Hot air balloon championships off to flying start in Offaly

A flying start!

Balloons took to the skies above Birr Castle on Saturday evening signalling a successful start to the Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championships.

Hundreds of onlookers thronged Birr Castle and Gardens hoping for lift-off but at the same time all too aware that excessively windy conditions would wreck their hopes of witnessing the spectacle.

And it was touch and go in the afternoon as the aircraft pilots rated their chances of launching their aircraft at no better than 50-50.

But one brave team of balloonists began their inflation and shortly after 6pm it was finally up, up and away for the first team.

One by one the balloons began their beautiful ascents, virtually vertically at first to clear the treetops in the Birr Castle estate, before the light wind took them beyond the town.

The 50th Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championships will continue at dawn and dusk each day until Friday, September 30 and teams from all over the world have arrived in the Offaly town for the event, the first of its kind in Birr since 2019.

Weather conditions must be near perfect for safe flying, hence the anxiety on Saturday evening, but crews were optimistic that Sunday morning will again be ideal for further flights.

Though billed as 'championships', any competitions that do take place will be light-hearted because the direction and speed of the balloons is very much governed by the breeze when the craft reach cruising altitudes of between 800 and 1,000 feet.