Qdoba Mexican Grill held the first round of its annual burrito eating contest on Saturday, March 25.
Fourteen teams competed in the contest for the grand prize of free Qdoba for a year.
The contest will continue next Saturday to name the champion, but so far, teammates Jordan Arrington and Mitchell Gardner are in the lead.
Christopher Ryan said that Qdoba has been holding this contest for about 10 years now, but the prize system is better this year.
“This year there are prizes for second and third place, which is pretty cool,” he said.
Check in for the contest started at 3 p.m. and the first round of eating started around 3:30 p.m.
Contestants were in teams of two, with six teams competing per round. Each contestant was given a 1.5 pound burrito. When told to “go,” the first contestant would begin eating, and after finishing the burrito and opening their mouth to show the judge it was all gone, their teammate could then begin eating. Time was stopped after the second teammate showed the judge they had finished.
Teams will be back to compete this Saturday and an average of their scored times between this week and next will determine the winner.
Two teams tapped out of the competition, but the other 12 will return to compete.
The current first place team finished their two burritos in 4:14.
One of the fastest personal times was Remy Cousino, who finished her own burrito in about 2:30.
“I didn’t even know I could eat like that,” she said. “I just did it for the free burrito.”
