COMPETITION Sweet feat: Couple takes top spots in melon-eating

Rich LeFevre won by eating 11.22 pounds of seedless watermelon.
BROOKVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A Nevada couple devoured the competition Saturday in the first watermelon-eating contest to be sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
Rich LeFevre won the title of World Watermelon Eating Champion after putting down 11.22 pounds at the "Swellin' with Melon" contest at the Brookville Community Picnic about 10 miles northwest of Dayton. LeFevre's wife, Carlene, took second with 9.78 pounds.
The rules of the contest were simple: eat as much precut seedless watermelon as possible in 15 minutes, and keep it down until after the contest.
The competitors -- four professional eaters and 12 local entrants -- were given trays containing 15 pounds of watermelon.
"We made them stand and eat over their trays, so even the liquid went into it and afterward we subtracted what was left from 15," said Ryan Nerz, spokesman for the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
Rich and Carlene LeFevre, from Henderson, Nev., were ranked fifth and ninth in the world, respectively, by the IFOCE, the governing body for eating contests, including the annual hot dog competition in New York.
"Rich LeFevre, by the end, he had all juice and was lifting it up to his face to drink the watermelon juice," Nerz said.
Third-place finisher
"Beautiful" Brian Seiken, of Brooklyn, N.Y., finished third for eating 8.07 pounds of watermelon.
By the end of the contest, all of the competitors were covered in watermelon juice, and had big wet spots on the fronts of their green T-shirts.
Seiken said he prepared for Saturday's event by not eating any sugar for a day and a half, and not drinking anything for 12 hours. He said he played basketball about two hours before the contest to dehydrate himself even more.
"It was real tough. You had about 12 local eaters that could put away a lot of watermelon. My goal was to not lose to any of the locals," he said.
"I was pleased with my performance. I could do a little better, but it's just a lot of watermelon," said Seiken, who holds a pickle-eating title for downing 2.5 pounds in five minutes at a contest in Brooklyn.
About five local competitors weren't able to finish the contest, Nerz said.
The biggest challenge of eating watermelon is keeping down all the juice, Nerz said.
"Sometimes after competitions these guys have sore jaws, but this was easy to chew. It was a matter of pacing themselves and flat-out stomach capacity, how much can you hold," he said. "They literally gained 11 pounds in 15 minutes."