PORT RICHEY — Competitive eaters don't have what you would call a "normal" or "regular" practice schedule. Instead, most are doing different types of events involving other foods.
Port Richey's Nick Wehry is already training for the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July, but he has multiple events before the summer. Last weekend, he broke a world record en route to winning a pistachio-eating contest in California. He downed 109 in eight minutes.
Wehry says a guidance counselor told him he'd be a great accountant because he is so good with numbers, but Nick followed his passions for baseball and bodybuilding. He already had a big appetite, and competitive eating started as a fun hobby. Now it's his job.
"It's pretty cool to travel to Milan, then L.A. all within like a ten-day time frame, and eat Jell-O and pistachios and get paid to do so," Nick said after a hot dog-eating practice. He joked that pistachios walk in the park compared to other foods.
"Plus, after the contest, you still feel great. You just had a large snack of pistachios," he added. "You can cruise around Santa Monica, still feeling good. When you got 40 or 50 hot dogs in your belly, you don't quite feel as good."
He's referring to the Nathan's contest, where he finished an impressive fourth place in 2022, downing 40 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes.
His personal best is 44. During practice, Wehry cues up a video from the previous year's contest to simulate the atmosphere at Coney Island. He replicates as many conditions as possible to help with his mental preparation.
"Anyone who's seen 'For Love of the Game,' the baseball movie with Kevin Costner, before he goes to throw every pitch, he says 'Clear the mechanism,' and everybody disappears, in Yankee Stadium," Nick says his mental toughness and his bodybuilding background help him push through the strain of competition.
"You have to just break through that," he explained. "For me, it's a lot of bodybuilding-style training and going through the hurt. And on the other side of the hurt is where growth is."
The sport of competitive eating has drawn criticism from people who say it's a gluttonous food waste. But multiple events make it a point to write big checks to great causes.
One of those is "Wings For Wishes" in Miami. Nick's heading there this weekend to see how many chicken wings he can eat in ten minutes. He's also looking forward to an event raising thousands of dollars for a charitable organization.
"The whole event raised over $408,000 for Make A Wish Foundation [last year]. So granting wishes to kids- I can't really think of a much better use than that of our ridiculous talent," Wehry said. "We did poutine in Toronto. They work with Friends of We Care. They send exceptional kids to summer camps, and we raised over 150K. Every year, [Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs] donates to Feeding America. We're bringing smiles to people's faces. We're racing money for those in need. Is it a little silly and crazy what we do? Of course."
Nick confessed that wings and ribs are his two favorite competition foods. And while he loves his job, he also loves raising money as well.
"Go eat some wings. Hopefully, take home another 'W' like I did last weekend and raise money for some awesome kids. That's a pretty cool weekend."
