4th Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival Results
October 7, 2012
Grand
Prize, Best Design
We had 18 trebuchets this
year, spread across 5 divisions. The machines compete within their
division and the top 3 teams in each division get trophies. The best
distances in the Lightweight and Middleweight divisions are scaled up
(* see explanation below) for their height to compete with the best
distance in the Heavyweight division. The scaled up best distances
compete across all divisions for the grand prize of "Best
Design" and first pick of the 4 prizes contributed by Stowe
Soaring, Trattoria LaFesta, Bees Knees and Umiak Outfitters.
The grand prize was
awarded to "Angry Pumpkins", captained by first time
competitor, Dwight Snowberger (from CT) with team members, Amanda
Snowberger, Steven Snowberger and Deborah Snowberger.
Angry Pumpkins threw 256,
which scaled up to 438 feet. Congratulations to Dwight and his team
for their excellent floating arm design and unique batting style
firing. I hope they come back next year to defend their title.
* The lightweights have a
41" height limit so they are multiplied by a scaling factor to
let them compete fairly with the heavyweights, which have a 10'
(120") height limit. The scaling factor is the ratio between
their heights which is 120/41 = 2.9268. The middleweights have a 70"
height limit so their scaling factor is 120/70 = 1.7142. The
heavyweights are not scaled since they are already at 10 feet. The
intention of this scaling twist is to give the younger, smaller
competitors a real chance at winning the whole competition. A nine
year old kid would have a hard time safely making a 10' tall, 500 lb.
trebuchet, but they are perfectly capable of safely making a 41', 20
lb. machine. If any trebuchets are over the height or weight limits
for their class, they are penalized based on how much they are over,
to make it fair for all competitors. See the "Rules"
section in the blog for details.
Lightweight
Division
First place went to Wolf
Den, Cub scout troop 692, captained by Brian Jadus. 2nd place went
to "Hades is here", our first all women team, only 3 feet
behind first place! 3rd place went to Wolf Howl, another cub scout
troops captained by Tony Medici. Check out the full results summary
below for all the team members and details.
Middleweight
Junior Division
1st place was again (3
years in a row!) awarded to "Pumpkin Chuckin Airlines",
brothers Daniel and Michael Wallace from East Haddem, CT. 2nd place
went to first time competitor, "Cloud Splitters". Check
out the full results summary below for all the team members and
details.
Middleweight
Open Division
This division was highly
competitive with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place all being with 37 feet of
each other. 1st place was "Angry Pumpkins", 2nd place was
SUNY Plattsburgh, only 37 feet back. 3rd place was Team Jordan
(third year competitor) which actually threw 10 feet farther than
SUNY but was penalized for being 6 pounds overweight. 4th place went
to Team Stapleton, 5th place went to 1st time competitor, Trebu-Ray,
6th to Dante's Inferno Junior (also a 1st time competitor and spinoff
of the Brown Family Dynasty that won the heavyweight division last
year), 7th place went to 2nd time competitor, "Looking For A
Satisfying Splat". Check out the full results summary below for
all the team members and details.
Heavyweight
Division
In the glory (and
dangerous) heavyweight division, 1st place went to Pumpkin's Bane
(excellent realistic medieval design). 2nd place to Dante's Inferno
Senior and the Brown family from Mass. They also get my vote for
best paint job, best decorating their trebuchet AND most stylist
monogrammed team shirt - just like last year, except a new design.
3rd place to "Weapons of Medieval Destruction". Last year,
Nick Helms, the captain of "Weapons" threw a show-stopping
519 feet with a "whipper" design. 4th place went to first
time team, "Duck and Cover". 5th place went to "Bad
Boomer". "Bad Boomer" lived up to its name and broke
on its first and only throw due to an assembly error by Dave Jordan,
the event organizer. In 4 years, I have yet to throw a pumpkin
forward; but there is always next year.
Unlimited
Division
The Unlimited Division
has no height or weight limits and doesn't compete for prizes, just
"Throw for Show". Local inventor, JJ Spanier from
Cambridge brought his monster trebuchet with 1000 lb. counterweight
and threw an 8 pound pumpkin 293 feet for the farthest throw of the
day. JJ has participated 4 years in a row and aspires to throw a
pumpkin 1000 feet, perhaps with a whipper design inspired by Nick
Helms's 2011 machine.
