September 1, 2019
The Slovenian Open National Hot Air Balloon Championship concluded this Sunday with the last set of 30 tasks 37 pilots from 16 countries had to perform over the competition’s five-day period. The overall winners were Dominic Bareford from Great Britain (gold), John Petrehn form the USA (silver) and Matthew Scaife from Australia in third place, while at the national level of the competition Vito Rome took gold, Jernej Bojanovič silver and Radoš Švagelj bronze.
The area of Pomurje with Murska Sobota as its capital will be hosting the next World Hot Air Balloon Championship between 19 and 26 of September 2020, and this week’s competition served as preparation for this much bigger event, in which 145 balloons and 800 participants are expected to take part.
The World Hot Air Balloon Championship is a biannual event that took place in Brazil in 2014, Japan in 2016 and Austria in 2018.
Pomurje with its lowlands, appropriate temperatures and winds has the ideal geography for ballooning and the organisers are already looking forward to the competition.
