Hot air balloon pilot wins second world title

A hot air balloon pilot from Shropshire has reclaimed his world championship title.

Dominic Bareford, from Oswestry, won the FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship, which took place in Krosno, Poland, last month.

He took part in five flights across the week and topped the points table ahead of 100 other pilots, after previously winning the title in 2018.

Bareford, who equalled his father's record, said he had not been sure if he could win again as the sport was so tough: "I didn't really think about it [reclaiming the title] that much during the week, so maybe that was a good thing,"

He added: "It's definitely been a lot of work, practicing and training events, so I guess it was the goal, but you throw yourself into the sport for so long you forget it might be achievable."

Bareford explained how hot air balloon competitions were scored on how well pilot's steered the aircraft.

"We can control the altitude very accurately...and we can use that to move into different wind layers... and then use that to steer the balloon."

He said 101 balloons competed at the world championships where the pilots completed "tasks", with the aim to navigate the balloons to a certain point.

Bareford said he had been inspired to get involved with the sport by his father, David, who was also a fellow double world champion.

He said he had grown up attending hot air balloon competitions.

"My Dad is the person I look up to and try to follow in his footsteps," he added.

The double world champion said in terms of developing the skill he believed it was based a lot on "instinct".

"You're just just trying to expose yourself to as many different competitions and sets of conditions as possible to train those instincts so you don't have to think about it."

He added that the sport was "not particularly physically demanding" but the "biggest drain was mental concentration".

Bareford said his next target would be to compete at the sport's European Championships at the end of 2027, but in the meantime he planned to return to work "to pay the bills".

He added that it was his job that had first brought him to Oswestry, due to the town previously being home to a hot air balloon manufacturer, Lindstrand Balloons.

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