MORGANTOWN - There's a 10-pound bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup served in a renowned restaurant in Las Vegas, and there you'll find a contest with a growing jackpot that goes to whoever can take down Pho 87's Phozilla in 1,987 seconds.
But there is only one person who's ever slayed the giant dish inside of 33 minutes, 7 seconds, and there's only one Miki Sudo.
"They actually put me on a billboard off the Las Vegas strip near Chinatown for it," said Sudo, who found herself elbow deep in delicious broth after hearing stories from her friends who'd tried and failed. "I kind of got this overnight reputation as the eating girl, which was weird. Like, 'I think there's a little more to me than that.' "
There is now, and what began four-and-a-half years ago with an innocent epicure's experiment and a $1,510 prize brings Sudo to Fairmont this weekend for the 37th annual Three Rivers Festival and Saturday's sixth annual Pepperoni Roll Eating World Championship.
Sudo, 31, is Major League Eating's No. 3-ranked competitive eater, trailing only top-ranked Matt Stonie, who set the pepperoni roll world record when he devoured 34 in 10 minutes last year, and Joey Chestnut, who MLE hails as the best eater ever.
She's won titles for eating tamales and turkey, kimchi and chicken wings, ribs and hot dogs, but she's only ever finished in second place at the Three Rivers Festival.
"They're difficult to eat," she said.
There are secrets some subscribe to in competitive eating, and Sudo has her ways, ones she applies to different events, ones that work. She reserves a certain number of bites for hot dogs. She has a technique for working around bones on ribs and chicken wings.
Pepperoni rolls offer no such luxuries.
"They're all handmade," she said. "I wouldn't say there's no consistency, but there's slight variation from one to the next. Every single one of them is not going to be the same size. They're not necessarily cooked with the same softness or hardness. The pepperoni on the inside can be going in wacky directions. It's all tricky, but that's what makes it a fun contest."
She was the runner-up in her first three appearances, eating 271/2 in 2013, 26 in 2014 and 281/2 last year. Chestnut won in 2013 and Stonie won the last two years, but they'll be at different MLE events this weekend, leaving Sudo as the favorite, though she'll keep an eye on Geoffrey Esper, who is ranked No. 10 in the world.
Sudo didn't know much about Esper, who debuted with MLE last July, until the World Gyro Eating Championship in Houston earlier this month. Chestnut won and set a world record by eating 30 gyros in 10 minutes, and Stonie was second with 28. Sudo and Esper tied for third after finishing 22.
"I don't lose to or tie with anybody other than Matt or Joey on a regular basis, especially someone who's sort of new, but maybe this is the one when he really breaks out and takes first," Sudo said. "It's not going to be a cakewalk by any means. I really need to bring my 'A' game."
It would help if she could practice, but Sudo cannot because there are no pepperoni rolls in Las Vegas or really anywhere outside West Virginia's borders. She nevertheless has a preparation regimen to get ready, and it's a lot like other sports and other competitors.
"For me," she said, "I really have to focus on my fitness level, because the top competitors are in really good shape."
She doesn't build her appetite with massive meals, instead choosing to eat fruits, vegetables, lean meat and raw fish. She stays away from alcohol and goes to the gym to build up her endurance, provided she can get to the gym with the long hours she works in marketing.
"Aside from the gyro contest, there's been a pretty long lull in competition," she said. "I'm not really quite in the full swing of things yet. How much I eat depends on how comfortable I am with my fitness goals."
Sudo arrives Thursday, and she typically doesn't eat much in the two days leading up to a competition. She will find some pepperoni rolls and get to know her enemy once again, remembering this or that about the challenge and trying one thing or another to make sure she's ready when the contest starts. When it does, there's no time to construct a strategy and only time to consume as much as possible.
Fortunately for Sudo and the competitors, dunking the rolls in a drink is legal, and she comes armed with strawberry-orange-banana Crystal Light.
"That's my go-to flavor," she said. "I've used raspberry lemonade in the past, and that was OK. For the more tart, sweet foods, I like to use coffee. Some people prefer water, but I feel like that doesn't help much with breaking down the food. After a while, you're just eating something wet."