Longest journey by pumpkin boat

This time of the year pumpkins are everywhere for the Halloween season, but a place where you won't often see them is in the middle of a river!

However one man decided to use a large pumpkin on the water and set a new record for the Longest journey by pumpkin boat!

Instead of carving a jack-o-lantern to put outside his home, Rick Swenson took a massive pumpkin and hollowed it out to make a small boat which sailed down the Red River, the river that connects the Grand Forks in North Dakota with Breckenridge, Minnesota.

In total, Rick paddled 41.038 km (25.5 mi) - that's longer than the distance between the UK and France!

Longest journey by pumpkin boat

Each year Rick grows giant pumpkins with the intention of doing something creative with them once they are fully ready for harvest.

He usually gives them to the Chahinkapa Zoo in Breckenridge, USA, for their Zoo Boo Festival where they are put on display. Afterwards, they cut up the massive gourds and feed them to the tigers, bears and buffalo.

Longest journey by pumpkin boat

This time, Rick wanted to do something a bit different with his big pumpkin - and decided to break a record in the process.

Longest journey by pumpkin boat 2

Rick’s beat the record that was previously set in Washington USA on 15 October 2016 with a distance of 24.2 km (15.04 mi).

Longest journey by pumpkin boat 2

We’ll see if Rick has any other inventive plans for his pumpkins next year!

Longest journey by pumpkin boat 3