Pacific Cup

Pacific Cup
(The 36th Pacific Cup in 2023 Winners 1st Place (center) : HEARTSILL Rhett , 2nd (left) : ROKAS Kostiuskevicius, 3rd (rihgt) : BAREFORD Dominic )


Since 1984, when the competition turned out to be called 'Saga International Balloon Fiesta', the trophy 'Pacific Cup' has been awarded to the person who made the highest rank. This Pacific Cup has been held every year except FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship in 1997 and 2016 and the pre competition for the world championship in 2015.
The main point of the competition used to be how Japanese pilots could get closer to veteran pilots from overseas. Recently, Japanese pilots stand dominating high ranking.

History of Pacific Cup and Successive Champions

Time Year Balloons Champion  
1st 1984 33 balloons
(Overseas 10)
Josef STARKBAUM
2nd 1985 30 balloons
(Overseas 10)
Tomas FELIU
3rd 1986 83 balloons
(Overseas 30)
Owen KEOWN
4th 1987 58 balloons
(Overseas 12)
Owen KEOWN
5th 1988 82 balloons
(Overseas 20)
Owen KEOWN
6th 1989 23 balloos
(Overseas 5)
Hirohisa TAKAMOTO Fiesta
7th 1990 82 balloons
(Overseas 34)
Owen KEOWN
8th 1991 98 balloons
(Overseas 34)
David BAREFORD
9th 1992 112 balloos
(Overseas 40 / 16 countries)
David BAREFORD
10th 1993 110 balloons
(Overseas 34 / 15 countries)
Yasuhiko ASAOKA
11th 1994 101 balloons
(Overseas 33 / 14 countries)
Kazuhiko NISHIMURA
12th 1995 100 balloons
(Overseas 34 / 15 countries)
Owen KEOWN
13th 1996 105 balloons
(Overseas 39 / 15 countries)
Uwe SCHNEIDER
14th 1998 78 balloons
(Overseas 21 / 10 countries)
Yoshihiro MASUMOTO
15th 1999 100 balloons
(Overseas 35 / 12 countries)
MOLNAR Csaba
16th 2000 89 balloons
(Overseas 30 / 12 countries)
Masahiko FUJITA
17th 2001 91 balloons
(Overseas 34 / 18 countries)
Owen KEOWN
18th 2002 83 balloons
(Overseas 28 / 12countries)
Owen KEOWN
19th 2003 77 balloons
(Overseas 29 / 11 countries)
Owen KEOWN
20th 2004 79 balloons
(Overseas 28 / 12 countries)
Takao MIZUKAMI
21st 2005 73 balloons
(Overseas 24 / 13 countries)
Takao MIZUKAMI
22nd 2006 83 balloons
(Overseas 28 / 12 countries)
Takao MIZUKAMI
23rd 2007 72 balloons
(Overseas 19 / 11 countries)
Nemeth ZOLTAN
24th 2008 62 baloons
(Overseas 17 / 10 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
25th 2009 63 balloons
(Overseas 16 / 10 countries)
Owen KEOWN
26th 2010 65 balloons
(Overseas 18 / 11 countries)
Kazuyasu ISAKARI
27th 2011 54 balloons
(Overseas 17 / 12 countries)
Zoltan NEMETH
28th 2012 58 balloons
(Overseas 14 / 12 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
29th 2013 61balloons
(Overseas 16 / 12 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
30th 2014 68 balloons
(Overseas 28 / 13 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
31st 2017 62 balloons
(Overseas 23 / 14 countries)
Satoshi UEDA
32nd 2018 67 balloons
(Overseas 19 / 12 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
33rd 2019 68 balloons
(Overseas 18 / 11 countries)
Yudai FUJITA
34th 2020 (Canceled due to COVID-19)
35th 2021 51 balloons
(Only Japanese Balloons)
Satoshi UEDA
36th 2022 53 balloons
(Only Japanese Balloons)
Yudai FUJITA
37th 2023 73 balloons
(Overseas 18 / 16 countries)
Rhett HEARTSILL

Japanese site

Last Modified: 2023.11.08

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