In the United States in Nebraska, Duane Hansen traveled 38 miles (61 kilometers) in paddling in a giant pumpkin during eleven o’clock. The American, seated in the enormous gourd, went up the Missouri under the dumbfounded but enthusiastic eyes of passers-by.
The pumpkin does 384 kilos and it was the sportsman himself who made it grow for almost ten years in his garden. He dug it out to have room to sit in it and gave it a little name: berta.
And the kayaker himself can’t get over it: “I wasn’t at all 100% sure that I was going to make it. I’ve never been on a river in a pumpkin patch, it’s… well you can’t say it’s easy”.
This pumpkin ride is of course a world record. Duane Hansen beat the one in 2016 where a certain Rick Swenson had traveled 41 kilometers, or twenty less, in a pumpkin.
But given the effort, Duane Hansen is not sure he wants to start again: “I traveled 61 kilometers down the river, without standing up, my knees still hurt. I don’t think I will do it again one day and if someone beats my record, I will bow to him because he would be really strong”.
A journey he made on his birthday: an original way to celebrate his sixtieth birthday!
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