Team claims record-breaking pumpkin launch in Utah

MOAB — 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 Friday at Moab's old airport.

The team used a 90-foot, compressed-air cannon and traveled to southern Utah hoping the high elevation and thin air would help pumpkins sail farther.

Ralph Eschborn, a 62-year-old wastewater engineer from Chadds Ford, Pa., says he had a better crop of pumpkins to shoot this time.

Eschborn's team launched a pumpkin near Moab last year that traveled short of a mile, or 4,623 feet, but still set a Guinness World Record.

Eschborn says a licensed professional surveyor was to verify the distance later Friday.

Online: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/