Western Australia to host Women's World Hot Air Ballooning Championship

For those keen to keep celebrating international women's sport, the 5th FAI Women's World Hot Air Ballooning Championship will launch in Western Australia from 2nd to 9th September – marking the first time the Championship will be staged outside the Northern Hemisphere.

The world’s best female ballooning pilots will descend on WA’s picturesque Avon Valley in Northam to compete for the top spot in the Championship.

Northam is WA's home of hot air ballooning and will host 30 pilots from 13 nations. It's the largest number of balloons that have flown in a competition event in Western Australia.

This is also the first Women's World Championship held in five years. It was last held in Poland and the event scheduled for 2020 was cancelled due to COVID so there's great excitement from teams representing Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, UK, and USA.

Five Australians will be flying high, including twice Women's World Champion Nicola Scaife from NSW.

The Women's World Championships present an opportunity to see Northam and Ballardong Nyoongar Boodja at its best with the sky full of colour as 30 balloons float majestically across the rolling hills over vivid canola fields.

Ballooning fever will be in full flight during event week and a new festival on Saturday 2nd September will kick off the competition.

Northam Festival of Ballooning – a tailor-made music, entertainment and international food festival, will be hosted by the Shire of Northam and incorporate the Championship’s Opening Ceremony and official welcome to competitors.

Ballooning demonstrations, inflation and night glow will also be included in the festival. Flying and photography enthusiasts can catch the competition flights at sunrise and again in the late afternoons (weather permitting) from several vantage points as pilots compete in a series of scored tasks over the Avon Valley. A spectator information point and activation will be located on the Village Green in Northam’s town centre.

The 5th FIA Women's World Hot Air Ballooning Championship is organised by Northam Ballooning Events and supported by Tourism WA, Shire of Northam, Bendigo Bank Northam Branch and Windward Ballooning, Australian Ballooning Federation and Northam Aero Club.

Event occurs daily from 2nd to 9th September 2023
Northam Festival of Ballooning – 2nd September
Practice flights – 2nd and 3rd September
Competition flights – 4th to 9th September
Competition flights occur sunrise and late afternoons - weather permitting.

Image. Credit: Destination Perth