Gordon Bennett 2012

The team formed by Madrilenian Anulfo González and Catalonian will participate in the next edition of the Coupe Aéronatique Gordon Bennett that will start from August 31st from Toggenburg (Switzerland).

It's the oldest and most pretigious aeronautical competition, and the goal is to fly the furthest distance from the launch site. The gas balloon use helium or hydrogen as lifting gas, which allows them to fly up to four days non-stop and this makes possible to perform very long distances if the meteorology and other factors are in favour.

In this edition will participate 22 teams from Germany, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Netherlands, Great Britain, Austria, Finland and Russia, together with the balloon of Anulfo González and Angel Aguirre representing Spain. This will be the first participation of a balloon frm our country after exactly 80 years, when the pilots Nuñez and Carrasco started from Basle (Switzerland) in 1932, ending in 5th position after a magnificent flight of 1.162 kms.

You can follow the progress and tracks of the balloons from the official web site at www.gordonbennett2012.ch and the team's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/GBTeamGA

On top of the 5th place of the team in the latest edition of the America's Challenge (Albuquerque, USA), both pilots have a remarcable curriculum of international competitions and expeditions, where we can highlight:

Anulfo González • First flight in a hot air balloon over the North and South Poles • Balloon expeditions to Buthan, Bolivia, Israel, Turkey • General Vives Trophy • Diego Criado del Rey Trophy • Spanish balloon subchampion • Spanish King's Cup champion Angel Aguirre • Four times spanish balloon champion (1999, 2000, 2008, 2010) • First Baltic sea crossing • Hot air balloon distance record over the Amazon river • Balloon expeditions to Africa, Amazon, Greenland