Balloon Festival 5k Race Offers Unique Experience Running With The Balloons Celebrates 10 Years

This is more than just another race, it’s an experience.   The 10th annual Running with the Balloons 5K provides participants with the unique opportunity to race through the QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank, the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America, as 100 hot air balloons fly overhead.   This year’s edition of the annual race will take place Sunday, July 28, at 8:00 a.m. at Solberg Airport in Readington, NJ.   The Running with the Balloons 5K combines the elements of cross-country with a traditional road race. The flat, fast, low-impact course features a mix of surfaces including grass, pavement, gravel and dirt road.   Runners start off on a grass field near the Festival’s Family Fun Center and race past the balloon launch field while Sunday morning’s mass hot air balloon ascension takes place. The course takes them along different surfaces around Solberg Airport and finishes in the heart of the Festival.   How great is this experience? The race has been featured on the nationally syndicated RUNNING show televised on the YES Network and FOX Sports Regionals across the country.   USA Today named it one of the 10 great 5K runs to build a vacation around for its spectacular scenery.   The Active Times named it one of the Top 10 5K races in the United States, citing it for its competitive field, fast course, scenic setting, charitable support and providing the unique experience of racing during one of the Festival’s early morning mass hot air balloon ascensions.   From female human cannonballs to death-defying high divers, the countdown and “starting guns” of the 5K have been anything but ordinary.    The experience doesn’t end with the race: the top male and female winners each receive a free ride in a hot air balloon.   “This is not your typical 5K,” said Festival Executive Producer Howard Freeman. “The layout of the course is unique. You’re running on multiple surfaces around and through the largest Festival of its kind in North America. And up to 100 hot air balloons are in the sky above you!”   Propel Fitness Water and the SNY television network return as partners for this must-run event on the area’s racing calendar. The USATF-NJ sanctioned race is worth 500 points towards the New Jersey Grand Prix.     All runners’ entries include free all-day admission into the Festival, free parking, lawn seating to Sunday afternoon’s concert by The Beach Boys, a commemorative t-shirt, and access to both that morning’s and evening’s scheduled mass hot air balloon ascensions. The top three overall male and female finishers each receive non-cash prizes.     In keeping with the Festival’s belief in “doing well by doing good,” a portion of the proceeds benefit the Girls on the Run,® a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams, and the Children’s Miracle Network.    The 37th annual QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank, July 26-27-28, 2019 features twice a day mass ascensions of more than 100 sport and special shaped hot air balloons from around the world, live concerts, and 39 hours of family entertainment and attractions. Upwards of 165,000 people are expected.   Advance register is strongly suggested for the 10th anniversary of the Running with the Balloons 5K. To register or to learn more visit www.balloonfestival.com/entertainment/5k.     ###   MEDIA CONTACT:     Russ Mensch Mensch & Company, Inc. Public Relations & Event Marketing phone: 201-797-2448 email: [email protected]