LUMBERTON — For Delano Britt, the hardest part about eating three jelly-filled doughnuts within a minute wasn’t the eating.
“The hard part was the wait,” he said.
Britt, 24, had to wait about 10 minutes before scarfing down as many doughnuts as he could in 60 seconds on Saturday at the Boys and Girls Club’s competition held at Bill Sapp Recreation Center.
His appetite paid off with a $200 gift certificate to J.C. Penney, which was the first place prize. According to the Guiness Book of World Record’s website, the current title holder is six consumed in three minutes. Seven doughnuts were placed on each plate before the six contestants. Each competitor had their own judge — volunteers from the Lumberton Fire Department, each hoping no one needed any of the trash cans set up behind the competitors should a doughnut head in another direction.
“I’m just glad he didn’t get sick,” said Kenneth Hunt, the firefighter assigned to Britt. “He had me nervous for a minute there.”
Britt learned of the competition while paying his utility bill at City Hall. With tongue in cheek, he said to prepare for the competition, he worked on “eating” and “jaw strength.”
The runner-up, and second runner up did not take as much time to prepare.
Jesse Herndon, 24, placed a close second, eating two and a half doughnuts. His prize was $100 gift certificate.
Herndon is a volunteer maintenance worker at Luther Britt Park. He said he heard about the event from a co-worker and decided to join in. Unlike Britt, Herndon said he did nothing to prepare.
Thomas Lewter, 17, placed third, earning a $50 gift card for consuming two doughnuts.
After the competition, the club’s director, Ron Ross, accepted two checks, one from the Trinity Holiness Church in the amount of $1,000, and another from Long Leaf Pine Realtors for $2,000. The doughnut-eating contest served as a backdrop for the check presentation.
The event was sponsored by the city of Lumberton’s Recreation Department, J.C. Penney and Cakes and Pastries.
