Indigestion for all

Top competitive eaters converge on Kings & The DeVille Lounge in Boston tomorrow for the Verizon VoiceWing Buffalo Wing Eating Battle Championship (now, there's a mouthful), at 12:30 p.m. Sponsored by The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), the contest goes to whoever downs the most wings in 10 minutes. Among those vying for $6,500 in total prize money are Sonya Thomas, who once ate 5.09 pounds of buffalo wings in 12 minutes, and Rich ''The Locust" LeFevre, a retired accountant who holds records for birthday cake, chili, corn dog, pizza, smoked pork, Spam, and Tex-Mex Rolls. At 61 years of age and weighing 132 pounds, LeFevre (below) is older and slimmer than most ranking ''gurgitators." He and his wife, Carlene, also a competitive eater, live in Henderson, Nev., where he checked in via phone:

Q. How did you get your nickname?

A. At my first contest, I bent over and shoveled the food in my mouth because I was afraid to lose time by standing up. I guess it reminded people of how a locust eats. Anyway, it stuck.

Q. When did you start eating competitively?

A. Five years ago we got on ''Ripley's Believe It or Not" for eating two 72-ounce steaks in an hour. Things took off from there.

Q. How did you feel afterward?

A. Full.

Q. How many competitions do you enter?

A. On average, about two a month.

Q. What can a top competitor earn?

A. Sonya Thomas has winnings of almost $40,000 this year. Mine are around $32,000. It's hard to make a lot of money, though.

Q. The IFOCE website lists 83 competition-food categories. Who comes up with these?

A. Hot dogs were pretty much it until three years ago. Now more and more companies want to sponsor events.

Q. Maybe, but does it really flatter your product to have contestants stuff it down their gullets?

A. I'm not sure what sponsors get out of it. Me, I won't enter any contest that involves eating something really nasty.

Q. What's your least favorite competition food?

A. The grossest was Spam right out of the can.

Q. Favorite?

A. This year I ate a 5-pound birthday cake in under 12 minutes -- beating William ''Refrigerator" Perry, the former football player.

Q. You out-ate The Refrigerator?

A. A lot of these athletes think they can really eat. Until they go up against a top-flight competitor like myself, that is.

Q. How do you train?

A. I can't afford to keep up with the younger guys by stretching my stomach like they do. So I mostly practice my speed technique.

Q. How do they measure chicken-wing consumption? Does it count if any meat is left on the bone?

A. It's done by weight. The wings are weighed before and after you eat them.

Q. Any danger you'll get a bone stuck in your throat?

A. Not much, at least with the large drumettes. You can usually chew around the bone.

Q. You're a trim guy. Any special exercise regimen?

A. I run 30 minutes a day. Plus I do sit-ups and push-ups.

Q. How are your cholesterol levels?

A. Within normal range.

Q. Ever been diagnosed with an eating disorder?

A. No. And I eat healthy most of the time. If it got out of hand, I'd be worried.

Q. When you and your wife sit down to dinner, what do you typically eat?

A. Skinless chicken breast, fish, fresh fruit, and vegetables. Also, wheat germ and flaxseed oil every day.

Q. You sound like health-food nuts.

A. When we're not competing, we're very health-conscious. Otherwise, we'd both weigh 300 pounds and be at death's door.

JOSEPH P. KAHN