In the first America’s Challenge in six years to reach the Eastern seaboard of the United States, Cheri White and Mark Sullivan have officially been declared the winners.

The Command Center has received word that the last balloon aloft in the 17^th America’s Challenge race for gas balloons has landed safely.

The Command Center has been advised that Team 2, Russia’s Leonid Tuykhtyaev and Germany’s Willi Eimers, have landed safely near Elkton, VA.  Team 3, the USA’s Peter Cuneo and Barbara Fricke, are down safely near Ridgeland, South Carolina.     

Three teams, six pilots, and under 200 miles to go.  As the day dawns in the Eastern time zone, three America’s Challenge gas balloon teams are inexorably headed towards the Atlantic – and the end game.     

 

The gold standard for having a shot to win the America’s Challenge has always been the ability to fly through three nights.  Three formidable teams have reached that standard, and now the question is who can prevail to win this distance contest as the teams near the U.S. East Coast.

The Command Center has received word that the British team of Jonathan Mason and Clive Bailey has made a safe landing about 22 miles northwest of Madisonville, KY.   

Four America’s Challenge competitors remain aloft as the race nears the 40-hour mark.   The fifth team, Mike Wallace and Kevin Brielmann (Team 1) have landed safely near Kellerton, Iowa on the Iowa/Missouri border.    

 

Mark Sullivan and Cheri White (Team 5) are the new leaders in the America’s Challenge gas balloon race, as the “middle pack” takes charge of the competition – at least for now. 

 

The area around Oklahoma City, OK got quite a balloon show this evening, as three of the five America’s Challenge competitors head through the area.

All five teams in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s America’s Challenge distance race for gas balloons are making steady and fairly swift progress over northern Texas. 

Approximately 12 hours into the competition, the five America’s Challenge teams are already in Texas and headed eastward in the Amarillo area.

The 17^th America’s Challenge got off to a glowing start – literally – on a gorgeous fall evening in Albuquerque. With the setting sun painting the Sandia Mountains a gorgeous pinkish hue and hundreds of hot air balloons preparing to glow in the background, the five America’s Challenge competitors headed out to destinations unknown – in all likelihood, to the east.

The five teams competing in this year’s America’s Challenge race for gas balloons are busily moving equipment to Balloon Fiesta Park and preparing for inflation in anticipation of a launch this evening.

It’s been a gorgeous morning of ballooning in Albuquerque, and early indications are it will be just as gorgeous tonight as the America’s Challenge distance race for gas balloons moves towards launch.

America’s Challenge race officials have announced the gas balloon launch originally scheduled for tonight (Saturday, October 6) will be postponed for 24 hours due to weather conditions. The launch is now scheduled for early Sunday evening, October 7. The Twilight Twinkle Glow and other Saturday evening events at Balloon Fiesta Park are not impacted by the delay and are continuing as scheduled.

Race officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the America’s Challenge distance race for gas balloons can launch as scheduled Saturday evening, October 6. The launch is scheduled for 6:30 PM (0030Z) at Balloon Fiesta Park.

Five balloon teams representing four nations and featuring some of the world’s greatest gas balloonists are preparing to compete in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s America’s Challenge race for gas balloons. Three of the five competing teams include at least one member who has previously won the America’s Challenge, which should bode for an interesting and highly competitive race.

During the last 48 hours the America's Challenge competitors have been busily registering, filling sandbags, watching the weather, and preparing to go the distance in America's only distance competition for gas balloons. Weather permitting, launch is scheduled for 6:30 PM on Saturday, October 6 from Balloon Fiesta Park.

The fact that the America’s Challenge is an all-hydrogen race this year is a first for the Balloon Fiesta, but it is the norm in most of the rest of the gas ballooning world and it is slowly evolving into becoming the norm in the United States.