2,560 pound pumpkin sets new U.S. record, likened to winning Tour de France
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN)- The 49th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off has a winner.
Travis Gienger, from Minnesota set a new record and won the annual pumpkin weighing contest in Northern California.
Gienger drove nearly 35 hours to attend the contest and show off his gourd, weighing in at 2,560 pounds.
“You think driving in a snowstorm is bad? Try driving one of these things,” he said.
Gienger, who also won the same contest in Northern California in 2020, broke a record set last week in New York where a grower raised a massive pumpkin weighing 2,554 pounds.
“Minnesota has a great midyear, but our spring in our parts is really, really tough,” Gienger said. “So to do it in Minnesota, it just shouldn’t happen. It’s like winning the Tour de France on a big wheel. You know, you can only hope, but it worked.”
The world record for the heaviest pumpkin is held by a grower in Italy. He grew a 2,702-pound squash in 2021, according to Guinness World Records.
