HALF MOON BAY, Calif. –
A Minnesota gardening teacher set a new U.S. record Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after lifting a giant 2,560-pound gourd.
Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota set a new record and won the annual Northern California pumpkin weight contest.
“Minnesota had a great middle year, but our spring in our part was really, really tough. So to do it in Minnesota, that shouldn’t have happened,” Gienger said. . “It was like winning the Tour de France on a big wheel. You know, you can only hope, but it worked out.”
Gienger rode the giant gourd for 35 hours to see his hard work pay off at the 49th World Pumpkin Championships in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
“You think driving in a blizzard is bad? Try one of these,” he said.
Gienger, who also won the same contest in Northern California in 2020, broke the record set last week in New York, where a grower raised a giant 2,554-pound pumpkin.
An Italian grower holds the world record for the heaviest pumpkin. He planted a 2,702-pound squash in 2021, according to Guinness World Records.
