Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Champs

Here is an interesting article about the SUNY Plattsburgh team, our Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Champions, from this year's festival:

Members of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh Physics Club at the annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival in Cambridge, Vt., weigh their pumpkin for the Open Middleweight competition.

Jeremiah S. Papineau (October 6, 2011) / denpubs.com:
Plattsburgh State students take home gold for chuckin’ pumpkins --
Students from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh Physics Club came together last weekend for the annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival in Cambridge, Vt., putting their understanding of the laws of physics to practical use. Not only did they participate, but the students also set a record at event by launching a pumpkin more than 130 feet, landing them a first place win in their division and earning “an awesome trophy,” said Professor Ken Podolak...

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Team Dante's Inferno

Here are few photos of the winning heavyweight trebuchet team, Dante's Inferno from Massachusetts. It is great that a team with their sportsmanship and competitive energy won the heavyweight competition. Plus, their monogrammed hoodies had a very nice design and added to the spirit of the festival. We hope they come back next year to defend their title.

Trebuchet team Dante's Inferno
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Trebuchet team Dante's Inferno
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Trebuchet team Dante's Inferno
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The bottomline is they looked good and hurled great!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Thank You Everyone for a Great 2011 VT Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival / Results

The last pumpkins have been hurled and the 3rd Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival is in the books.

We apologize for the delay in getting this posted. We would like to thank the following people for helping us put on a tremendous 3rd Annual Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival under difficult, wet conditions this year:
  • Mark Willis (did a great job as MC)
  • Mike Dunn (music and PA system)
  • John Smyth (music)
  • Mike Gladu (record keeping, he didn't even get a chance to eat he was so busy the whole festival)
  • Len Ambro (surveyor)
  • Mark and Laurie Boyden for the use of their farm and help organizing.
  • Lamoille Family Center for running the kids activities
  • Russell Baum for helping with running the festival
  • Bruce Wallace for helping with running the festival
  • Cambridge Rotary club for the food and parking, and helping get the word out

We would also like to thank all of our sponsors for the great T-shirts and their support of the festival, the Cambridge Area Rotary, and the Lamoille Family Center. Here is a list of our VTPC sponsors:
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First, we would like to give special recognition to team Dante's Inferno. They were the first team to show up from Massachusetts. They were totally within the rules and they won the heavyweight competition on their first try! Plus, they brought a counter-weight full of energizing team spirit. Congratulations Dante's Inferno, great job.

Also, thank you Weapons Of Medieval Destruction 2.0 for having a truly amazing machine and throwing over 1.7 football fields. You were easily the show stopper, even though your machine was too heavy for the formal competition.

The Pumpkins Bane team also had an amazing machine, if not for Weapons of Medieval Destruction, you would have stolen the show, and you were only somewhat over the weight limit.

Again, thanks JJ Spanier, a truly powerful demonstration of sky bowling.

Thank you to all our competitors. We hope to see you all next year.
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Here are the official results of the 2011 Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival trebuchet hurling contest:

All distances are in feet. Then for the lower divisions the actual distance of the throw is scaled up to the distance the trebuchet would have thrown if it were 10 feet tall (over 3 rounds). Lightweights are scaled up by 2.9 and middleweights are scaled up by 1.71.

Overall Winner / Best Design: SUNY Plattsburgh 223.33 feet (scaled)

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Lightweight Division: ages 10 and under
Max. weight of trebuchet = 20 lbs.
max. height = 41"
Projectile weight: at least 3 ounces

First place: Super Stunners (Brian Jadus, Alex Jadus, Jeff Marvin and Kyle Marvin) Trebuchet: Vegetable Splatter

Actual distance: Round 1: 36.6 feet, Round 2: 43.5 feet, Round 3: 44.0 feet
Scaled distance: Rd 1: 106.87' , Rd 2: 127.02' , Rd 3: 128.5'

Second place: Terminator (Cambridge Cub Scouts)

Actual: 2.4', 33.7', 35.4'
Scaled: 70.08', 98.4', 103.37'
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Middleweight Junior Division: Ages 17 and under
Max. weight = 100 lbs.
max. height = 70"
Projectile weight at least 1 lb.

First place: Pumpkin Chuckin Airlines (Daniel and Michael Wallace)

Actual: 108.2', 102', 75.9'
Scaled: 185.02', 174.42', 129.79'

Second place: Team Moving Forward (Annie Levine, Grady Ward)

Actual: 2.1', 0, 3.3'
Scaled: 3.59', 0, 5.64'
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Middleweight Open Division: open to all ages
Max. weight = 100 lbs.
max height = 70"
Projectile weight = 1 lb.

1st place: SUNY Plattsburgh (Taylor Trombley, Jaime Smith, Randy Bissik, Carl Comstock, Tobey Bettbauger)

Actual: 95.5', 92.2', 130.6'
Scaled: 163.31', 157.66', 223.33'

Second place: Dead Weight (Brad Gustafson, Maever Gustafson, Evelyn Gustafson, Matt Gustafson, Christy Gustafson)

Actual: 52.6', 63.6', 84.3'
Scaled: 89.95', 108.76', 144.15'

Third place: Team Wagner (Sam Wagner, Amanda Wagner)

Actual: 31.6', 41.4', 57.1'
Scaled: 54.04', 70.79' , 97.64'

Fourth place: Looking for Satisfying Splat (Olivia Doty, John Doty, Jim Cobb, Charlie Cobb, Max Cobb, Liam Nelson, Megan Nelson, Rachel Bombardier)

Actual: 52.5', 47.3', 50'
Scaled: 87.38', 80.88', 85.5'

Fifth place: Team Jordan (Don Jordan, Chris Jordan, Johnnie Jordan)

Actual: 13.8', 5.9', 37.9'
Scaled: 23.6', 10.09', 64.81'

Sixth place: Tres Bucket (Cambridge Scouts)

Actual: 5.7', 30.4', 27.7'
Scaled: 9.75', 51.98', 47.37'

Seventh place: Cambridge Troop 39 (Zach Weston, Dakota Brousseau, Ryan Beauregard, Eric Engel)

Actual: 0, 6.2', 8.7'
Scaled: 0, 10.6', 14.88'
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Heavyweight Division: open to all ages
Max weight = 500 lbs.
max height = 120"
projectile weight = 5 lbs.

First place: Dante's Inferno (Tim Brown, Ryan Brown, Kim Brown, Amanda Brown, Michelle Brown, Dan Brown)

Actual distances: Rd 1: 116.6' , Rd 2: 117.4' , Rd 3: 113.8'

Second place: Webelos Battery 2 (Pack 692)

Actual: 71.2', 85.8', 83.8'

Third place: Pumpkin's Bane (Chris McGrody, Doug North)

Overweight (not sure exactly what weight)

Distances: 281.1', 266.4', 256.8'
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Best Distance: Weapons of Medieval Destruction 2.0 (Nick Helms, Bruce Penfield)

Throw for show: overweight and over height (not sure exactly what weight)

Distances: Rd 1: 0, Rd 2: 453.2', Rd 3: 519' (best recorded distance of the day)
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We hope to have some video of the festival to post at a later date, and some news on the record attempt.

If you have any questions about the competition please contact the event organizer, Dave Jordan.

We hope to see you all back next year at the 4th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival, on Sunday, October 7th, 2012, at the Boyden Family Farm. Happy hurling everyone!

15th Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival - Sept. 29th, 2024

15th Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival - Sept. 29th, 2024
15th Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival - Sunday, Sept. 29th, 2024