Most people aged 19 are still another 12 months away from holding a full driver’s licence, not competing as a pilot in a hot air balloon competition.
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Mia Fraser, 19, is making her competition debut in this week’s Canowindra International Balloon Challenge, which started with practice flights on the weekend and runs till Sunday, April 29.
The Yarra Valley teenager grew up ballooning and is one of only three female pilots competing this week.
Three female crew members, Lauren Cowie, Julia Ovens and Cass Goodge, all from the Yarra Valley, along with Mia as the pilot makes up her all women team, the only all women team in the competition, something Mia’s pretty proud of.
“I did have a boy who has broke his leg and couldn’t come, he was going to be our licensed manual driver. I already had two girls so I thought why not make it three girls and that’s when I asked Cass,” Mia said.
“I was pretty wrapped with that because I think an all girls team is different it’s really good. It’s a male dominated thing so it shows that girls can do it too.”
Mia kicked off the week in emphatic fashion by winning task one in Saturday morning’s practice flight, landing her marker closest to a target on a property on Fish Fossil Drive after launching from the Canowindra Sports Oval.
“I was wrapped with it. I was just hoping to get within a couple of metres.”
“This is my first competition as a solo pilot. I was so excited for this event. Last year when I came I did have my licence but I didn’t have enough hours. So I flew as a navigator and helped out. I got a good understanding from that. So here I am one year later.”
Mia is one of about 15 young ballooning enthusiasts in Canowindra this week who love competition flying, known as the Flying Lemmings, and support each other and give opportunity to other young people looking to get their foot in the door of the sport.
Her brother Harry is part of the group and is also competing this week.
“We call ourselves the Flying Lemmings. There’s about 15 of us. We’ve established this group and expended through friends who want to get involved,” she said.
The event has attracted some of the world’s best pilots including two-time world champion American John Petrehn and French national champion and defending champion Clement Siegot.
Keep up to date with the competition results here https://www.facebook.com/AustralianCompetitionBallooning/
