29th Leszno Balloon Cup. 09-12.09.2020

Dear Friends,

We are sure year 2020 will go down in the history. Not only in the world history, but also in many spheres of our life including sport and aviation. The whole sports competition became paralyzed because of the pandemic COVID-19. All of the biggest and most important events were cancelled or postponed to next year. As many organizers we also for many weeks were considering what should we really do with 29th edition of Leszno Balloon Cup. After a lot of discussions we decided to keep the organization of our event. Moreover the Polish NAC entrusted the organization of the 36th Polish Hot Air Balloon Championship to our club.

It is an honor for us, yet at the same time we are aware of the extremely complicated and confusing pandemic situation. The COVID-19 caused the crisis in the economy and functioning of hundreds of companies. Many of the entrepreneurs was forced to restrict the activies or even shut down their business. According to this situation we cannot count on the help of our sponsors. We hope all of you will show understanding that our event is going to be held in a more modest way. We can not approve the full meals for crews who will be accommodate in the Akwawit Hotel (the restaurant is not working anymore). The closing ceremony this year will be definitely smaller and not as festive as we wish it to be normally.

However we will make every effort to organize fully profesional event on the highest sport level. We expect to have excellent Event Director, professional officials, meteo and dedicated volunteers.

For the last couple of months we have received multiple questions about our event. . Not only Polish pilots but also pilots from all over the world are interested in Leszno Balloon Cup.. We face the fact everyone of us can't wait to compete in the air, we are „starving” to fly. However according to the pandemic situation we will not be able to accept every application. We limit the number of pilots to 45. We will strictly follow the dates of entries. First of all according to the organization of Polish Hot Air Balloon Championship we will accept the entry forms from polish pilots. The deadline for polish pilots is 31st July 2020. Next we will open the entry time only for foreign competitors, which will end 15th August 2020. After this day we can make a stand-by list for pilots who could replace competitor who would resign.

We realized this unpredictable pandemic times make it hard for some young foreign pilots to get to Poland and take part in our event. Due to this situation we decided, in agreement with FAI, to not organize the Pre-World Junior Hot Air Balloon Championship this year.

The pandemic situation force us to introduce the sanitary restrictions. The crew can consist only to four person (pilot+3) not more. We require to posses the fabric masks. We will do our best to arrange the disinfectants but we will be really grateful if every crew would bring some for themselves. This year we are not expect any events for the citizens, including the night glow. We kindly request every crew to keep the distance from the spectators, especially during takings off and landings.

Detailed information about the prerequisite of participation, entry fee and dates are available by mail: zosiaprawicka@wp.pl

We wish you the best health and hope to see you in September in Leszno.
Leszno Balloon Club