Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

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America's Challenge
presented by Matheson Tri-Gas

Gas balloons are the ultimate challenge for balloonists. They fly higher and farther than hot-air balloons, exposing pilots to all the dangers violent weather offers. This extreme ballooning pushes fliers’ skills and stamina to the limits.

First lifting off at Balloon Fiesta in 1981, gas balloons wowed crowds, getting invitations to return over the next five years. By 1993, the Fiesta won the right to host the 37th Gordon Bennett Cup race, the world’s oldest and most prestigious gas ballooning competition. In 1994, the Eighth World Gas Balloon Championship thrilled Fiesta viewers.

The America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race was founded by the Balloon Fiesta in 1995 due to the vision and efforts of Mark Sullivan, former Balloon Fiesta President and recipient of the Montgolfier Diplome (one of ballooning's highest honors). Sullivan, a renowned competitor in all of the major gas ballooning events, saw the need for America to be identified with the world's most prestigious ballooning sport.

A renowned Albuquerque balloonist, Mark Sullivan, saw his own brainchild take off in 1995 with the new America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race. Modeled on the Gordon Bennett, it differs from the older event in allowing balloons from all countries, without limits on the number of entries from each. Members of the world’s best teams pitched in to make this American original a success.

Soaring aloft in that first America’s Challenge, 13 teams from five countries competed with a single goal – to see who could fly nonstop the greatest distance from Albuquerque.

By the second night, all had landed safely, with the American team of Richard Abruzzo and David Melton taking the prize.

In 1999, Balloon Fiesta again hosted the Gordon Bennett, officially known as the Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett. From 2000 to 2005, the American’s Challenge race has remained the main event for gas ballooning at the Balloon Fiesta. The race is scheduled to launch on the first Saturday of the Balloon Fiesta.