Competitive Hot Air Balloon Racing

Ready. Set. Float!

Have you ever seen a blue sky filled with hot air balloons? Their rainbow colors expand creating a scene that can take your breath away! It's hard to believe when watching them float lazily up and away that they are competing in balloon races. It must be the slowest race in the world! Can you just imagine the start of the race? Ready! set! Float!

The fact is a hot air balloon race is not a race in the way one might expect. There is no waving of the start flag or firing of a starter pistol. The balloons don't actually "race " at all. A balloon race is more a group of competitions. The flight is usually about an hour, during which the participants compete to see who can be most accurate.

Some of the competitions include:

Hare and Hounds

One balloon launches first and alone and is the designated "Hare" They try to fly in a pattern that would be difficult to follow. Upon landing they lay out a target on the ground. About twenty minutes after the Hare has lifted off, the rest of the balloons follow. They are called the "Hounds" The hound that drops a marker or lands closest to the target wins.

CNT 

This competition is called Convergent Navigational Task. With this competition a large X is the target. It is placed in the balloon festival site usually. Then the pilots launch from wherever they want as long as it's the specified distance ,(1-3 miles) from the target.

As they approach the target they drop their markers and receive a score according to the distance from the marker to the X. 

Key Grab

A key grab is like the CNT with one major difference. Instead of an X there is a ring attached to a pole. The first pilot that grabs the ring wins

There are many other kinds of competitions and contests. Often a competition involves a mixture of two or three kinds.

Being a spectator at these balloon races is an awesome experience all on it;s own.But for some,the only way to watch a balloon race is from right in the middle of it, as a participant! Special preparations are essential. Gaining the experience to fly a balloon takes a lot of commitment and ongoing training. Some things you need to do are: