A man in Norway has set a new world record by paddling a pumpkin for 26 miles.
Rick Swenson set sail from Grand Forks early Saturday morning, trying to break what he thought was an eight-mile world record for longest distance floated in a pumpkin.
“We got about seven and a half miles in, thinking it was eight and we got a text that somebody had broken it at 15 a week ago. And that was completely demoralising,” said Swenson.
Luckily for Swenson, he had a sturdy pumpkin and had planned to float further than that, nearly 26 miles down the Red River to Oslo, Norway’s capital.
Swenson completed his journey 13 hours and 40 minutes after launching from Grand Forks, and crushed the recently set record by over 10 miles.
“When we got to Oslo, we had a really nice welcome. There were between 30 and 40 people there,” he said.
Swenson credits his moral support, a small group of family and friends who trailed behind him in boats, as the reason he was able to make it the full way.
He said, “It was getting boring towards the end. Especially when we got towards Oslo it kind of slowed down and there was no wind. I mean it was beautiful, but you knew you were getting towards the end and you didn’t want to stop and it was starting to get really boring“.
