Move over giant pumpkin competitions because residents on a steep Richmond street have ramped it up a notch for the weighty favourites by letting them loose to race down the street.
The idea sprouted a few years ago when Lin Roberts saw a neighbour arrive home, open the car boot and a pumpkin rolled out and took off down the steep driveway to the road with its owner in hot pursuit.
From that first wayward pumpkin the idea went rampant and this year, over a few drinks, a pumpkin race became a full-blown event on the calendar with the goal of bringing neighbours together with more than a bit of fun.
Lin and Gillian Evans are part of the organising committee that was set up, with jobs allocated for the inaugural event.
A starting ramp had to be designed and built to hold the pumpkin entrants aloft and set them free all at once to ensure a fair race. Communication was organised, posters designed, and, of course, a net for the finish line to catch the pumpkins before they careered at increasing speed into distant gardens.
It required trial runs with basketballs to establish just where that net should be placed, at the end of a straight section of the street.
Then race day arrived and so did the pumpkins – 12 crown pumpkins of varying sizes, painted and decorated for their big day, which was inevitably going to end badly for them.
The winner of the best-dressed title was Cinderella, who arrived in style on a handmade carriage befitting of a pumpkin – before bouncing her way down the street.
After the countdown to the race start, it was a quick sprint and bounce down the road, with a 2.8kg pumpkin crossing the finish line in first place.
With the race over and street-battered pumpkins retrieved, Gillian says pumpkin owners reviewed the race over pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie.
It has been a lesson in physics – weight, dimensions, and even placing on the starting ramp, has been evaluated to see which pumpkin has the highest chance of winning next year’s race – because the planning is already underway for that.
Lin has created a spreadsheet with the weights of the pumpkins, race results, and even their positions on the starting ramp – which were pulled out of a hat – to distribute to neighbours so they can use the information for future races.
Just in case plant genetics plays a part, the seeds from the winning pumpkin are being dried to distribute among neighbours who want to grow their own racing pumpkin.
Gillian says it has been a fun event to bring neighbours together and the plan is to make it an annual event.
“You know everyone in the street, but often hardly see them, so it’s a great way of catching up.”
Neighbours paid a $20 entry fee for the race, with the owners of the winning pumpkin choosing a charity for the money which this year was the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary.
