By Brian Dearn
Members marked their birds for the second race of the OB season in the hope of getting a race from over the channel, as the first one had seen the birds brought back to Cheltenham. Several members had only experienced one race from over the water so far this year and had birds in their loft which had not been over to France, members were worried that as the distance had reached well over 400 miles, they were not too keen jumping them into this distance. As a result our new transport organisation Diane Bonny and Keith Iddon had changed the race point and we were now at Messac but basketing was still scheduled for Wednesday. Members were a little concerned as to whether we would get a liberation as the forecast for the weekend was for heavy showers more so at the bottom end of the country. Keith assured us there would be a lib on Saturday from Messac, but was not so sure there would be good racing from within this country unless the birds were liberated as soon as possible. Throughout the course of the next couple of days Keith kept me updated by email with their position and a complete update on the welfare of the birds, when they had been fed and watered, and he was very hopeful for an early liberation on the Saturday morning and this proved to be the case.
The race turned out to be hard one but fair with the birds up and away at 6 00am into a westerly wind. A number of members had other birds entered with their local clubs at race points around the 150 mile mark and were looking for a guide for the arrival of their Messac pigeons. As it turned out the inland races on the Saturday saw birds all over the place with big gaps between arrivals and as a result did not give the fanciers the information they had hoped for.
Roger Sutton first Messac and well clear of the field
Topping the result sheet was Roger Sutton with a two year old blue hen doing just over 41 mph with a velocity well clear of the rest of the field doing 1220 flying 369 miles to Congleton. Roger wins the W E Evans Memorial Trophy, a Frank H Parsonage Award and the J O Shone Award. Roger was one of only 4 members to time in both their birds. This fine performance follows another great performance with the NFC when he was 2nd Sec L 13th Open from Ancenis just a few days ago. It's amazing following a flight of over 400 miles two pigeons are timed on the same velocity to bid for second and third places in this race. Heading this battle is David Sowerby from Lancaster on 1136.735 with a yearling chequer hen who was 2nd in the North Lancs and Westmoreland Two Bird Club yearling race from Carentan three weeks ago. She has been on the roundabout system all season but David put a cock in with her the day before she was basketed for Messac and this seemed to have done the trick, flying 11 hours 11 minutes. Over many years David has been more of a sprit man when it came to racing but about three years ago decided to invest in some distance birds and this lovely hen is one of them. He has been patience with his new introductions making sure they were up for the job and has not filled his loft with them in case thing had not worked out, but three years on their racing results have gone from strength to strength and he now has a small reliable team of top performance birds to compete with from over the channel. The family in question have come from a good friend of David's, Denny Philips from Bridgend his long established family has produced some outstanding performances in national racing and Denny himself in a national winner. This was as much as I could get out of him, but more will be revelled later. David also wins the Best Average from the first and second races, when he timed in a full sister to this good hen, winning the Mary Hammond Rose Bowl with a velocity of 1152. Alan Bamford was third on 1136.453 flying 407 miles with another yearling, a blue cock, courtesy of Mike Liddle from Banks whose good long distance family of pigeons have excelled in the North West Combine, North Ashton Two Bird Club etc. It was first time across the channel for him, having been having been in the liberation that was brought back to Cheltenham two weeks ago. He arrived back absolutely bouncing, no doubt buoyed by Cool Racer, Multi-Task and the long distance boost feed, Extreme Energy. All of which are produce by the Bamford Pigeon feed Company.
Dave Sowerby 2nd & Best Average from the first and second races - Alan Bamford 3rd Messac - Eric Entwistle 4th Messac and winner of the Best Two Bird Average
Eric Entwistle timed two good pigeons, the first of these a two year old widowhood cock whose sire was bred by Eric from stock obtained from George Hilson while the dam is from Geoff and Catherine Cooper stock and wins fourth prize 1128. This cock has been across the channel three times now and in the clock each time and was entered in the first race when the birds were brought back to Cheltenham. Eric's second bird wins him the Best Two Bird Average and the Peter Titmuss MBE Second Thoughts Trophy on 1071. He won this trophy two years ago and last year sent the same two bird back and was piped into the runner-up position, so he was over the moon when I rang to tell him he will once again have his name on the trophy. George Pulford had a cracking race weekend flying to Chester he had birds away in three clubs and figured in all three, he picks up fifth prize with the Circle racing a five year old widowhood cock who has a string of prizes to his credit won over his racing career including first Messac with the LSC in 2014. His breeding in Van Houten/Jan Aarden and his full brother scored in the Beeston Castle Two Bird Club along with other top positions. Their dam was bred by Dave Impet from Blackpool and is a Brugemann which have hit it off for George since he introduced them a few years ago. On the sires side he is Jan Aarden from House of Aarden and is a great grandson of Nellie the international winner from Barcelona for Wim & Martin Van Houten. It's over to Liverpool to the loft of Alan Jones where we find the sixth place winner, with another yearling this time a blue chequer cock flying almost 385 miles taking 10 hours 16 minutes with a velocity of 1099. This pigeon was purchased from George Pulford as a youngster last year when George presented two YB's to a sale in Liverpool. The second of these was purchased by Arthur Cowley who also timed his on the day a little further down the result. Alan timed his second entry to be the second of only four members who timed in both their birds and was runner-up Best Two Bird Average on 1123, Alan was also runner-up to the Best Average from the first and second OB races with a velocity of 901. Alan is only a small team man who races his birds totally on the natural system and can be a hard man to beat, to prove this on the same weekend as the Circle race his local club had only four birds home on the day and all these belonged to Alan.
George Pulford 5th Messac Alan Jones 6th Messac and runner-up Best Average from First and Second races
In this race we had a third of the birds entered timed on the day, with a further six members recording pigeons on the second day which proved the right decision had been made by our transport organisation to have the birds basketed early and well rested in readiness for an early liberation on the Saturday. As can be seen from the report three of the first six pigeons clocked were yearlings and although the first two were hens by far the vast majority of the birds timed were in fact cock birds.
Brian Dearn
Tel.
01254 772515.
