During the Dolomiti Balloonfestivals in Toblach some of the following competitions will take place between the teams. A judge who is here for the festival will evaluate the flight details at the end of the tournament with the help of a computer and will declare the winners in each category.     
For the pilots, the most prestigious competition is the so called „long distance flight“to see who can travel the longest distance in kilometres. The goal is to cover the biggest distance from the launching site to the landing site without touching down. Sometimes distances are achieved in a balloon that would not be possible in the same time in a car, for example to Munich, Kitzbühel, Slovenia, Venice or Udine.  
The tournaments will only take place if the weather conditions are suitable for safety reasons. 
 Please find the descriptions of the individual tournament below:
 
Fox Hunting (Fuchsjagd)
Here the pilots have to land as close to the fox balloon as possible or throw out their marker as close as possible. The pilots are given the approximate flight time of the fox balloon, who stipulates himself the starting time, and the participants start 10 – 15 minutes later from the same place.    
 
Fly-in
An interesting type of tournament for spectators. The participants look for a starting place that has to be a certain distance away from the landing site. Each team tries to be the first to reach the landing site. The spectators can watch how the balloons fly in from all directions.
  
Given Landing Site
The pilot flies with the wind towards the landing site and throws down his marker. The winner is the one who gets his/her marker nearest to the goal. When the tournament first started, there was only one goal, this has been changed with various goals also called hesitation waltz. The pilot chooses his/her first goal once they are in the air. This can lead to extremely precise flights. Some contestants have been known to achieve a bull’s eye!  
 
Self Chosen Goal
Similar to the above mentioned tournament, only that the pilot chooses his/her goal. The pilot can observe a helium filled balloon to make it easier to choose a goal. Once in the air, the goal cannot be changed. A very difficult challenge.
 
 
FIFO (Fly in Fly on)
Often combined with the above mentioned tournament to extend the challenge. The pilot chooses a second goal once in the air and writes coordinates on the marker and then flies to the goal and throws out the second marker.    
  
Elbows
In this tournament the participants have to achieve the largest change in direction. After the start the balloons cover a minimum distance e.g. 5 km where the pilot throws down a marker and then goes on to cover a second leg in a completely different direction. This is particularly interesting for the spectators as the balloons cover a wide area and sometimes climb quite high to find wind. 
 
Fast Flight
This is the exception to the rule. This tournament is about fastness. The winner is the first balloon to cross a designated line. The pilot has to find the quickest way to reach the goal. This is particularly difficult if the goal is diagonal to the wind. The times can differ by seconds, but also by minutes.