Fantastic morning for the @KyDerbyFestival Great Balloon Race #kdf2014

Posted on by rmiracle

Man are we beat….  After being up for last night’s balloon glow, we only got about 5 hours of sleep before we were up checking the weather before heading out to the 2014 Kentucky Derby Festival Great Balloon Race.  After getting up early yesterday and a long 10 hour drive, a nap is in order today.

DSC_8120We rolled into Bowman Field about 6:00am beating some of the crews.  Sherry forgot her Pegasus Pin and we had to buy her a new one.  Pegasus Pins serve as the admission to most of the Derby events.   I had left mine on my shooter’s vest.  $5 later, she was pinned with a Gold pin.  In the world of Pegasus pins, there are two kinds, regular ones and gold ones. Gold pins qualify you for special prize drawings  which could include a new car.  We knew we were off for a good day.

We met up with Sherry’s brother, Doug and his family, and watched the balloons inflate.  After talking to one of the crews, we had a good idea on where the balloons would head to.

For those unfamiliar with a balloon race, there is a “Hare Balloon”.  This balloon takes off early and finds a spot to land where they place a big X target on the ground.  The rest of the pilots then take off, chasing the hare.  The challenge is to lower your balloon and drop a bag of Kentucky Bluegrass seed as close to the X as possible.  The closest dropped bag of seed wins and becomes next year’s hare.

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The crew predicted that E. P. Tom Sawyer Park would be the target point, and they were dead on.  After collecting some photography from the launch, we took advantage of a great parking spot and the intel and headed out to chase the balloons.

DSC_8221Fast winds were actually carrying the balloons faster than cars could chase them and traffic at Sawyer Park made it hard to get in to see the balloons drop their bags of seed.  So we decided that it would be best to find a balloon and follow it to it’s eventual landing.  We eyed up the 2nd US Bank balloon (it’s sister was the hare!) and followed it back into a neighborhood where the pilot, after brushing a tree (on purpose to bleed speed) landed at a cross street in a neighborhood.  We had never seen a balloon land in such tight quarters before.

We hung out while they deflated and packed up before heading home.  Now about that nap….  Later tonight it’s off to Churchill Downs for some night racing.

See more photos from the balloon race here!