Another cherry pit spitting title is up for grabs in Blenheim this weekend.
The town will be hosting the Canadian National Cherry Pit Spit competition on Saturday as part of the annual Cherryfest events.
Pit Spit organizer J.P. Huggins, who is also a former national champion, said Blenheim has hosted the competition for about 40 years now.
"In the States, in Eau Claire, Michigan, every year on July 4th long weekend, they have their big international pit spit championship and back in the early 1980's, some local fruit farmers brought the national pit spit championship over to Canada," said Huggins. "It started in Cedar Springs on a farm there where it was just Cherryfest by itself."
Huggins said there is a men's and a women's competition and whoever wins will be named a national champion.
He said the competition itself draws people from hours away.
"We've had a lot of people that come from like the Niagara Falls region and Perth County and Sarnia, and all over down to pit spit in Blenheim," said Huggins, adding that he has one title to his name.
The rules for the pit spit include a 60-second time limit from the time you put the cherry in your mouth until the time you spit it out. You can't use your hands at all during that time.
Huggins has a few other tips for prospective pit spitters as well.
"You chew the meat off of that cherry and you want to get that pit as clean as possible," said Huggins. "The less meat on that pit, the better... so that it's more aerodynamic. And roll counts... the less meat on it, the better roll you get."
Huggins said the winning pits in the men's competition usually come to a stop at around 18 to 20 metres in distance.
Pre-registration for the pit spitting competition is taking place from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday in downtown Blenheim.
The competition will take place promptly at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday starting with the kids' category, then the local celebrities competition, and finishing with the men's and women's open categories.
Cherryfest started on Thursday and continues on Friday and Saturday in downtown Blenheim.