Canowindra Balloon Challenge April 5 to 11 2010
This is an open invitation to all balloonists, with more than 30 hours PIC to register your interest in participating in The Canowindra Challenge April 5th to 11th 2010. As Canowindra has submitted an expression of interest to the ABF to host the 2011 Nationals this event is intended to be a practice run for 2011. If you have even the slightest idea that you are interested in attending then please fill out our preliminary expression of interest form here gjkerr.wufoo.com/forms/canowindra-challenge-supporter/ so that we can communicate directly with interested parties. Registration forms will be sent out to respondents at the end of January.
The event is being organised by us with sponsorship from EDUPOV Gardners Ground Organic Wines, Lavendelli Blue , Toms Waterhole Wines, Balloon Joy Flights and The Old Vic Inn . There is still plenty of scope to come on board as a sponsor if you would like to showcase your company or a product.
Commercial accommodation is at a premium in Canowindra so you are advised to book your accommodation ASAP. Please support The Old Vic Inn one of our sponsors or click here for a detailed list
The theme will be to showcase some new "live to web" technologies like GPS positioning and Live to web Video. Whilst this is a bit radical for serious competition ballooning we will be "trying out" some new state of the art balloon judging, which we believe has some very important implications for ballooning events in the future. There will be a Live 20 foot web screen in the main street of Canowindra beaming live video and GPS positions from the balloons. We will be encouraging all pilots to bring their i-phones and Google phones and will be setting some specific tasks for these pilots. There will be daily prizes of at least $500 in cash or in prizes and on some days up to $1000. The "nerve centre" for the event will be the Canowindra High School where there will be free outside camping (no power), showers, toilets and limited cooking facilities. Mandatory daily briefings will be held here also. Launch sites will be many and varied including some "remote" ones which will be selected on a daily basis.
All pilots will be expected to pay for their own accommodation and propane ..........but the the prizes will greatly outweigh the costs. To help with insurance costs and administrative overheads there will be a $100 registration fee per balloon, as sponsors have stipulated that sponsorship money be used exclusively for prizes.
The event director will be Graham Kerr who is calling for nominations or volunteers for competition director (trainee nationals director), safety officer, target team etc.
We welcome every ABF member to "step forward" to volunteer their skills and expertise with the management of this event. Limited free accommodation will be available for officials.
Jan''s and my company Balloon Joy Flights will be the CASA permit holder and take out event Public Liability insurance for the event. This event will be widely advertised to the public. Balloon Joy Flights will be conducting commercial passenger flights during the event in accordance with the CASA permit.
Remember this event will be during NSW school Holidays and will follow on from the Leeton Easter event.and participants will only have to take four days off work to come for the whole event but some may only come for the weekend.
There will be a British documentary film crew here filming at this festival for IBC television as a follow on from the feature ballooning documentary they made in Africa last year. They are keen to interview as many Australian balloonists as possible. So if you want to become known internationally that''s another good reason to attend our event!!
All balloonists will be expected to attend a number of sponsors educational workshops during the week. There will be an number of community based events during the week including a mid week dinner, Toms Waterhole Wines woodfired pizza will be available on two nights and a twighlight Local wine and Food event in a local park on the last Saturday where the final ballooning awards will be presented. On the final Sunday the Canowindra Golden Stilletto will be held. This is an event involving both bike riders and balloons. For those who want to stay on for an extra couple of days, you may wish to book tickets for Canowindra''s now famous 100 Mile Gourmet Dinner in the main street. This event sold out very quickly last year and is limited to 300 people. This will be on Monday night 12th April. Tickets for this event will only be sold on line in the new year.
Comments
$
LoKo - WmhNIuMMk