Hundreds of cherries were enjoyed in Cromwell today as the town dedicated an entire festival to the small red fruit.
The highlight was the Cherry Stone Spitting competition.
A clean stone and a lot of hot air was the key as contestants lined up to try and spit their cherry stones the furthest.
Cromwell is known as the fruit bowl of the south, and the Cherry Festival is one of the town's big summer events.
It's a celebration of the small juicy stone fruit.
And first time competitor Zac Hayes was enjoying the task.
"You have to chew up the cherries and then spit them out," he says.
Eating them was the best part for some of the junior athletes, whose stones struggled to make it past their feet.
Sixty-five competitors of all ages joined in the fun, with cool winds adding an extra challenge.
"Well we sort of positioned the mat to coincide with the wind. So we have the wind behind the contestants today, not against them," says MC Ricky K.
These stilt-walking cherry fans were keen to show off their synchronised spitting.
But it was all serious in the headline event.
Dunedin's Christian Robinson spent the holidays practicing his technique.
He proved the pick of the bunch, winning the national title with a spit of over 10 metres.
"Curling your tongue's probably the best thing that you've got to do. And then a bit of a run-up and a sort of flick of the head," says the men's cherry stone spitting champion.
The cherry on top? Robinson gets to represent New Zealand against the top trans-tasman spitters at next month's Rural Games.
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