One ton pumpkin wins European championship
October 9, 2017
Belgian farmer Mathias Willemijns' colossal pumpkin weighed in at 1,008 kilograms (2,222 lbs), earning him the European Pumpkin Championship title in the German town of Ludwigsburg on Sunday.
The 24-year-old fell short of his pumpkin of last year, which weighed 1,190 kilograms to set a world record.
The mammoth pumpkin was grown over the course of more than a hundred days, sometimes needing up to a thousand liters of water in the summer heat. It can gain up to 30 kilograms per day.
Second place this year went to Italian Stefano Cutrupi's 849 kilogram pumpkin, followed by Polish farmer Dominik Kedziak at 836 kilograms.
On November 5, the pumpkins will be cut into hand sized pieces.
Pumpkin festivals in the US
Also this weekend, pumpkins were being celebrated at various events in the US. At Damriscotta in the state of Maine on the US east coast on Sunday, a pumpkin was dropped off a tall crane on to an old car chassis below:
cw/jm (dpa)