Old and historic prestigious hot air balloon race has been kicked off in Germany in which pilots will covered the distance of 2000km and their destination will be France.
The 48 teams from 12 countries will covered the distance of 2000 km and they will travel from Germany to France and then Spain while German William Amers will defend the title who won previous race held in 2014.
Switzerland, USA, Germany, France and Belgium entered three teams, while Poland and the UK started with two teams. Netherlands, Lithuania, Spain, Austria and Australia are competing with one team.
Among the competitors taking part were the 2014 champions, Germany’s Wilhelm Eimers and his co-pilot Matthias Zenge, who climbed into their basket and waved goodbye to a cheering crowd as they ascended.
The format of the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett has changed little since it began 110 years ago in 1906.
The basic equipment used in the race of open basket and balloon has remained much the same, as has the premise of the race – the balloon that goes the furthest, wins.
This year the pilots are heading south from Germany towards France, Spain and the Mediterranean. Poor weather over the Alps means pilots will have to use the wind to track west of the mountains, possibly heading out over the Mediterranean to the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. The winners could land in Crete or mainland Greece, a straight-line distance of almost 2,000 kilometres.
