35th Annual Cherry Pit Spitting Championship brings back contenders
Published 8:02 am Wednesday, July 2, 2008
By Staff
EAU CLAIRE – She is a petite 18-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. He is a 50-something not-so-petite 14-time International Champion from Yuba City, Ariz.
The battlefield is a 100-foot asphalt surface.
And the weapon? The humble orb of the delectable cherry – the cherry pit.
The generally explosive battle – the annual International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship – will take place Saturday, July 5, at the Official Cherry Pit Spitting Court at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm between Indian Lake and Eau Claire.
As far as the pits fly, it is the premier of summer Olym-pit events.
Amanda Jennings, the 2007 Reserve Champion International Cherry Pit Spitter, plans to become the first woman to ever win the title of International Cherry Pit Spitting Champion. In a male-dominated sport, Amanda is up against some tough competition.
Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause and his son, Brian "Young Gun" Krause, have attained the coveted title 20 of 35 years it has been awarded.
The elder Krause dominated the sport as the record holder and world champion prior to the emergence of his son as a contender with a win of 61 feet, six inches at age 16.
Son "Young Gun," 30, of Dimondale, Mich., is a six-time winner and holds the world distance record of 93 feet, 6 1/2 inches, in recognized competition.
Jennings, who competed in previous competitions but had never won before, quickly won the heart of the 2007 crowd with her demure, but focused, spitting form and quiet determination.
The student and part-time cashier's second-place finish was capped with a promise of, "I will return."
Jennings won the 2007 Ladies Cherry Pit Spit event with a spit of 47 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
Then, having qualified for the championship event with a spit of 50 feet, seven inches during the morning Qualification Round, outdistanced every competitor in the afternoon's otherwise all-male championship match with a spit of 52 feet, 5 1/2 inches – until "Pellet Gun" Krause's final spit dashed her hopes of an international championship.
"Pellet Gun" won the 2007 competition with the last of the three spits allowed in the championship competition. His first two attempts fell short of Amanda' s mark, but his third flew and rolled for a distance of 58 feet, 1 1/2 inches. "Young Gun" placed third.
He still holds the world distance record of 93 feet, 6 1/2 inches, in recognized competition.
The contest founder is Herb Teichman of Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm.
Eau Claire is recognized as "the Cherry Pit Spitting Capital of the World" in the July 2003 edition of Reader's Digest.