Balloon Aloft in Wyoming in Race From Palm Springs

Only one of four helium balloons in an 83-year-old distance race founded by an adventure-loving newspaper publisher remained aloft today, floating over Wyoming 650 miles from the starting point.

The silvery Jura, piloted by Karl Spenger and Roland Schuler, was spotted at 11,000 feet at 5:40 a.m., 20 miles from Rock Springs, Wyo., race spokesman Harlan Jost said.

Last year’s winner, the bright yellow Rosie O’Grady, touched down at 5 a.m. in Evanston, Wyo., about 600 miles from the starting point, while the other two entries gave up Sunday afternoon in California and Arizona, Jost said.

But Jost said a winner will not be declared until all the balloons have landed because winds might blow the balloon back toward Palm Springs.

The four balloons lifted off into the desert sky at dawn Sunday in the Gordon Bennett race, founded in 1906 by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr.

Competitors dumped sand ballast to reach the 12,000-foot level and catch easterly winds of up to 40 m.p.h.

The race is won by the balloon that travels farthest, regardless of where it lands. The modern record is 1,346 miles, set in 1981.

Bennett originated the “exclusive” news story, financed Henry Stanley’s expedition to Africa to find David Livingston and backed an ill-fated Arctic expedition.

In the early years, the race was held at various places in the United States and Europe but was suspended at the outbreak of World War II. It was revived in 1979 and has originated in Palm Springs since 1984.