For a while a friend of mine had been saying how big some of the pizzas were at Al Fornos in Wimbledon, and how the large pizza would be an incredible challenge

Now while I cannot compete with the IFOCE competitors,

http://www.ifoce.com/

I consider myself a reasonable gannet. However, one cannot compete successfully without adequate preparation, so the evening before I went to The Big Easy

http://www.bigeasy.uk.com/v1/index.html

for a 24oz T Bone steak. This was not the biggest on the menu, the 32oz is - I had this last time but preferred the 24oz and felt it would be adequate preparation for the upcoming challenge. Although this size of steak sounds large, it pales into insignificance when compared to Denny's beer barrel pub in Pennsylvania

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/menu2.htm

I believe that I could do the Pub Challenger and Pub Super Challenger, but beyond this would be pushing things.

The pizza arrived, and it looked pretty substantial

although it had a thin base, so wasn't (quite) as intimidating as it looks in the picture. My strategy was to eat in a brisk fashion before I started to feel signs of fullness, and it wasn't until I had around a quarter left that I started to find the going arduous. However, I wasn't to be defeated, and after around 20 minutes emerged victorious

As with all competitions, there are winners and losers. One of those unable to complete the challenge had been too busy enjoying wine and had let his preparation slip

The wine shown in the picture is Angus the Bull 2002 vintage

http://www.angusthebull.com/reviews/

and I ordered from Jascotts

http://www.jascots.co.uk/start.html