Fly in a gas balloon across Europe, and at speed.
This is exactly what the participants of the famous Gordon Bennett Cup, the oldest gas balloon competition in the world, are doing.
This year, the participants started in Münster, Germany.
To the jubilation of the audience, 21 balloons rose into the air.
The goal is to fly as far as possible from the starting point.
From Germany, the balloons headed west through Luxembourg to France.
There, the three teams completed the journey the next day.
The remaining 18 balloons headed through the Pyrenees mountain range to the peninsula of the same name and crossed the rapids in two nights on the way.
And only 12 balloons were able to fly for three nights.
The situation was heating up.
The finish was in the south of Portugal.
The Austria-2 team won.
The pilots were Christian Wagner and Stephanie Liller.
They covered 2111 kilometers.
In second place is the Switzerland-1 team.
It flew almost 2110 kilometers.
Well, in third place are pilots from Germany-3.
They have 2108 and a half kilometers behind them.
This is the 67th Gordon Bennett Cup.
It is named after adventurer James Gordon Bennett Jr., who organized the first such competition in Paris in 1906.
Next year, the competition will start in Metz, France.
The start is scheduled for September 5.
