The 37th annual Great Balloon Race (http://www.greatforestparkballoonrace.com ) is was held on Sat September 16, 2006. The balloons are all setup close together in a large field and then they started inflating slowly. The race is called a "tortoise and hare" race because a lead balloon takes off and lands at a distant area - the "tortoise". The other balloons take off one by one(the "hares") and find the lead balloon. Once they find the lead balloon they drop a sack of birdseed as close as possible to that balloon. The balloon that drops their sack of birdseed closest to the "tortoise" wins the race.
We started out with a demonstration of precision parachuting. After the last parachutist lands it is time for the race to begin.
This event took place in Forest Park (http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark ) which is in the center of St Louis and is 40% bigger than Central Park in New York City.
Unfortunately due to high winds(exceeding manufacturers standards) only about 30 of 90 balloons went up for the race. The biggest and specialty balloons were mostly too big to fly safely. The decision to go was left entirely up to the pilot.
This is the only balloon race that starts out inside a major metropolitan city in the United States. All of the other major balloon events take place just outside of the cities.
We started out with a demonstration of precision parachuting. After the last parachutist lands it is time for the race to begin.
This event took place in Forest Park (http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark ) which is in the center of St Louis and is 40% bigger than Central Park in New York City.
Unfortunately due to high winds(exceeding manufacturers standards) only about 30 of 90 balloons went up for the race. The biggest and specialty balloons were mostly too big to fly safely. The decision to go was left entirely up to the pilot.
This is the only balloon race that starts out inside a major metropolitan city in the United States. All of the other major balloon events take place just outside of the cities.
Comments
 | 3:49pm October 14 2006exray said: A crystal clear capture ..... well done!! |
 | 10:06pm October 14 2006samira said: Wonderful colorful shot!!! |
 | 4:17pm October 15 2006tiller said: Wonderful schot and colors |
 | 3:08pm October 19 2006BrainPain said: Awesome capture! And you got it from the ground,the view from there must be awesome, probably can get great landscape shots. :-() |
 | 8:11am November 2 2006justju said: >>> PERFECT BALLOON BEAUTY in this IMAGE --- BRAVO ... fine advertisement for this "high" sport |
 | 10:26pm November 2 2006Minz said: Wonderful shot! |
 | 3:23am November 20 2006Poulet said: Great shot, Bill !!! |
 | 1:02pm March 10 2007visuallyadaptive said: great balloon, and photo :) |
 | 10:05am April 25 2007nzshutter said: Awesome shot Bill!! Great mix of colour. :) |
 | 1:00pm June 18 2007EliseNL said: Stunnig and so clear detail...well done!! |
