World Pie Eating Championship canceled after competitors told they’d all have to wear masks

By Ashley Pemberton via SWNS

This year'sWorld Pie Eating Championship has had to be canceled after competitors were told that because of the spread of COVID-19 they would all have to wear MASKS.

Organizer and piemaster Tony Callaghan said boffins had tried to figure out a way around new restrictions to allow the annual contest to go ahead.

However they failed to find away around the mask rule and the event - which was due to be held at Harry's Bar in Wigan, England this week - has been axed for the second year in a row.

Tony said he'd hoped the pre-Christmas favorite could be resurrected this Yuletide to bring some much needed cheer to locals after two years of COVID-19 hell.

But new government guidelines require masks to be worn at indoor sports stadiums.

And because Tony considers the championships to be an elite sporting event, he said there is no way of hosting the event.

"Pandemic rules mean that competitors can have a pint and a bag of pork scratchings pre-event, but as soon as they enter the competition arena up the back bar area they have to wear a mask," he said.

"Government guidelines are gobble-degook. Or gobble-avoidance-degook.

"There is an argument that the actual competitors in indoor sports don't have to wear masks, but government guidelines make no reference to that.

"And if people like Lewis Hamilton have to wear a face covering during competition, then that's all the guidance we needed.

"Having to wear a mask during the competition itself, but not before or after, has proven to be a fundamental hurdle.

“No mask is required in a hospitality setting, but masks are legally required in an indoor sports stadium.

"Any other elite sport would find a way of getting round pandemic restrictions, but we’ve been gagged."

Anyone can enter the annual pie-off and it simply involves a race to see how quickly one pie can be scoffed by contestants.

It is the second year the contest has fallen victim to COVID-19 regulations after the government last year refused to exempt the bar from Tier three rules.

So hometown hero Ian Gerrard - who wolfed down a meat and prater pie in 35.4 seconds to take the crown in 2019 - will have to wait to defend his world title.

Tony, who last year penned a hilarious letter to PM Boris Johnson asking for an exemption to the rules, has tried to find an alternative way of hosting the event.

"We looked at staging the event outside on the pavement, but there'd be 30-odd lads and lasses and their coaches - in some cases 38-seaters - and some of these lads are big units, meaning they could easily be mistaken for traffic islands if caught in the wrong light through a rainy windscreen," he said.

"The technical members of the organizing 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.

"But 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."

Tony said he had ruled against staging the event virtually on Zoom because his bar 'doesn't have enough plug holes' for competitors to bring their computers in.

He added that he is now considering breaking with decades of tradition and staging the 28th edition of the event away from its usually mid-December fixture date.