And The Winner Is….

While Saturday morning of The Exclusive Cup Sky Safari saw a record breaking mass ascent, with 169 different hot air balloons taking to the skies, we cannot forget that The Exclusive Cup is a world class competition event and pilots from ten different countries attended this year, all aiming to win some of our prizes.

Our Prize Giving lunch and ceremony takes place on the Sunday afternoon, where all teams gather to eagerly await the results of not only the task wins but also the prize draws.

Teams arrived to see a huge array of prizes lined up ranging from Google Minis, Nespresso Coffee Machines, 55″ TV’s to Hoverboards, Fortnum & Mason Hampers, Drones, iPads and an iMac.

Our Event Director Andrew Holly took to the microphone to conduct the ceremony and prize giving.

Congratulations to our new Exclusive Cup Champion Rimas Kostiuskevicius from Lithuania who wins the sought after Exclusive Cup trophy and a brand new Nomad Lindstrand balloon basket!

2nd place went to UK pilot Paul Bonner and 3rd place to one of our US guests and twice world champion, Johnny Petrehn.

Our grand prize draw for a brand new car brought some tension to the room. The pilots had to each pick a box at random which contained a set of car keys. Each pilot nervously then stepped up to try the keys and see if it opened the shiny new Hyundai i10! Huge congratulations to pilot Ken Lowry who picked the right keys and drove home with his new car.

Our last surprise was a prize that we had arranged as part of the celebrations for our 10th Anniversary. We were thrilled to award the Top Novice Pilot with the ultimate ballooning trip to Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Congratulations to Paul Bonner who not only finished second in the whole competition but won this incredible prize! Paul was completely stunned and said that he always had wanted to go but just never got round to it.

So in 2019, Paul plus all three of his Exclusive Cup crew will head off to New Mexico, USA for all 9 days of the world’s most prestigious ballooning spectacle. This prize includes flights, accommodation, hire truck, balloon rental, entry fee, pilot jacket and is worth around £9,000.

We would like to say a huge Thank You to all of the pilots and crews who came from around the world to join our event and congratulations to all of our prize winners. We look forward to welcoming everyone again in 2019!

Pictures: Exclusive Ballooning