There was a lot of hot air and some pie in the face at the annual Cherry Festival in Cromwell.
Things got serious as competitors stretched their lungs to fire out cherry stones, as part of the fruity festival.
"Today's about celebrating the cherries that we have, they're very important to the local economy," MC Greg Wilkinson told Newshub.
Contenders of all ages tackled the tasty challenge of eating the sweet fruit and then spitting their pits high in the air.
Just going the distance proved a challenge for the younger entrants, although three-year-old Austin Shearing was stoked with his efforts.
When asked how far he managed to send the pits, he proudly declared they went "so far".
Others reckoned the best part of competing was the warm-up of being able to eat the cherries.
The popular pie-eating contest seemed more about how much whipped cream and fruit you could cover your face with, which entrants were pleased with.
"It was pretty good, tasted good," one woman told Newshub.
On the cherry-stone spitting course, the pressure ramped up for defending champion Dave Kowalewski.
"It's hard to know, the wind's swirling," he told Newshub.
"I think sometimes possibly it's helping and sometimes it's possibly not, blowing off the mat."
He faced a strong challenge from Dunedin firefighter Aaron 'Thunder-Tongue' Collins, who won the national title in 2012 and scored a trip to compete in Western Australia.
"They were spitting off the back of a truck, so they're kind of cheating a wee bit," he said.
"But that's to be expected from the Australians."
Mr Kowalewski managed to blow a personal best, but Mr Collins' tongue-rolling skills scored him a distance of 12.5 metres, putting the national trophy back in his hands.
Newshub.
