Join us for the 35th annual
Internatinal Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship
for 2008 on July 5th.
(qualifing from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. - Championship start's at 1:00 p.m.)

It's Spit-tacular!!

Pit-Spitting is for any age!

Tree-Mendus Fruit's
International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship
34th Annual Pit Spit Results

Krause Beats Back Female Spitter Challenge; Keeps Crown on Last Spit of the Day 

EAU CLAIRE, MI (July 7, 2006) – The Krause dynasty faces a new challenger.

            She is a petite 17-year-old girl from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

            Amanda Jennings first edged out former LCPS champ Maureen Krause (wife of Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause) to win the Ladies Cherry Pit Spit event with a spit of 47 feet, six and one-half inches. Then, having qualified for the championship event with a spit of 50 feet, seven inches this morning, she outdistanced every competitor this afternoon in the otherwise all-male championship match with a spit of 52 feet, five and one-half inches – until “Pellet Gun” Krause’s final spit dashed her hopes of an international championship.

            Amanda, who has competed in previous competitions but had never won before, quickly won the heart of the 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.”

            Brian “Young Gun” Krause, 29, of Dimondale, Michigan, six-time winner in the International Cherry Pit Spit Competition at Tree-Mendus Fruit here, today placed third. He still holds the world distance record of 93 feet, six and one-half inches in recognized competition.

His one-time-world-record-holder father, Rick Krause, 58, of Yuba City, Arizona, who dominated the sport before the emergence of his son as the record holder and previous world champion, won today’s competition with his last of the three spits allowed in the championship competition. His first two attempts fell short of Amanda’ s mark, but this third flew and rolled for a distance of 58 feet, one and one-half inches.

The elder Krause’s won the 2006 title with a spit of 67 feet, five inches. He is the most winning spitter in the history of the sport with 14 international championships, but he and his contemporaries are seeing the next generation of pit spitters challenge their pace-setting accomplishments during the first 25 years of the sport.

Rick Krause first set the Guinness Book world record of 65 feet, two inches in 1980. He dominated the competition through the turn of the century, winning 12 titles and setting a distance mark of 69 feet, three and one-half inches in 2001. Brian Krause first challenged his dad’s dominance with a 1994 win of 61 feet, six inches. Brian broke the then-existing competition record in 1998 with a spit of 72 feet 11 inches. That record stood until the very last spit of the 2003
competition as defending champion Brian Krause retained his title with spit of 93 feet, six and one-half inches.

The contest organizer is Herb Teichman of Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, the Eau Claire, Michigan site of the tournament since its inception. Eau Claire, a small Southwestern Michigan community, recognized as “the Cherry Pit Spitting Capital of the World” in the July 2003 edition of Readers Digest, takes a matter-of-fact—perhaps even phlegmatic—view of the international attention it garners annually as the nearby Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm hosts its International Cherry Pit Spit competition over the Fourth of July holiday.

This year marks 34 years of unbroken competition for the coveted crown, which brings celebrity spitters to town for a long weekend of puckering and pageantry, including an annual cherry festival.

Tree-Mendus is a family-oriented, agri-tourism destination in Southwest Michigan. The farm features U-Pick fruit, family recreation, and a country store. Next year’s event will be held on July 5, 2008.