Watch: Pumpkin flies 1,900 feet in pumpkin chunkin' launch
Belgian engineering team breaks pumpkin chunkin' competition record
An engineering team in Belgium broke a competition record with the help of one of their American teammates. The pumpkin was launched a whopping 595 meters (over 1,900 feet). (Credit: Team MKB and Robert Townsend)
Pumpkin chunkin’ season has officially arrived in Belgium.
Record-breaking launch
Video recorded by the MKB Engineering team, which built the pumpkin launcher, shows their machine launching the squash 595 meters (over 1900 feet), a Belgian Pumpkin Launching Championship record.
Dig deeper:
MKB Engineering, as well as their American teammate Robert Townsend, won their third competition in a row this year.
The team designed and created a catapult which the pumpkin chunkin’ community would call a "whipper trebuchet," according to MKB Engineering.
The build took less than four weeks to complete by a team of 10 people.
What they're saying:
"Winning the competition feels surreal, you feel the adrenaline pumping every time the trigger gets released and the pumpkin starts flying. But the best feeling is still the brotherhood you start to form with your coworkers and team," Wouter, one of the team members, told FOX.
What is pumpkin chunkin’?
The backstory:
Pumpkin chunkin’ is a quirky fall tradition and competition where participants build large medieval-style machines, such as counterweight trebuchets or tension-driven catapults, to launch inedible pumpkins over massive distances, according to the Farmer’s Almanac website.
Originating in Delaware in the late 1980s, the event has grown into a widespread festival activity that brings together farmers, builders, and students to explore physics, mechanics, and mechanical engineering by hurling orange squashes across open fields.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from correspondence between FOX Local and a member of the MKB Engineering team on Reddit on Oct. 12, 2026, as well as video recorded from the Belgian Pumpkin Launching Championship on Oct. 11, 2026. Information from the Farmer’s Almanac website also contributed. This story was reported from San Jose.