WASHINGTON – Sometimes you’ve got to spice things up and on this National Chicken Wing Day, eight brave souls took part in a wing-eating contest to do just that.

The event was held Wednesday at Safeway’s Georgetown location, better known as the social Safeway to  locals. Dozens of shoppers packed around the long table, interested in both watching the eat-off and tasting the store’s wings free of charge afterwards.

As the “Rocky” theme song played in the background before the competition began, a few of the competitors “Gentlemen” Joe Menchetti, Ian “The Invader” Hickman and Mike “Munchin” Longo made small talk. Then the subject changed to strategy.

“I think my strategy today is to just go as fast as I can. Probably swallow heavy swallows, so I don’t spend a lot of time clearing my throat, taking a sip of water, things like that,” says Hickman who later won the event and the $500 prize.

The aim was to eat as many chicken wings as possible in 5 minutes. But the bone-in wings presented a unique challenge.

“This isn’t really capacity, this is technique-driven. You’re going to see a pretty close contest,” Hickman predicted.

In fact, he only won by one hundredth of a pound, eating a total of 2.21 pounds of chicken wings.

“There may be some guys who aren’t used to the wing who may be choking on them later,” said Longo, who took home third place swallowing 1.82 pounds.

“The average competitive eater should be able to eat 8 to 10 pounds in capacity,” Longo predicted.

Most of the men who expanded their stomachs did not consider themselves professional eaters, but also say they’ve participated in both local and national events.

See video of the final seconds of the chicken wing eating competition: