Annual pit-spitting competition takes place in Michigan

EAU CLAIRE, Mich. (AP) – It’s time for the annual pit-spitting competition in southwestern Michigan.

The 42nd International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship takes place Saturday at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in the southwestern Michigan community of Eau Claire, just north of the Indiana border.

Last year, Brian Krause took top honors with a distance of 80 feet, 8 inches. The farm says he’ll be returning this year to defend his title.

A member of the Krause family has won 26 of 41 of the contests since farm owner Herb Teichman launched the tournament in 1974 as a lark – but also to mark the region’s tart cherry harvest. Brian Krause holds the record spit of 93 feet, 6½ inches, set in 2003.