Full summary of results
----- Lightweight Division Age: 10 and below Max trebuchet weight: 20 lbs Max trebuchet height: 41" Min pumpkin weight: 3 oz. Place Team name Height Weight Best throw Adjusted 1st Wolf Den, Cub Scout 39" 19.5 lbs. 44' 129' Troop 692 Captain: Brian Jadus, Alex Jadus, Kyle Marvin, Alec Blevins, Declan Shea, Aiden Blevins, Zachary Spitznagle, Grant Schroeder Comments: 2nd year competitor 2nd Hades is Here 39" 19.5 lbs. 41' 122' Captain: Victoria Jadus Tammy Jadus Comments: First all female team 3rd Wolf Howl 39" 17.0 lbs. 28' 82' Captain: Tony Medici, Jacob Medici Logan Vaughan Dylan LeBlanc Mark Brodkowski Xander Zipko Ethan Tardiff DJ Hankey Jim Zipko----- Middleweight Junior Division Age: 17 and below Max trebuchet weight: 100 lbs Max trebuchet height: 70" Min pumpkin weight: 1 lb. Place Team name Height Weight Best throw Adjusted 1st Pumpkin Chuckin Airline 65" 98 lbs. 102' 175' Captain: Daniel Wallace Michael Wallace Comments: Winners 3 years in row 4 year competitor 2nd Cloud Splitters 59" 88 lbs. 43' 73' Captain: Thomas Daley Sam Crites Comments: First time competitors----- Middleweight Open Division Age: Open to all ages Max trebuchet weight: 100 lbs Max trebuchet height: 70" Min pumpkin weight: 1 lb. Place Team name Height Weight Best throw Adjusted 1st Angry Pumpkins 66.5" 97.0 lbs. 256' 438' Captain: Dwight Snowberger Amanda Snowberger Steven Snowberger Deborah Snowberger First time team, walked off with the Grand prize 2nd SUNY Plattsburgh 68" 99 lbs. 219' 375' Captain: Tobey Betthauser Cody, Mike, Ashley Taylor, Jordan, Jordyn, Dan, Jerry Third year competitor, winner 2011 3rd Team Jordan 68" 106 lbs. 229' 359' Captain: Don Jordan Chris Jordan Johnnie Jordan Third year competitor 4th Team Stapleton 70" 97 lbs. 184' 314' Captain: Unknown Comments: First time competitor 5th Trebu-Ray 62" 100 lbs. 131' 224' Captain: Raymond Chamberlin Comments: First time competitor 6th Dante's Inferno Junior 74" 157 lbs. 206' 154' Captain: Ryan Brown Comments: Spinoff of the Brown family dynasty 7th Looking For A Satisfying Splat 55" 100 lbs. 59' 100' Captain: John Doty Olivia Doty Ethan Boutin Comments: 2nd year competitor----- Heavyweight Division Age: Open to all ages Max trebuchet weight: 500 lbs Max trebuchet height: 120" Min pumpkin weight: 5 lb. Place Team name Height Weight Best throw Adjusted 1st Pumpkin's Bane II 110" 466 lbs. 262' 262' Captain: Chris McGrody Scott Bardeni Comments: 2nd year competitor 2nd Dante's Inferno Senior 112" 410 lbs. 186' 186' Captain: Tim Brown Amanda Brown Kim Brown Michelle Choate Dan Choate Comments: Winner 2011, 2nd year competitor, monogrammed team shirts Best paint job and decorating 3rd Weapons of Medievel Destruction 151" 613 lbs. 280' 166' Captain: Nick Helms Bruce Penfield Barry Shelton Mike Minnie Nancy Penfield Comment: Best throw of the day for legal entries 3rd year competitor, last year threw a whopping 519' 4th Duck and Cover 129" 431 lbs. 123' 114' Captain: Ryan Doyle Joe Deslauriers Comments: First time competitor 5th Bad Boomer 119" 542 lbs. 0' 0' Captain: Dave Jordan Comments: 4 year competitor, yet to throw a pumpkin----- Unlimited Division (Throw for Show) Age: Open to all ages Max Trebuchet Weight: No limit Max Trebuchet height: No limit Min pumpkin weight: No limit, whatever the captain wants to throw Place Team name Height Weight Best throw 1st Agricultural Implements 16' 2000 lbs. 293' of Destruction Best throw of the day Plans to throw 1000' someday
