Frenchman wins world 'snail spitting' championships

The world 'snail spitting' championships have been won by a Frenchman.Seaweed collector Alain Jourden beat off stiff competition from 110 competitors from all around the globe to claim the title.His winning effort saw him spit one snail 9.38 metres but unfortunately Jourden failed to beat his own world record of 10.4 metres. After his victory Jourden revealed he had trained hard for a week before the competition, practising "several spits a day".Competitors spit the snails by rolling the live creatures round in their mouths before taking a 20-metre 5run-up and propelling it as far as they can.Each participant is allowed a maximum of three attempts with the longest spit being recorded by judges.

Despite Jourden being crowned the over-all champion a number of competitors broke records in the competition.One British entrant achieved a distance of 5.82 meters with his effort while the record for the longest female spit, 4.10 meters, and the longest child's spit, three metres, were also broken.