Russian pops сабоs in pancake-eating contest

Winning face-fill proves fatal

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 11th March 2009 12:37 GMT

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A Russian man participating in a pancake-eating contest found out the hard way that it's probably not a good idea to stuff your face with 43 banana and cream-packed delicacies - dropping dead as he claimed the prize for his gut-busting gluttony.

Boris Isayev, 48, triumphed in the pancake challenge in the town of Chernyakhovsk, organised to celebrate the end of Maslenitsa or "Butter Week" - a week-long festival in the run-up to Lent.

An eyewitnesses to his excess described Isayev as "the most active participant in the contest" and noted he "ate all the types of pancakes on offer and won fairly". However, Isayev's Butter Week ended prematurely when he went on stage to collect his prize.

The witness said: "He had really enjoyed the pancakes but then he started foaming at the mouth and went down like a sack of stones."

Medics failed to revive Isayev, who's believed to have choked to death on piece of pancake stuck in his throat.

Sky News splendidly concludes: "Celebrations are said to have continued after Mr Isayev's body was taken away in an ambulance." ®

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