OAKLAND — About 1,000 spectators gathered on Saturday to watch as five trebuchets and catapults launched pumpkins high into the sky.
The contest was part of 2011 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) FRC Team 1629 second annual Pumpkin Chucking Contest, which was held in conjunction with Garrett County’s Aut-umn Glory celebration.
FRC is a division of FIRST, a robotics competition dedicated to students in Garrett County in grades 9 through 12.
“The Pumpkin Chucking Contest highlights the engineers of Garrett County. The contest gives everyone a chance to show their engineering (talent),” said Chuck Trautwein, who was in charge of the event and is affiliated with the FRC team.
The contest featured a wooden, slingshot catapult machine from FRC students and three professional catapults: one from Pillar Technology, of Swanton, and two catapults from Phenix Technology, of Accident.
The contest was based on throwing distance and target accuracy, according to Trautwein.
Amateurs launched pumpkins weighing four to six pounds and professionals used pumpkins weighing eight to 10.
The Phenix team won the distance portion of the contest with their Pumpkin Cannon and also won the accuracy portion of the contest with their trebuchet, according to Trautwein.
The crowd cheered as the Phenix team shot their pumpkins about 400 yards to the tree line. Other pumpkins, however, did not make it to the field and instead broke up mid-air.
“The Pumpkin Cannon shoots really far and you will get hurt if you stand to close to it,” said Blair Merrill, a 12-year-old Oakland resident, who attended the event.
Each team was given 20 pumpkins from Fratz Farm, Garrett County, to chuck, according to Trautwein.
Trautwein hopes to continue to make the contest an annual event.
The first contest, which was held last year had two teams, a professional and amateur team and was attended by 250 spectators.
Registration for the contest was free and was open to any team.
For more information on the FRC team, visit their website at www.team1629.com.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com
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