「Cherry Festival Within Spitting Distance」を編集中

Malcolm Perrin was an ordinary working man in the 1980s, an electrical linesman living in the bush with his young family.<br> But by the end of the decade, an out-of-the-ordinary talent would earn him the trip of a lifetime and a title of world champion.<br> Mr Perrin won the cherry pip-spitting competition at the National Cherry Festival in Young, NSW in 1987, when he propelled a seed about 20 metres through the air.<br> He went on to compete at a cherry festival in Traverse City, Michigan, where he claimed the world title.<br> He also won the pie-eating competition, a grand tradition at the century-old carnival hailed as the one of the US state's gems.<br> "It really broadened our horizons," Mr Perrin told AAP.<br> "Having a family, we couldn't afford for everyone to go, so I went by myself. That was a big thing at the time. It was the best thing that ever happened."<br> Mr Perrin, now 74, fondly remembers the American extravagance as people zoomed around in sleek Pontiac sports cars provided by the motor giant sponsor.<br> He took a hot air balloon ride, went water-skiing on the glittering waters of Lake Michigan, travelled to Canada and stopped in at Disneyland.<br> "The people were really great. We're still friends with a lot of them 34 years later."<br> Pip-spitting contests are a nostalgic highlight at cherry festivals in European and North American growing regions.<br> The Guinness World Record holder is America's Brian "Young Gun" Krause,  [https://weareliferuiner.com/chocolate-cherry-runtz-strain/ weareliferuiner.com] who spat a pip 28.51m in 2004.<br><br>His father, Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause, is also a champion spitter.<br> The Australian competition returns to the national festival in Young next Sunday, part of a weekend celebrating the nation's affinity with the ruby red summer fruit.<br> The allure is so strong some Sydneysiders make the four-hour trip to Young every year to buy a box of fresh cherries from orchardist Barisha Batinich's farm gate.<br> "I call it an inland prawn. It's a delicacy, a high-end fruit that people go crazy over," said Mr Batinich, who runs Valley Fresh Cherries and Stonefruits.<br> "It's like a pilgrimage, something they do for their family."<br> The cherry season, which usually starts in mid-November, will kick in a few weeks late due to months of cold and wet weather but still in time for the festival.<br> While the weather is expected to affect national supply and prices, cool temperatures and slow growth can make the fruit even more delicious.<br> "Sometimes if it's too hot, they can look ripe, but the sugars haven't caught up," Mr Batinich said.<br> "So it's good growing conditions, but it's frustrating we don't have any fruit for people straight off the bat."<br> Mr Perrin, who works casually at a cherry orchard, has simple advice for anyone aspiring to take out the festival's pip-spitting crown.<br> "It's all about practising and being fit. For me, it was all in fun. I never dreamed I'd win."<br><br><br>adverts.addToArray({"pos":"inread_player"})Advertisement