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Though most people think of ballooning as a serene, soulful pastime, few realise it is actually a recognised sport. Overseen by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, pilots and their crews across the world regularly participate in competitions.
“Like most activities, there is a competitive side to ballooning. But competition in ballooning is not about speed, because obviously we don’t have engines in balloons,” said Adam Barrow, assistant director of this year’s event, and long-time ballooning enthusiast.
“It is about skill and accuracy. The size of the average balloon flying in Canowindra is about 15 metres high and, when inflated, weighs about two tonnes.
“So, you basically have a two-tonne, 10-storey, tower of air which doesn’t have a steering wheel.
“And the objective is to get that two-tonne bag of air, through navigation, as close as possible to a tiny target on the ground. It sounds like a folly really, but the top guys in the world start kilometres away from the target and they will end up within centimetres of it.
So, you basically have a two-tonne, 10-storey, tower of air which doesn’t have a steering wheel.
- Adam Barrow
Adam said this recognised aviation sport is “a mental game, not a physical game”.
“There is no strength required in ballooning – it’s mental and it’s endurance because the events are quiet long, between two to three hours.”
- Competitive ballooning will span six days, with two days of practice.
Pilots aim to make their mark
During competition, pilots undertake tasks designed to exercise skill in manoeuvring their balloons over a set course with goals, targets, scoring areas, time and distance limits.
Balloons do not land on the target. Crew members aboard the balloons drop markers as close to the target as they can fly. The markers are small sandbags with streamers attached.
Some of the tasks include:
Key Grab: Balloonists fly in and try to “snatch” a key, mounted on top of a flagpole, for a substantial prize.
Hare and hounds: Competitors follow a hare balloon and try to drop a marker close to a target displayed by the hare.
Judge declared goal: The competition director declares a goal, like a road intersection, and the balloons launch from a common site and drop markers as close to the target near the goal.