Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A 1,524-pound giant took home the top prize this year at the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Thad Starr of Pleasant Hill, Ore., a newcomer to the elite world of growing great pumpkins, defeated the reigning champion, Joel Holland of Puyallup, Wash., whose 1,384-pound entry took second place, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Advertisement The winner also broke all records for the Pumpkin Weigh-Off, considered to be the world's top pumpkin competition. Starr, who only began growing huge pumpkins two years ago, adopted an unconventional choice for seed. The seed came from a pumpkin that weighed only 227 pounds but was from two good lines of large pumpkins. "People chase large pumpkins from big-name growers," Starr said. "Very few people would even give that seed the time of day." The winner was actually not intended for the championship but was one he grew as a backup -- until it outgrew everything else in the garden.
