Offbeat | US family maintains hold on pit-spitting contest

When it comes to pit-spitting, it’s tough to beat the Krause family, who recently maintained their dominance in the 41st International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship in southeastern Michigan.
Brian Krause took top honors with a distance of 24.59 meters, said Monica Teichman, who runs the market at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, just north of the Indiana state line.
Coming in second this year was Brian’s father, Rick, with a spitting distance of 23.66 meters. Kevin Bartz took third with 19.71 meters.
Last year’s big winner was Matt “BB Gun” Krause with a distance of 12.66 meters.
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 28.51 meters, set in 2003.