Giant vegetables of all shapes and sizes set to head to Malvern for annual national competition
People are taking their entries for this year's CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championships to the Three Counties Showground today (24 September), with official results due tomorrow
Over a hundred people from across the country are expected to transport all kinds of giant vegetables to Worcestershire today (24 September) to compete in this year's CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championships.
The event takes place as part of the Malvern Autumn Show, which is running from the 25-27 September, and usually sees ten of thousands of people attend over the three days.
Although results aren't due until tomorrow, competitors have to make their way to the Three Counties Showground in advance to get everything set-up and in place.
Head of shows at the showground, Jane Edwards, said the competition was first held back there back in 2013, and is a real crowd favourite every time.
"Since then, the number of growers has increased and it's become an even more popular competition," she said.
"This year we've got 597 entries, 169 growers and 33 classes, and of the classes, 24 are heaviest classes and nine are the longest.
"Typically, we'll get a few world records broken within those."
A number of Guinness World Records were smashed at last year's event, which currently still stand, including the world’s longest radish (7.848m), along with the world’s heaviest celeriac (8.01kg).
Among this year's entries is eight-year-old girl Poppy from Bosbury, who has entered her pumpkins in the 'giant vegetables' and 'grow to show' categories, while Kevin Fortey is looking to claim his 16th world record for growing giant vegetables.
"We do get exhibitors from all over the country, and we've also got some well-known super growers who have consistently broken many records over the year and keep coming back to break sometimes their own records," Edwards said.
On how people get their entries to the event, she added: "Often they're grown on pallets from the start so they can be easily forklifted, but we did get an inquiry last year from someone who was considering bringing a giant pumpkin by helicopter, but that soon fizzled out.
"Then when they arrive at the show, we've got a dedicated team helping with a forklift to get them onto the scales for that all important weigh in."