity.

“Sonya has incredible capacity and great hand speed,” Barclay said. “Tim has extraordinary capacity. It’s all eating, but it’s very different.”

Barclay said he was surprised by Thomas’ performance with the oysters, as she was on pace to smash her world record. She was on pace to eat 58 dozen oysters if the contest had lasted eight minutes.

In an amateur battle of Wind Creek Casino executives, General Manager Arthur Mothershead won $5,000 for St. Jude’s Medical Center when he polished off 11 tacos, which would’ve been only half a taco less than sixth place among those in the professional ranks.

Mothershead said he didn’t really have a strategy going into the competition mainly because he waited too long to search for competitive eating tips.

“I just finished what was on the plate,” Mothershead said.