Four Tasks at the Flag City BalloonFest

Findlay, Ohio's annual balloon event has grown from modest beginnings to one of the premier races in the region.  This year the field was expanded to 40 competitors and 4 special shapes.  The event is funded completely by the local businesses and individuals who sponsor the event and keep admission free to the public.  The crowds arrive early in the morning for the competition flight and build through the day until the evening launch and glow.  

Five in a Row for N. Donner in Longview

by Joe Zvada     photos by Stacie Carroll

More articles from Longview 

Leaving Longview, TX at 1pm on Sunday and driving a thousand miles home to be at work by 8am Monday morning really knocks you out for a couple days.  So it's Wednesday and we are just now getting to the final update from the Great Texas Balloon Race:

OVERALL STANDINGS

Peoria's Balloons at the Park Completes 18 tasks

We miss understood the baggie measuring procedures of the new pointed baggies.  We've updated below

Eighteen tasks is ton for any event, but Maury Petrehn's event in Peoria last weekend did it in just three flights, completing an 11 part flight in the process.  The event used Maury's own rule book, which is a very entertaininig look into what he calls "the future of competition ballooning."  Highlights of the book include a new scoring system where least is best, pilots scoring their peers, and goal of double digit tasks in a single flight.