April 10, 2011
NEW ORLEANS, April 10 (UPI) -- A 100-pound Korean native who lives in Washington won a crayfish eating competition in New Orleans, organizers of the event said.
But Sonya Thomas didn't win her championship easily because Baton Rouge native Adrian Morgan forced her to an eat-off at the Rouses World Championship Crawfish Eating Contest on Saturday, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Sunday.
She and Morgan each downed 3 1/4 pounds of crawfish in 10 minutes, but Thomas bested him in a tiebreaker.
"I'm the seafood champion," Thomas said after the contest.
Her seafood appetite is nothing if not prodigious. She set records of 44 lobsters in 12 minutes, 26 dozen raw clams in 6 minutes, 46 dozen oysters in 10 minutes and 46 crab cakes, also in 10 minutes.
"Some people see this as a gladiator-style fight, but it can be graceful to see Sonya Thomas's economy of motion as she works both hands and all quadrants of her mouth," said fellow competitor Crazy Legs Conti, who consumed 2 1/4 pounds of mud bug.
Morgan, 27, was a crowd favorite at the French Quarter Festival event.
"He's still a rookie, but he's got a great future ahead of him," a fellow shell-sucker said of Morgan.