They tossed, flung, hurled and launched fruitcakes into the air Saturday at Manitou Springs High School.
Some used compressed air to get their holiday gifts into the thin atmosphere. Others used giant rubber bands, while some had contraptions as archaic as bamboo and twine.
But for most of the competitors, the greatest thrill was taking two or three steps in a foot of snow and heaving a one or two-pound Christmas brick as far as their natural abilities would allow.
"It's a great day for a fruitcake toss," said Vic Miller, whose 113-foot toss placed him third among males in the public throw. "This is my first fruitcake toss and I made the top three. I'm pretty happy."
The Hub was represented well in the Media Toss. I beat out our photographer, Kirk Speer, with a throw of 132 feet. Speer's went 128. Our throws were the farthest of the day from anybody who threw a fruitcake.
"It came down to the roll," Speer said. "You have to rely on technique to get that roll. I was using the grenade technique.
"I'm not bitter at all, but I want a rematch."
By winning, I was allowed to make a $100 donation to the charity of my choice. I chose the local Red Cross and asked that the money be given to the victims of the recent apartment fire in Colorado Springs.
The most talked about and impressive man-made device was the Omega 380. Joe Carberry of Colorado Springs was among a group of eight Boeing engineers who built the Omega 380, a mock artillery piece fueled by compressed air, pumped by an exercise bike.
The Omega 380 shot fruitcakes so far, judges had to use a Global Positioning System tracking device to measure the distance, some of which traveled more than 1,400 feet. Evan Hooton of PQS (Professional Quality Sound Production) in Colorado Springs was up in the hills tracking the fruitcakes.
"This is one of the more interesting things I've done," said Hooton, a junior at Coronado High School. "I also was part of the (Manitou Springs) Coffin Race in October and that was a lot of fun."
The Omega 380 came about after Carberry and his associates were defeated in an earlier fruitcake competition.
"In 2002 we came here with a slingshot and got beat by some girl scouts," Carberry said. "The rubber lost its elasticity in the cold. It was pretty embarrassing.
"We came up with a system that is impervious to weather. The Omega 380 is that system."
The Great Fruitcake Toss began 11 years ago as a Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce gimmick to pump some life into the post-holiday calendar. It is today a nationally known event - undoubtedly one of the more bizarre spectacles you'll see in the Pikes Peak region - that attracts people from across the state and nation.
Carberry and his team were interviewed by the Washington Post in December. Keith Olberman of MSNBC did an interview with the group that ran earlier this month. Even late night television icon David Letterman has talked about the event on his show.
"Last year we had probably 1,000 people out here," said Floyd O'Neil of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce, special events organizer. "This year with the temperature below freezing a lot of people decided to stay home."
Saturday's launchers ranged from a less-than-1-foot high model catapult to a 15-foot-tall wooden slingshot to an artillery-size compressed air cannon. The rules say only that launchers can't use fuel.
The designers have gotten so good the toss had to be moved from Memorial Park to the high school because cakes rained down on homes and businesses.
"I got hit by a fruitcake last year," said Kevin Fleischmann, one of the official measurers of the tosses. "It got me on the second bounce. It hurt for a little while, but I survived.
Lynda Lerner is the official fruitcake inspector. She weighs the fruitcakes as contestants register and checks them for foreign objects.
"I check for rocks and other things," she said. "I've never found an illegal fruitcake."
There also was a Glamour Competition in which contestants dressed their fruitcakes in various designs. A fruitcake covered in mustard won for Most Creative.
Here is a look at all the winners.
Another Great Fruitcake Toss is in the history books!
Hand Toss
Zhavanya
Scott Anthony
Sarah Kuckleburg
HURL
1 lb Rich Wilber 123 feet
2 lb Sean Hall 124 feet
LAUNCH
1 lb Ken Rosendale 307 feet
2lb Nolte Associates 308 feet
PNEUMATIC
1 lb Team Omega 1161.6 feet
2lb Team Omega 1425.6 feet
MEDIA
Guys - Danny Summers-The Gazette (Your Hub) 132 feet
Gals - Melissa Setty - Independent Reporter from Denver 75 feet
Fruit Cake That Traveled the Farthest to get to our Event
Was from Mike & Rana Adams who received one from The Peninsula Qatar in the Middle East. It traveled 7,751 miles
Finally special congratulation to Eamon, Linnea, Jhosi, Shaw, Reilly, Roberta, Tatainya, Taylor, David, Anthony, and Nick who participated in our Kids competition. To us they were all winners!