Harrison Wagener is determined not to be pipped at the post.
When a family friend gave him a pumpkin seed last October he planted dreams of glory in the imagination of nine-year-old Harrison of Sans Souci.
He was given the seed by a family friend, Mikey Michaels, who had previously won the Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge at the Royal Easter Show.
Harrison went home, planted the seed and nurtured it over the summer, watching it grow from the size of a tennis ball to its present 65-kilos.
“Six months ago it was only a seed and now it weighs more than me,” Harrison said.
He has now entered it in the Royal Easter Show’s “Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge”.
There are three categories in the Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge - to 50 kilos, 50 to 100 kilos and 100 kilos plus.
The all-time champion pumpkin at the easter show weighs 700 kilos.
The 50 - 100 kilos category carries a prize of $200.
Harrison’s father, Rod said that the pumpkin has grown daily on a diet of Charlie Carp, blood and bone and Thrive.
“The pumpkin has survived the past six months despite sharing our back yard with two cocker spaniels and countless games of backyard cricket and footy,” Rod said.
“Now the vine has died away and we have an anxious wait to before the Easter Show hoping it doesn’t rot.”
Even if he doesn’t win, there are already been some benefits from Harrison’s pumpkin growing.
“He’s taken an additional interest in the garden,” Rod said.