GORDON BENNETT: THE PICTURES

Finally, here it is: the ‘best of’ of our pictures from what can no doubt be called the most exciting Gordon Bennett Race to date! =)

Right from the beginning, the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett 2024 turned out to be very special experience – an event that impresses not only with its long tradition, but also with the passion dedicated by both organizers and balloon teams alike. As proud participants in this prestigious competition, which is considered the oldest and most demanding gas balloon race in the world, we took off in Münster this year and competed against teams from all over the world. The World Championship taking place in September 2024 gave us unforgettable impressions.

After the positive experiences over the last few years with a common command center for weather, air traffic control and strategy for all three German teams, we stuck to the successful concept again in 2024. Even before the race, we were in close contact with the teams Germany-1 (Benni and Willi Eimers), Germany-3 (Andreas Zumrode and Axel Hunnekuhl) and Austria-2 (Christian “Wuzi” Wagner and Stefanie Liller), the latter having joined our group for the first time.
The four balloon teams were supported by a total of eleven people on the ground who had made themselves at home in the clubhouse at the Gladbeck balloon launch site.

With its picturesque backdrop, Münster offered the perfect setting for the 67th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett. On the afternoon of September 14, thousands of spectators gathered on the large castle square to witness the ceremonial start of the race. The launch in front of the baroque castle to the sound of all the national anthems was an absolute goosebumps moment for the 21 balloon crews. Accompanied by the applause of the spectators, we rose into the night sky as the 18th balloon taking off – a majestic sight that marked the beginning of a long and exciting race.
The weather was perfect: clear visibility and mild winds carried us southwards. With the castle and the old town in sight, we said goodbye to Münster and began our journey across the vast landscapes of Germany and further out over Europe.

At a pleasant 1500 meters, we first flew over the Ruhr area and the Rhineland. The first highlight of the trip was flying through the airspace of Cologne/Bonn at night with 24 balloons – three fiesta participants were also among the crowd – an airport with one of the highest night flight volumes in Germany. Several large transport aircraft took off and landed below us while we floated silently through the moonlit night. The dense industrial landscapes gradually gave way to the picturesque fields and vineyards of the Eifel and Saarland. At the first sunrise of the trip, we were able to see the border region between Germany, France and Luxembourg from above – an interplay between rolling hills, rivers and cities that looked like small islands in the early morning mist.

The first day passed without any major incidents as we continued towards southwest France and reached Bordeaux around midnight. The airspace around the western French city is not really clear due to the airport and the many military restricted areas. So we were a little surprised at night that we simply couldn’t get clearance for a prohibited area in the direction we were traveling. A quick Google search brought the answer: It was a nuclear power plant!

Crossing the restricted area at 3000 feet would have cost valuable ballast – so we worked our way around it at a low altitude to the north, which we finally managed. The night-time low-level flying was pretty nerve-wrecking, but thanks to the bright full moon it was safe enough.

Ater our fight around the prohibited area we were immediately rewarded with the absolute highlight of our trip: crossing the Gulf of Biscay. With our command center we had mapped out a route that would take us to the Spanish mainland after 250 kilometers of water – at the apex we would be over 100 kilometers out from the nearest coast.

So our second breakfast on board the D-OSTL “Stuttgarter Hofbräu” was indeed a very special one: For the first time, we actually enjoyed our traditional salmon sandwiches over the sea. For the next 8 hours – without cell phone reception – we glanced at the vast Atlantic beneath us, while the steady winds carried us towards the Spanish coast in an altitude of 1000 and 2000 meters. Our colleagues from Austria-2, Wuzi and Steffi, were flying a few kilometers ahead of us in their D-OZZI. We could also make out a few more balloons in the distance. When we finally reached the Spanish coast, we were warmly welcomed by a most picturesque landscape between Bilbao and Santander.

After crossing the Picos de Europa in the Cantabrian Mountains, we continued south over the plateaus of northern Spain. We slowly climbed to around 3500 meters to fly into the sunset over Valladolid in a faster wind field.
Now we began to weigh things up carefully: did we still have enough ballast to climb to 4500 meters and fly to the southwest corner of Portugal with the leaders of the competition? Or should we play it safe and aim for a comfortable landing region with little ground wind for the next morning?

As we thought our chances of a podium place rather slim given the strong field of participants, we decided on the safer option. We agreed: this trip couldn’t get any better anyway, especially not with a landing in the afternoon thermals on the Portuguese coast! So we kept our ballast and continued flying at around 3000 meters during the night in order to cover even further south and thus defend our ninth place. At daybreak, we examined the barren area below us and initiated the balloon’s descent with a gentle pull on the valve.

When we took a closer look at the map, we could hardly believe our eyes: Alburquerque in Spain, which actually gave name to the ballooning capital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, the venue for last year’s Gordon Bennett Race, was right in front of us!
We couldn’t resist the chance to immortalize this place in our logbooks and after 60 hours and 1802 kilometers we landed smoothly on a stubble field, a little faster than expected, but with enough space and ballast, no problem at all.

The chase crew – our girls – were there less than 10 minutes after landing, and so after two well-deserved ‘Stuttgarter Hofbräu’ we were able to pack the balloon and spend the rest of the day in a nearby hotel with a nice outdoor pool. There we lay on the daybed with our bathrobes and drinks and followed the exciting final of the three top-placed teams on the live tracking app. They delivered a finish around Sagres on the southwestern tip of Portugal that this race has probably never seen before. In the end, our teammates Wuzi and Steffi from Austria-2 won ahead of Switzerland-1 (Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witprächtiger) and Germany-3 (Andreas Zumrode and Axel Hunnekuhl).

Congratulations to the podium places and our greatest respect to all the teams for this magnificent world championship with a more than worthy final on the Atlantic coast. We especially congratulate the new world champions Christian “Wuzi” Wagner and Stefanie Liller. “They put the hammer down!”, as their chase crew nailed it. Awesome performance!

We would like to thank everyone who accompanied and supported us on this journey, especially the committed members of the Balloon Club of Stuttgart, the BWLV, the entire organisation team and all the volunteers who gave us such an outstanding race. The Gordon Bennett 2024 will always be kept in our hearts as an unforgettable experience.
A special thank you also goes to our girls, who have raced over 6500 kilometers on the new club Sprinter during this week!
Thanks to our command center, who produced a world champion and a third-place finisher for the second time already with almost the identical line-up. We always felt comfortable and safe in the air thanks to Nicholas Seyfert-Joiner, Max Michels, Max Brandenburg, Nicholas Seyfert-Joiner, Antje Ackermann, Moritz Friess, Kolja Packard, Dirk Lyssens, Anja Müggler, Pascal Kreins, Peter Rollmann and Katharina Fischer, who were certainly just as excited and slept just as little as we did.

As always: after the race is before the race! For us, the mission will be to mercilessly strip down and optimise our equipment. With even more sand, even more should be possible…!