Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Getting Medieval

Reminder: There are only 18 days until the 2nd Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival.

Here are some interesting views from the European Kampioenschap Pompoenschieten (Pumpkin Shooting Championship) held at Bikschote, Belgium on September 5th.

This is USA Team Carbo with their Onager. 

An Onager is a "Wild Asian Ass." It is also the name of a Roman siege engine, which derived its name from the kicking action of the machine, similar to that of an onager (wild ass). Team Carbo was the Delaware Punkin Chunkin World Champions in the Unlimited Torsion Class 2003, 2004, 2005. It took 4 weeks to get their machine shipped to Europe. Reportedly over 7000 spectators attended the Belgian event.

Results from the large torsion machine category:
  1. Team Bisschop met een schot van 726.4 meter (2383 feet)
  2. Team Carbo: 648 meter (2125 feet)
  3. Ypes: 625.3 meter
  4. L.G. Bikschote: 442.7 meter
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Links:
Belgian Video News Report: kampioenschap-pompoenschieten
renews.be: Pompoenschieten Bikschote photos
Team Carbo/Onager Online
Pompoenschieten.be
Spudfiles / EuroForum: Chunkin Europe!
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Paul Carbo of USA Team Carbo at the Kampioenschap pompoenschieten, Bikschote, Belgium