Sarah Maliszewski displays her first place pie-eating ribbons at last year’s Fourth of July celebration. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

She has entered Harvard’s Fourth of July pie-eating contest 10 times, and she has won 10 times. This summer, Sarah (Dickson) Maliszewski is ready to judge rather than compete, and she’s ready to share her training methods and secrets.

To start with, it seems to help to have Harvard history in your blood. One of Maliszewski’s grandfathers, Ed Culverhouse, was on the Board of Selectmen. One of her grandmothers, Nancy Dickson, was the postmaster in Still River for many years. Her father, Rick Dickson, has organized the Bare Hill Pond weed pull for nearly a decade and now captains the “Green Monster” weed-pulling machine on the pond.

Maturity might be a factor because, unlike many who start competing as toddlers, Sarah entered her first pie-eating contest as a teenager in 1995, competing against her father; her brother, Matt; and others. She won. She kept winning through 2003, when she retired—or so she thought. But then Maliszewski and her husband, Kyle, decided to enter the contest in 2007. She won. And again in 2008. This year she’s almost sure she’s done.

Experience certainly helps. Maliszewski’s family moved to New Hampshire when Maliszewski was a child, however the Dickson clan has gathered each summer for more than 100 years at an island in Bare Hill Pond. They often end their cookouts with pie-eating contests. By the time Maliszewski entered her first public contest, she had been a competitor for years.

Preparation is important. “There’s such a thing as over-practicing,” Maliszewski says, but she adds that it helps to get your movements and timing down. “You have to get psyched up. You can’t have a doubt in your mind that you’re going to win.”

She cautions competitors not to eat before the parade and to get a prime seat to watch the little kids compete in their pie-eating contest. It’s also good to rest the night before, she says.

Execution during the contest is essential. “Keep your eye on the pie,” Maliszewski says. And hope that the pie is blueberry, not apple. “Apples tend to get stuck in your throat,” she says.

A good start is crucial because competitors only have to eat one small pie. That means the contest is over quickly; in fact, Maliszewski has won in under five seconds. Sometimes, she says, the starter will switch the call to throw competitors off. “They’ll say, ‘On your mark, get set ... ,’ and then throw in a change, like ‘eat’ or ‘start’ or something else. You can’t stop for a second,” she says. “You have to be so in the moment.”

Maliszewski’s most important advice, she says, is to keep competing fun. “What better way to end than to judge?” she asks, and to pass that feeling on to younger kids.

This unbeaten contestant also has these words of encouragement for potential entrants: “It’s all luck. It’s not skill.”