Four years ago Brian Labrie, his wife, Kerry, and the American Chunker team of Brookline, New Hampshire rolled into Andover to demonstrate the sport of “punkin chunkin.” The team used the time to practice for their first visit to the annual World Punkin Chunkin Championship in Sussex County, Delaware.
The first three years of competition in Delaware were good for the team, with second through fourth place finishes, but just shy of the win. Much testing took place, much science was applied, and adjustments were made in the air cannon and the team.
A seasoned team and a tested and proven chunkin machine headed for Delaware to compete again at the 28th annual Punkin Chunkin Championship on November 1 through 3, 2013. New Hampshire has five teams of 130-plus competing in several different categories of chunkin machines.
Punkin chunkers, teams, and families come from many parts of our country, and a visiting youth team this year came from Australia. These machines are not store-bought or found in kits. They are the dreams, designs, hard work, fabrication, and ingenuity of some very clever folks. This is a labor, a competitive spirit, and an investment equal to any sport.
Think about good food, great people, too much fun, a huge crowd of fans, all for charity, and that’s Punkin Chunkin.
The chunkin began early Friday morning and by day’s end, the American Chunker had broken the event record and was in first place. Chunkin continued on Saturday and Sunday. The weather and the show were crowd pleasers, and the shots were long. The unusual shots and equipment failures added to a fantastic show.
At the competition’s close on Sunday, the American Chunker’s record-breaking shot of 4,694.68 feet remained untouched winning both the category and the overall event for American Chunker!
New Hampshire teams broke three records and won two first place trophies and a second place trophy in addition to American Chunker’s overall event win. The nine-foot tall, thousand-pound plus handmade trophy is on public display at Bingham Lumber in Brookline.
Congratulations to the event, to all the participants, and to the winners. The event will be televised on the Science/Discovery Channel on Thanksgiving evening at 8 PM. You don’t want to miss this show! Be sure to watch for New Hampshire’s winning teams: American Chunker, in the air cannon category; Yankee Siege, in the trebuchet category; and Chunk Norris, in the catapult category.
For more information, photos, and videos, visit AmericanChunker.com.