1:19 p.m., Nov. 3, 2009----A team that includes University of Delaware alumni and employees dubbed The Chunksters will compete in the 24th World Championship Punkin Chunkin competition, set to take place Nov. 6-8 in Nassau, Del.

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Punkin Chunkin, for those unfamiliar with the event, is a competition in which participants compete to see which team can hurl a pumpkin the farthest by using a variety of means, from catapults and trebuchets to air cannons.

The Chunksters are made up of captain and University of Delaware alum Eric Hartline, who graduated from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in 1983, and current University of Delaware employees Marcia Hartline and Anne-Marie Crossan, who work for UD Facilities in the Building Maintenance and Operations Department.

The group came about after the captain and co-captain of a team to which several of the Chunksters belonged moved out of the area.

Even though their leaders were gone, Marcia Hartline said the team members “still wanted to participate in the event. In order to compete, we needed to build a chunker to enter in the event, so we contacted several family members and friends and discussed the possibility of building our own punkin chunker.”

Punkin Chunkin participants can compete in various categories, divided into adult and youth sections, such as catapult, torsion, trebuchet and human power to see how far they can get their machines to "chunk" pumpkins, which fly gracefully across a bean field then land with an explosion of chunks.

The Chunksters will compete in the human power category, a category in which team members had some experience. “Our previous team had competed in the human power category and it made sense to construct a chunker that could compete in that category,” Hartline explained.

In creating the pumpkin-throwing machine, she said the team decided to use a boat trailer as a base to give the chunker mobility and members then reinforced the trailer frame with additional tubular steel for strength.

“We made the chunker flexible by bolting many of the parts together rather than welding, which will aid in future design modifications,” she said, noting that the team wanted a chunker that is “mobile, robust and cost efficient.”

When it came time to test the chunker in September, it immediately wielded impressive results. The first throw was approximately 150 feet and the best practice throw to date yielded a net of 486 feet.

The goals of the team are not just concentrated on having a successful chunker for this year, however. “Our goal was to build a chunker that was capable of throwing a pumpkin at least 400 feet, robust enough not to have significant mechanical problems and flexible enough to be improved for next year's competition,” Hartline said.

The members of the group who will be responsible to cock and ready the chunker for throwing during the competition are known as being on “the firing line.”

Only these individuals are allowed to be alongside the chunker during the firing, and the members of The Chunksters' firing line are Eric Hartline, Daryl Brackin, Chris Hocking, Tyler Allaband and Kenny Reed.

Other members of the team include Zach Hartline, Miranda Hartline, Theresa Brackin, Crystal Brackin, Carol Allaband, Erin Reed, Ann Marie Crossan, Mike Crossan, Lee Savage, Floyd Savage and Kathleen Joraski.

Hartline says that those who have never been to a Punkin Chunkin event should check it out for many reasons that go beyond, but definitely include, watching pumpkins being chunked.

“First of all they can see over 100 chunkers throw pumpkins from air cannons to children's design. There are various activities throughout the weekend -- live bands, cooking contests, a Miss Punkin Chunkin pageant, and an auction of baked good for charity and fireworks on Saturday night,” Hartline said. “There are also a large number of vendors who come to sell their wares to the spectators.”

Article by Adam Thomas

Link:
http://www.punkinchunkin.com/