TYNE VALLEY, P.E.I. - With the two leading competitors tied heading into the final round of the Canadian Oyster Shucking Championship in P.E.I., the only way to decide the 2011 winner was a dramatic shuck off.
The reigning champ, Toronto's Eamon Clark, squared off Friday against Patrick McMurray, also of Toronto, before a packed house at the Tyne Valley community centre.
McMurray was the first to shuck the required 18 Malpeque oysters with a time of one minute and 20 seconds — an unconfirmed record at the annual event.
But the crowd roared with chants and applause when it was announced that Clark had won the event with a slower time because he had fewer penalties.
Penalty seconds are added for an unclean plate, shell fragments, damaged oysters and even blood from shuckers’ hands.
The 27-year-old, whose father owns a Toronto restaurant, will represent Canada at the World Oyster Shucking Championship later this year in Galway, Ireland.
(Summerside Journal-Pioneer)
