A team that shoots pumpkins from a giant air cannon says it achieved the holy grail of the sport — chucking a pumpkin a distance of more than one mile.
The "Big 10 Inch Team" from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey says it launched the 9.5-pound pumpkin more than 5,300 feet at Moab, Utah's old airport on Friday.
The team uses a compressed-air cannon and traveled to southern Utah hoping the high elevation and thin air would help the vegetable sail farther. The "10 Inch" refers to the cannon's bore. The length of the barrel is either 90 feet — according to the team's Facebook page — or 100 feet, according to its website.
Guinness World Records 2010
The group launched a pumpkin near Moab last year that traveled short of a mile, or 4,623 feet, but still set a Guinness World Record.
A licensed professional surveyor was to verify the distance later Friday.