May 1, 2005. Louisville, KY. The third attempt is charmed, if not chilled, for the U.S. Bank Great Balloon Race. Weather proved challenging for this year’s balloon events as balloon officials tried to “double the fun” for the 50th Celebration by adding events, only to have some cancelled or postponed. Nick Donner was not complaining after capturing the win in the race that finally went off today in the third flight window, after postponing the first two on Friday and Saturday mornings. Just 20 years old, Donner was 1 ft. 3 inches from the target and became the youngest pilot to win the longstanding Derby Festival tradition. Click here for a story on the Donner ballooning family.
A chilly Sunday morning crowd of roughly 2500 gathered at KFEC to watch 49 balloons take flight. Wind conditions were light, but variable, which led to the rescheduling of an intended “fly-in” event to the launch field at KFEC. Instead, 48 “Hound” balloons took off from KFEC in “chase” of the “Hare” – U.S. Bank balloon, piloted by Sean Askren. Askren flew for roughly an hour, landing in a subdivision off Pope Lick Road in the Middletown area.
Neighbors on Willow Tree Lane were thrilled to wake up to the spectacle. Sydney Grace Caspar, 9 weeks-old witnessed her first Derby Festival event as the U.S. Bank balloon landed in her front yard. Said her mother, “It was really exciting” though she slept through most of the action after her bottle. Only eight of the pilots made a measurable toss of their bag of Kentucky bluegrass seed near the target, a giant vinyl “X”. Of those, several were within inches of each other.
PLACE BALLOON PILOT DISTANCE
1st Tran Orthodontics Nick Donner 1 ft. 3 inches
2nd BB& T Tim Basey 1 ft. 11 inches
3rd Norton Healthcare Stuart Crawford 3 ft. 7 inches
The race was sponsored by U.S. Bank and hosted by 102.3 The Max.
First place was worth $3,000 for Donner, who also won a free entry for Tran Orthodontics into the 2006 event. This was Donner’s first Derby Festival win and also a first time victory for entrant Tran Orthodontics Second place was worth $1500 with $500 for third.
More than 25,000 balloon fans gathered on a muddy field to see the static luminary of the U.S. Bank Great Balloon Rock-n-Glow on Saturday night. The show was themed to an Elvis soundtrack and broadcast live on 103.1 WRKA. A new feature included live music on stage with New Breed for 2 hours before the glow. The show was also aired following the 11 pm news on WHAS 11. There were two races and two glows planned for this year’s balloon weekend, but mother nature permitted only one flight and one full glow. A new “glimmer” event allowed 17 balloons to perform a “mini glow” on the Waterfront Thursday evening to help open the Chow Wagon.
The Derby Festival balloon events remain one of Louisville’s favorite family traditions. Thought not the largest, the race is regarded by pilots as one of the country’s most prestigious balloon events and began in 1973 with eleven balloons flying in the inaugural launch from Iroquois Park.
