How fast can someone eat a sandwich as big as a forearm, seriously?

The notion is being tested for the first Eat a Fat Bitch and Get Rich Contest hosted by Are U Hungry?, 111 Sowers St., and LionMenus.com.

The contest times the inhalation of The Fat Bitch -- fastest eater wins $1,000. The catch is getting one of these puppies down, which contains cheesesteak, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, mayonnaise and ketchup. The mayo and "ket" are optional but the rest must be in your stomach or somewhere down the esophagus as fast as possible for qualification to the next round.

Pat Lockard (sophomore-accounting) housed his sandwich in 3:15, but was still disappointed. "My roommate did it in 2:16," he said.

Lockard made the mistake of underestimating how thirsty he would get and had to run to the water fountain for a refill of his cup, costing him precious time.

"I just got really thirsty," he said.

Two roommates followed Lockard boasting their eating capabilities and capacities.

"They have all-you-can-eat wings back at home and one time I ate 200," Phil Wise said. Wise is currently taking a semester off from Penn State.

The expert eater destroyed his Bitch in 2:11 but failed to beat the standing record of 2:02.

After setting the bar, Wise's roommate, Bob Curran (junior-education) sat down at the table and looked to be on a role. Curran chose to take small bites to facilitate the swallowing process but halfway through floundered under the pressure of beating his roommate and clocked in at 4:14.

"It was tougher than I thought," he said. "It's just bigger than what it looks like."

Amazingly, Andreas Sofocleous (junior-management) broke the record -- the sort of four-minute mile of Fat Bitch eating.

With a mouth full of food, Sofocleous checked his time halfway through his Bitch.

"1:12?" he said. "I can do this."

Sophocleous took monstrous bites and finished the sandwich in an amazing 1:54, setting a new record.

"The water is the key," he said. "It softens it up and it slides right down."

The qualification rounds will take the 64 quickest eaters and, starting March 12, pit them against each other in a March Madness style tournament said Jim Leahy, a LionMenus spokesman and official timekeeper.

"It will be just like the NCAA tournament," he said. "The 16 seed will play the one seed and so on."

Leahy said that only the Final Four would be head-to-head competitions, the other rounds would, again, be based on the times.

"We'll set up a bunch of times you can come in and eat," he said. "Then we'll e-mail you to tell you if you won your round or not."

Leahy added that the initial $6.50 for the first Fat Bitch to qualify is the only sandwich that is not free.

"Once the tournament starts all the sandwiches are free," he said.

Owner of Are U Hungry?, George Tanios, said that he has wanted to do an eating contest since he opened.

"I gave LionMenus the idea and we decided to run with it," he said. "I mean, we got a fat sandwich, you got to do something with it."

Tanios did his best to polish off a Fat Bitch and swallowed the last bite at 2:05, but was not eligible to participate because he is the owner. For those that want to try with a belly of beer, Tanios said he would record times this Thursday night.

Leahy said so far only nine people have tried to swallow The Fat Bitch and that those interested should check the Web site eatafatbitchandgetrich.com for additional information.

"I think it's going to get crazy pretty soon," he said.