A 65-year-old British grandfather has smashed the world record for the heaviest pumpkin once more, this time on his own after ending a decades-long partnership with his brother.
Ian Paton of Lymington, Hampshire, hauled a 2,856.8-pound (1,295.8 kg) pumpkin to the top of the scale Saturday at the Wargrave Nursery Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off in Berkshire, reclaiming the global mark and confirming he has now grown the three heaviest pumpkins ever recorded.
Daily Mail reporting described a solitary grind that paid off in record fashion, with Paton saying the win felt especially sweet after years of shared titles with his brother Stuart.
The brothers had spent half a century growing together. As a pair they were crowned world champions three times and European champions ten times, and they produced five of the ten heaviest pumpkins ever grown. That partnership ended when Stuart decided to travel the world. This was Ian’s first major triumph on his own.
Paton did not treat the project like a hobby. He put in five or six hours every day for two months, burying vines so the plant could push more roots and pack on mass.
He described the daily routine in plain terms.
"It's five or six hours of work every day for two months. It's nice to know I can do it myself."
He also explained the growth method that drove the size.
"A lot of that work is burying the vines so it gets more roots, that's where the size comes from."
At peak stretch, he said, the pumpkin expanded about a foot and a half, roughly 40 centimeters, a day in every direction. By the end it was compared to the size of a female hippopotamus.
When the moment came to move it, the equipment protested. Paton lifted the gourd with a telehandler and watched the warning lights flash.
"I knew it was a big one as when I lifted it with the telehandler, all the warning lights came on like a Christmas tree, saying it was too heavy. It's basically overweight."
After the weigh-off, Paton did not linger on the scale. He put his granddaughters, five-year-old Etta and seven-year-old Martha Syrett, on a WhatsApp call so they could hear the news live. He said they were amazed and could be heard shouting down the phone. Martha was later pictured on top of the huge gourd.
Paton made clear the solo effort mattered to him as much as the number on the board.
"It's good to have achieved it without my brother because it was an immense amount of work."
He also noted the larger scoreboard. Between Stuart and himself, the family still accounts for five of the world’s ten heaviest pumpkins. Now Ian alone holds first, second, and third.
"But now I have grown the top one, two and three in the world. That feels really good," he said. He added a light competitive note about growers across the Atlantic: "It feels especially good knowing the Americans haven't got it. I have a lot of friends there who grow pumpkins."
Even so, he described the sport as unusually civil. "It's a very friendly sport and everyone works together, so it's not like other sports."
Hard work, family pride, and a record that did not need a committee to explain it, that is the kind of win that still travels.
