Onion eating

The small town of Newent in Gloucestershire has an annual Onion Fayre, to celebrate the noble onion. A major highlight of the day is the onion eating contest, to find the mens and ladies onion eating champion. Quite simply, the first to eat a whole onion, so it's an against the clock crunch, with one or two contestants coming close to... err, you know what.
I'm glad I was photographing rather than munching.

Btw, it's not an ancient tradition, the fayre is 'only' 22 years old, but maybe onion eating in the town goes back further?