There’s a Great Pumpkin Paddle War going on in the Northwest. While recently planning to paddle a pumpkin for 10 miles on North Dakota’s Red River, Minnesota’s Rick Swenson received a text that Charity Marshall had paddled one 16 miles on Washington’s Cowlitz River.
So he kept going, for a total 14 hours no less at a little under 2 mph, clocking a new “unofficial” pumpkin paddling record of 26 miles
“We were really depressed,” he told National Geographic Adventure. “It kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
According to Natalie Daher of National Geographic Adventure, Swenson started growing his paddleable pumpkin last spring, watching it reach 1,100 pounds. (No word on what he did with the seeds.)
She adds that while no one currently holds a title for “longest journey by pumpkin boat,” Swenson is planning to submit his application for the honor in November. She also notes that in 2013, Britain’s Dmitri Galitzine achieved “fastest 100 meters paddled by pumpkin”—at just over two minutes in Trafalgar Wharf.
In September, the story continues, Todd Sandstrum of Massachusetts paddled eight miles in the Taunton River, saying “the slowness becomes unbearable, almost…”
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