Finalists from across the country brought their funky footwear to Manhattan compete in the annual rotten sneakers contest. Roger Clark held his nose and filed the following report:
Nine-year-old Shannon Winckler doesn't think her sneakers smell all that bad.
"It was just my sweet girly essence. But apparently not. It must have been the stink," she said.
But there she was, one seven kids from around the country showing off their foul footwear at the 42nd National Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest, held at Ripley's Believe it or Not in Times Square.
Judges had the pleasure, or displeasure, of soaking up the odors, gauging just how odiferous the terrible tennis shoes were. Among them, a smell expert from of all places, NASA. Yes. They have that.
"It's sorta fun. You smelled some of these sneakers. They can be pretty bad sometimes. But it's all in fun," said NASA's master sniffer, George Aldrich
After intense review, the verdict was in: 12-year-old Connor Slocombe had the foulest footwear in America.
He blames his funky sneakers on all that hiking he does in the Eagle River.
Slocombe's winning sneakers now now head to the Odor-Eaters Hall of Fumes, and he says he's not that sad to give them up - the transition should be okay, he's already got a new pair of sneakers.
It's something he will remember forever. He won $2,500, tickets to Aladdin on Broadway and a ton of products from Odor-Eaters which - surprise, surprise - has been sponsoring this competition for nearly 30 years.
Judge Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist who has written books about small, says she won't soon forget the scent of Connor's kicks.
"It was, put this down, the most disgusting smelling Sneaker I have ever smelled in 10 years of doing this contest. Totally," she said.
No dispute with the decision: Connor Slocombe won by a nose.