Punkin' Chunkin' Machine
Over the weekend we heard sightings of a strange machine at Seneca Valley Horse Trials, seen lurking in the fields on Friday as the organizers and volunteers were setting up. Our trusty spy announcer Brian O’Connor even alerted us to some possibly sinister uses for what appeared to be a gigantic, enormous, unbelievably huge potato gun (we weren’t far off). From Brian:
“Eventing Nation! While setting up for the horse trials today….this arrived in the parking lot. So what do the Seneca Valley Pony Club organizers plan to do with this…..shoot Novice competitors who go too fast? Shoot the officials that do NOT give 8s or 9s in Dressage? Shoot the announcer who mispronounces names?!!? What do you load this thing with……Olympic foam Colbert fingers??“
Obviously, we were intrigued about the possibilities of such a machine, and we sent the chinchillas to the research lab for some more answers. From the title of the article, you will have by now surmised that no, sadly this was not a giant gun for announcers who mispronounce, or for speedy Novice level riders. This is an honest-to-God Pumpkin Chucking machine designed to travel to competitions for shooting a pumpkin the furthest. This particular model has a personal record of 3,300 feet, which is almost 2/3 of a mile!!
Next step: research Punkin Chunkin. Do it. In fact, I’ll make it easy for you, here is the official Punkin’ Chunkin’ website.
“The World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association (WCPCA) is a trademark nonprofit that raises money for scholarships, as well as organizations that benefit youth and the local community. We host a signature pumpkin-launching event each year, fueling innovative engineering and science-based ideas that draw spectators from all over. We believe that Punkin Chunkin cultivates the odd, challenging, and competitive quest for distance that inspires creativity, ingenuity, teamwork, and passion. It is this very dedication that drives teams to compete using science and engineering skills and brings spectators to the gate which allows us to continue our never ending thirst to support our scholarship and charitable programs”.
