OSLO, Minn. - It took more than 13 hours, but Rick Swenson finished his Great Pumpkin quest.

Swenson, 35, of Fergus Falls, paddled a 1,086-pound pumpkin for 26 miles on the Red River, presumably breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest distance floated in a pumpkin.

He launched his pumpkin on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Grand Forks, N.D., with a crowd of about 25 friends, family and onlookers. Conditions were about perfect for a pumpkin-paddling effort, with temperatures in the mid-50s and a light westerly breeze.

His wife, Erin Swenson, said her husband appeared to be having fun during the attempt. "Nothing really surprises me with Rick," she said. "He just kind of has a sense of adventure."

During the record attempt, Swenson learned someone had paddled a pumpkin 15 miles, easily outdistancing the previous record of 8 miles.

"We got about seven and a half miles in, thinking it was eight and we got a text that somebody had broken it at 15 a week ago. And that was completely demoralizing," Swenson said.

But Swenson had always planned to float 26 miles to Oslo.

"A half a mile beforehand, just as you're getting mentally prepared, it all comes crumbling down," Swenson said.

It took him 13 hours, 40 minutes to complete the journey.

"When we got to Oslo, we had a really nice welcome," Swenson said. "There were between 30 and 40 people there," said Swenson.

A small group of family and friends trailed behind him in boats, a morale booster Swenson credited in the effort.

"It was getting boring towards the end," he said. "Especially when we got towards Oslo it kind of slowed down and there was no wind. I mean it was beautiful, but you knew you were getting towards the end and you didn't want to stop and it was starting to get really boring."

The record will need to be verify and accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records after Swenson completes some paperwork.

For years, Swenson has raised giant pumpkins, and he began growing his boat in March. For the past five years, he has carved gargantuan jack-o-lanterns for a Halloween event at the Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton, N.D., where his pumpkin boat will got on display through Halloween before it is fed to the animals.