((PKG)) CHERRY PIT SPITTING CHAMPIONSHIP ((VOA Russian)) \((Banner: Cherry Pit Spit)) ((Reporter/Camera: Roman Verkhovsky)) ((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki)) ((Map: Eau Claire, Michigan)) ((NATS)) ((Leona Foster, Judge)) Each contestant picks out three cherries from a bucket, and one at a time, they put the cherry in their mouth and they chew all the meat off, so all that's left is the cherry pit. And then, they stand with their feet on the line, and they spit the pit forward, and they do that three times. And the longest distance is recorded by me with a special measuring stick as the official distance for each contestant. ((NATS)) ((Kevin Bartz, 2019 Cherry Pit-Spitting Champion)) I actually started when I was 10 years old. My dad was a cherry pit spitter. He worked in the fields and things like that. You don't have to do a lot of training for this. Once you've got your technique down, I found actually if you don't do too much training, you're better off. So, you know, I'll go out in the driveway and maybe about a week before, spit anywhere from five to 10 a day, and that's about it. ((NATS)) ((Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship Participant)) I personally think it's, kind of, fun. My mother doesn't think that her daughter should know how to spit a cherry pit, as it's not very ladylike, but I enjoyed the fact that my dad taught me and it's a fun thing to do to come out here. ((NATS)) ((Leona Foster, Judge)) The cherry pit spit is open to anybody. It's free. In the morning, starting about ten o'clock, people arrive, and they queue up, and they spit their pits, and based on those results, by noon, we determine the top 10 people in each of the age categories, as you see right behind me. ((NATS)) ((Lynn Sage, Organizer, Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship)) Back in 1974, dad was looking for something to do with cherry pits. You eat a cherry and there's this pit and there's nothing more natural than to spit it. You can spit a watermelon seed. You can, maybe, toss an apricot pit. But we've stuck with the cherry pit spitting. As dad used to say, you know, ÒThere's nothing better to do with the pit after you've eaten the cherry.Ó ((NATS))