Plump pumpkin weighs a record 2,085 pounds

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. – A gourd weighing 2,058 pounds took first prize and set a tournament record Monday at an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California.

John Hawkley, 56, won this year’s Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.

Hawkley – a production manager for a local newspaper – credited his success at least in part to warm weather. He said he will use the more-than $13,000 in prize money to make repairs on his home, which was damaged during a strong earthquake in the Napa area in August.