September
5-7   2008
The Great Reno Balloon Race

Pilots

The Balloonist's Prayer
The winds have welcomed you with softness.
The sun has blessed you with his warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well
that God joined you in laughter
and set you gently back into
the loving arms of Mother Earth.

The Great Reno Balloon Race would not exist without the support and participation from its talented and dedicated pilots. The pilots bring the beauty, splendor and thrill of hot air ballooning to the Truckee Meadows with such grace that one might think flying a hot air balloon is easy. Those of us on the inside know it's a very challenging and technical sport.

The Great Reno Balloon Race is an invitational event. The pilots that are invited have flown a minimum of 100 hours and have met the Great Reno Balloon Race safety standards. Many of our pilots have been flying at the Balloon Race for over 20 years and have logged thousands of hours of flight time. Some are known around the world and have numerous awards and accolades to show for it.

Pilots travel from far and wide to fly in The Great Reno Balloon Race. We've welcomed pilots from as far away as New Zealand, Great Britain and Switerland. No matter where they hail from, our pilots are always near and dear to the Balloon Race and we can never say enough about them.


Listed below are just a few of our most notable pilots in the 2008 Great Reno Balloon Race:

Koh Murai - Launch and Operations Director of The Great Reno Balloon Race
Dale Wong - 1st Place Winner of the 2007 On-Field Competition
Robert Romaneschi and Shane Cory - Pilots and owners of "The Little Bees" and owners of "Lucy the Ladybug"
Alan Sanderson - Operates the balloon repair station at the Balloon Race this year.
Larry Houska and Bob Schaible - Both have flown in the Balloon Race for 27 years
Carol Rymer-Davis - First female champion of the Gordon Bennett Cup (2004), the most prestigious event in aviation and ultimate challenge for balloon pilots and equipment.  The goal is simple: to fly the farthest distance from the launch site. Rymer-Davis launched from Thionville, France - www.coupegordonbennett.org

*Pilots traveling the most miles to fly in the Balloon Race- Daryl McKee from New Zealand and Adrian Held from Switzerland.

*We have 10 pilots that have flown in The Great Reno Balloon Race for 25 years or more, 17 pilots that have flown for 20 years or more and 26 pilots that have flown for 15 years or more.

*We have 10 female pilots flying this year.

*19 pilots are from the Silver State.


These are just a few of the tremendous pilots that continue to participate in The Great Reno Balloon Race. To view the entire list of participating pilots and their unique and vibrantly colored balloons click here.

If you would like to learn about the Balloon Race launch crew please click here.

The mission of the Great Reno Balloon Race is to provide a premier, safe, family-oriented/tourist-attractive, visually dramatic event that celebrates the joy of flight while remaining free to the public.

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