Gigantic gourd smashes Manitoba's record for heaviest pumpkin

Gigantic gourd smashes Manitoba's record for heaviest pumpkin

Cornie Banman's 782-kg submission took top prize at the Roland Pumpkin Fair on Saturday

Manitoba has a new heavyweight champ.

A gigantic gourd weighing 782 kilograms (1,725 pounds) smashed the record for the province's largest recorded grown pumpkin at the Roland Pumpkin Fair in the village of Roland, located about 80 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, on Saturday.

Cornie Banman, who grew the light orange behemoth, was already the provincial record holder — a title he says he's held for seven years — when he took home the trophy this weekend.

"I beat my own record and that was my goal," said Banman, who is from the nearby rural municipality of Stanley.

Banman, whose brother also placed near the top of the competition, says he used a lot of fertilizer and a bit of luck to grow the weigh-off-winning pumpkin.

He said he hopes to outdo this year's pumpkin at next year's fair, but he's given himself a hefty challenge.

With files from Radio-Canada's Farah Mekki and The Canadian Press