Frenchman retains snail spitting world title

MOGUERIEC, France (AFP) - A French seaweed collector retained one of the world's lesser-known sporting titles at the weekend -- that of champion snail spitter, propelling the tiny creature a total of 9.38 meters (31 feet).

Alain Jourden, 43, beat back the challenge posed by 110 pretenders from 14 countries including Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, but failed to surpass his own world distance record of 10.4 meters.

"Wind conditions were not favorable," said one of the organizers of Sunday's event, which drew 2,000 spectators to the tiny Brittany port of Mogueriec, located near the town of Roscoff.

Competitors roll the live snail in their mouths to be sure it is propelled at precisely the correct angle, take a running start along a sandy 20-meter track and expectorate. A maximum of three attempts is allowed.

Jourden told AFP he had trained hard for a week before the competition, carrying out "several spits a day".

A British competitor broke his country's record, spitting the tiny snail a total of 5.82 meters.

Records were also set among Swedish contestants (4.08 meters), female spitters (4.10 meters) and children under the age of 10 (three meters).