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2025 Great Balloon Race

Rotary Club of Billericay and Buttsbury Primary School ran a Virtual Balloon Race this Christmas 2025 as a bit of FUN over the Christmas and New Year period and to raise money for the charities we support.

Balloons across the world
Balloons across the world

Billericay Balloon Challenge

Following the successful pilot conducted at Christmas 2023, Rotary Club of Billericay and Buttsbury Primary School ran a Virtual Balloon Race this Christmas 2025 as a bit of FUN over the Christmas and New Year period and to raise money for the charities we support.

The race started at noon on December 17 and ended at 11.59 p.m. on New Year's Eve.  A Balloon cost only £5.

  • First prize is an Amazon Voucher for £40.  The winner was balloon "Six of the Best" bought by Christabel Strong, which travelled 35,928 Kilometres..
  • 2nd prize is an Amazon Voucher for £20.  The winner was balloon "Gone with the Wind" bought by Roger Kettle, which travelled 35,925 Kilometres.
  • 3rd prize is an Amazon Voucher for £10.  The winner was "Barry the Balloon" bought by Rachael Hayes, which travelled 35,924 Kilometres.

Top Ten

So what, we hear you say, is a virtual balloon race?

A virtual race works in the same way as a helium balloon race, but the "virtual" balloons fly around their own webpage sky. Once a balloon has been bought it is entered in the race but they are all "held" until the start date of the race, when they are released to fly away into the virtual atmosphere.

Twice in every hour throughout the race each balloon travels between 1km and 20km. When the race finishes, at 12.00 noon on the finish date, the balloons that have travelled the furthest win.

As in the pilot last time the winners were very close, with only 3 kilometres between 1st and 2nd. and 1 kilometre between 2nd and 3rd.

We do hope you all had fun tracking your balloons while having the satisfaction of donating to great causes.

Tracking Your Balloon -

  • Click here to see the leader board and where your balloon ended.
  • Click here to search for a balloon by name to track it in the race

Or alterrnatively, use the links below to see all the results.

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Balloons across the world

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