Giant Pumpkin

The award for the world's largest pumpkin was given out a few days ago to a farmer and his 1223 lbs pumpkin. Seems like a waste to me ... all that growing and nurturing just for a competition and a blue ribbon. Does anyone eat this pumpkin or make some great pie out of it. Imagine how many tins of pumpkin pie filling could be made from that pumpkin. I am curious about these competitions though - what is the criteria? Simply a large pumpkin? Does it need to be washed? A large pumpkin like that could have several pounds of dirt on it - tipping the scales in its direction. And what about artificial enhancements? Is there a urine test to make sure that the pumpkin didn't take any steroids? Seems like there could be holes in this competition.

P.S. This is my 200th post! Celebrate by eating a pumpkin!