London (AFP) - The World Pie Eating Championships were declared null and void when a trainee sent the pies to a divorce party instead, reports said Friday.

While the divorce bash got the competition-sized pies, the world championships venue -- a pub in Wigan, northwest England -- received meat and potato pies twice the regulation diameter.

The competition pies should be 12 centimetres wide by 3.5 centimetres deep and have a 66 percent meat content.

But the cache of pies sent to Harry's Bar Thursday were 24 centimetres wide, meaning competitors had more on their plate than they bargained for.

"The work experience lad was tasked with providing 24 competition pies, but mixed up the order and sent them to a divorce party up the road. By the time we realised, it was too late," said the pub's owner Tony Callaghan.

"We had to go ahead... but everyone took it in their stride and demonstrated the professionalism of pie-eating at this level," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Former champion Barry Rigby, a 37-year-old fitness instructor from Wigan, set the best time of 42.6 seconds for eating half of one of the oversized pies.

But in the end the 22nd annual championships had to be abandoned because of the size blunder.

"It was a shame, because these lads practise long and often. You can see how seriously they take it, practising pie-eating late into the night on every street corner in Wigan town centre," said Callaghan.

The competition began in 1992 and the eat-off always starts at midday, or "Pie Noon".

Wigan prides itself as being the home of the pie with its inhabitants known as "pie eaters", although the name is thought to originate from the 1926 general strike when miners were starved back to work and forced to eat "humble pie".