Balloon race winners land in Canada

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The team of Barbara Fricke and Peter Cuneo became the unofficial winners of the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race Monday when the landed just across the U.S.-Canada border in Ontario.

The Albuquerque pair traveled an estimated 1,350 miles in 57 hours and 30 minutes after launching at midnight Friday from Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. They landed late Monday morning on the east shore of the Detroit River in Windsor, Ont.. according to information posted on the AIBF website .

There was no immediate information on the circumstances of the landing in an urban area, the kind of location pilots usually avoid.

The team previously won the race in 2001 and finished second in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

The Canadian team of Danielle Francoeur and Linda Ellis, the only other team still flying Monday, finished in second place setting down about 9:30 a.m. southwest of Holland, Mich. They made a stand-up landing, and local residents helped them walk the balloon to a road.

Four other teams, all American, landed earlier in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.

The unofficial results for the six teams are:

• AC-3  Barbara Fricke/Peter Cuneo: 1,350 mi/2,173 km, approximately 57:30
• AC-7  Danielle Francoeur/Linda Ellis: 1,223 mi/ 1,968 km, 57:15
• AC-5  Cheri White/Mark Sullivan: 938 mi/1,505 km, 41:03
• AC-4  Bert Padelt/Louis Vitanza: 921 mi/1,482 km, 39:50
• AC-2  Phil Bryant/Phil McNutt: 547mi/880 km, 28:59
• AC-6  Troy Bradley/Shane Robinson 266 mi/428 km, 18:50