News | School of Aviation | SIU

2024 Air Race Classic

Three SIU teams completed the 2024 Air Race Classic over the summer, flying from Carbondale to the terminus at Loveland, Colorado. The Air Race Classic is an all women’s cross-country air race, with routes traditionally in lengths of over 2400 nm. Over 60 all-women teams, collegiate racers and non-collegiate racers, competed in the race held in June. Racers range in age from 17-90+, and any woman with an airworthy airplane is invited to join. Most of the non-collegiate pilots fly for leisure on the side of their normal jobs, ranging from teachers to doctors to airline pilots. The Air Race Classic is an excellent opportunity for women in aviation to test their aviation abilities, form friendships and connections, and represent themselves or the flight school they came from.

This year’s route began at our home airport, KMDH. From Carbondale, the teams stopped in La Porte, IN, Cadillac, MI, Newark, OH, Moline, IL, Owatonna, MN, Moberly, MO, Bartlesville, OK, and Dodge City, KS, before they reached the end of the race in Loveland, CO. The race this year faced the Salukis with many challenges from maintenance to weather, making the race quite difficult. In order to succeed in the Air Race, pilots must use everything they’ve learned from their training, mainly weather and performance concepts, and some form of luck on their side. The three Saluki teams made memories that will last a lifetime, lifelong connections with other women, and tested their knowledge from SIU flight courses to real-world flying experiences.

Heidi Hightower and Rainer FullerMoore led Team #38, Gabi Loeb and Grace Gray led Team #40, and Graci McDaniel and Maya Marenda led Team #41 representing SIU. The Salukis have been racing since 2015, sending at least one team each year. Last year, Graci McDaniel and Meadow Boden received 2nd place overall, and this year Team #38 and Team #41 were able to bring home top 10 finishes in the collegiate division.