During the Easter break, the PTFA was involved in a Virtual Balloon Race which saw 764 Fielding Balloons released from Istanbul in Turkey.  The wind took the majority of balloons south over the Sea of Marmara before coming up against the hills around Bursa - about 300 km south of Istanbul.  A number of Fielding balloons were in the nationwide leading pack and made it over the hills only to pop as they gained height. The chasing pack were blown back down the hills and ended up heading east along the bottom of the ridge and managed to find a gap before making their way south again over the Mediterranean Sea and towards Egypt.   

During the seven day race, there was a jostling for position and the winning balloons travelled over 750km. The Fielding top 10 included balloons from the following from families (in order):

1. Turabi
2. Kay
3. Prevett
4. Williams
5. Forshew
6. Llewellyn
7. Wheldon
8. Kaushik
9. Barlho Sow
10. Yeung. 

A full list of the final positions and the individual balloon names is available by emailing

• fieldingPTFAevents@gmail.com

Although none of the Fielding balloons managed to win any of the nationwide prizes (Turabi family were just outside the prize pool by 4km), we do have Fielding based prizes for the top three winning balloons.  We will be in touch with these winners over the next week.

Thank you to everyone who took part and also to Sargeants Estate Agents for sponsoring the event - which raised over £2,000.  If you have any feedback on the event please email fieldingptfaevents@gmail.com