On Tuesday night, teams of super heroes, police officers and football players gobbled as many wings as their stomachs could handle in fewer than five minutes.
Six teams of two took down buckets of wings, leaving the tabletops and chairs in Splitz Bowling Center a sticky, orange mess.
The winning team ate 74 wings between members Kyle Myers and Scott Arvin in 10 minutes. Each team member had five minutes to stuff his face.
An eating team comprised of football players ate a total of 69 wings, coming in second place.
“My method is to grab as many flats as I can,” said David Young, previous UF offensive lineman. Flats are wings with two bones in them, he said.
Tuesday night’s eating was for a good cause. It was the third annual Wing Bowl eating competition to raise funds for the Child Advocacy Group.
All proceeds will go toward the nonprofit’s support and therapy services for abused children, said Sherry Kitchens, the group’s CEO and founder.
The competition was an interesting way to get the community involved, Kitchens said.
“Folks get super excited,” she said.
Craig Wilburn, the creator of the Wing Bowl and broker for Bosshardt Realty, came up with the event to raise awareness of the Child Advocacy Group. He said touring the group’s center had an emotional impact on him.
“I went to visit the center, and I couldn’t even finish the tour, “ Wilburn said. “I didn’t even know this was going on in Gainesville.”
He said he wants to get the word out for next year’s event to raise even more money for the cause.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 4/9/2014 under the headline "Teams chomp down on chicken wings for child advocacy"]
