Wednesbury man hoping to break world record with veg

At last year’s Malvern Autumn Show five Guinness World Records were smashed at the CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship, including the world’s heaviest celery which weighed in at a massive 42kg and the world’s heaviest red cabbage which was a whopping 23.7kg.

One man who wants to get his world record back at this year’s Malvern Autumn Show on September 28 and 29, is 24-year-old Chris Evans. The carer took the title for growing the world’s largest tomato back in 2016.

“I want my record back,” said Chris. “I’m entering a number of categories this year, but I want my tomato title back if I can.”

Chris will be entering the heaviest tomato, heaviest bell pepper, heaviest three tomatoes, the longest chilli, longest runner bean and heaviest marrow categories – all of which has been grown on his allotment.

“Some of these categories I’m trying for the first time. A lot of the veg is looking good, but it has been a difficult year for growing so we’ll see.”

The man who makes the decision on who takes home the trophies is competition judge, measurer and weigher, Martyn Davis.

Armed with a tape measure and specialist scales Martyn has been ruling over giant veg since the national championships started at Malvern.

He qualified as a judge in 2005 after taking the exam and practical test with the National Vegetable Society – and he is expecting this year to be another huge success.

“It’s always a surprise. The veg just gets bigger and bigger,” said Martyn. “We never know what to expect when we come here. Last year we broke a few records and I’d be surprised if a world record is not broken again this year.”