Another week in Arona
3x1st international positions for UK fanciers
in the toughest OLR in the world
It’s another week on the canary island of Tenerife, and with such we prepare for another week of intense training from the north of the island, as the team prepare to go to the liberation site positioned overlooking the Porto Sant Cruz for training race 13 a distance of approx. 60 klm to the loft position in the south of the island.
With 1533 pigeons on board, Abel set off on the journey north via the tf 1 motorway that runs the length of Tenerife down the eastern side of the island, however as they made steady progress, they came to an halt as an earlier accident had resulted in the convoy making very little progress, which caused a knock on effect resulting in a delay in the liberation, with continuous news and updates we were relieved to receive confirmation that the birds had arrived on site a little later than anticipated, but after giving time for them to settle, Abel liberated the birds away at 1.30pm into a light 11klm north easterly breeze.
With interest now growing worldwide we have once again seen plenty of new faces logging onto the livestream feed and social media sites as we sat to await the first arrivals, it was following a fifty minutes of flying time that our wait was rewarded as a batch of just over 100 pigeons were seen on approach and swiftly made their way in, something we must praise the Arona team on this year as the trapping has been spot once again today.
William Donachie Scotland 1st international tr 13 with pigeon Red Dawn
Taking today’s top honors of 1st uk 1st international tr 13 we go to Team Scotland as William Donachie`s entry named Red Dawn taking the spoils and yet another top position for him and his team with an arrival time of 14.20.00.05, another pigeon maintaining a top flight position is our second arrival in the clock for Team Paul and Christine Titcomb from England with their entry Wiemann which was 1st international tr12 and now 2nd position today with a time of 14.20.00.06, Team H&M from Germany take the 3rd spot as the arrival of their entry Silvy timed in on 14.20.00.10, for 4th international we go to the Netherlands as Team Walcheren seen one of their team crossing the line with a time of 14.20.00.85, one of newest participants from Scotland taking the 5th international position as Team Triple sees their ever improving entry Roseanne making steady progress over the past training flight as today it records a time of 14.20.00.90, Team Netherlands record their second nations returnee as Team Bustraan, Bosse & Hoondert saw pigeon Aron 193 home on 14.20.01.35 taking 6th, Team Matuma from Belgium takes 7th place with pigeon Xavi 14.20.01.36. The 8th pigeon on the clock with a time of 14.20.01.65 is another of those unactivated pigeons from the C.I.B.C. and as such means pigeon Julius for Team Knol from the Netherlands moves up one place to take 8th international on a time of 14.20.01.65. The Netherlands recorded its second arrival for 9th as Team Bustrann, Bosse & Hoondert sees their second arrival for 9th international with pigeon Suoer Boy on 14.20.02.20, leaving the 10th international spot going to Team Belgium and Team Monick, Nys pigeon arrival of Fara on 14.20.02.21
Paul & Christine Titcomb England 2nd international tr13 with pigeon Weimann
With the leaders safely in the clock we were all eyes peeled for more arrivals it seemed the leading bunch had broken away during orientation at the lib site and made their line for home, although it wasn’t too long after that the arrival of the remaining pigeons were present and has such with regular pigeons timing in during the afternoon by nightfall 1430 pigeons were recorded.
Team H & M Germany 3rd international tr13 with pigeon Silvy
As in previous training flights day 2 sees a steady flow of pigeons which have taken the wrong road correcting themselves and today we were just as fortunate as we see pigeons at the loft from 8am as a further forty five pigeons had returned to the loft bringing tr13 returns to 1477 from the 1533 released a pleasant 96.34%
With a the forecast indicating a few days of settled weather the team planned to continue with the testing island training with another 70klm training flight on Wednesday and Friday, but prior to that they had received information that the only ferry suitable to provide sea liberations was late afternoon with a 3pm sailing based on the time and the fact that by the time the ferry reached the designated distance out at sea they would be looking at a liberation around 3.30pm a time that they consider too late in the day for such a liberation to allow the birds ample time to return so they have come up with an amended programme of continuing with training from 70klm for this week and the coming week, then they will take the step across the Atlantic to Gran Canaria for the first hotspot race, this is somewhat of an unknown experience as it’s the first time the team have adopted such, but based on the fact that the local federations are also in the same position with ferry issues they feel it’s the right move and hopefully all the extra training will pay off.
training race 14
And with 1477 birds loaded and on route there were no incidents to report during today’s journey the pigeons arrived safely on site, after an uneventful journey Abel was happy release his cargo at 13.00 into a light and variable cloud cover with a moderate 21klm north easterly wind.
Team Milly’s Loft England 1st international tr14 with pigeon Take it Milly
Taking top honors of 1st England 1st UK & 1st International tr14 we see Team Milly’s Loft representing England with his entry Take it Milly leading the field with an arrival time of 13.45.27.05, for 2nd and 3rd we go to team Slovakia with Team Zihlavnik and pigeon Timo taking the runner up spot and second time in the top ten positions with a time of 13.45.27.65, closely followed by Teams Evin, Peter & Noemi seeing their entry R508 coming back to the top after a drop in performance taking 3rd international on 13.45.27.70, Team Scotland take 4th international with new participant Ian Hunter seeing his entry Bankhill coming over the line on 13.45.27.85, a third arrival for Team Slovakia sees Team Evin, Peter and Noemi recording their second team entry NKA512 on the clock to take 5th 13.45.28.00, Team Triple l syn from Scotland see their entry Roseanne improving race by race as again it appeared in the amongst the front runners for 6th with a time of 13.45.28.20, just ahead of Team Creemers & Son from Belgium as they seen the arrival of pigeon Tiger another pigeon that’s been improving in performance over the past weeks coming in for 7th on 13.45.30.30, Team Sadlak, Vendalin & Andrej recorded their nations third arrival Atena for 8th on 13.45.28.40 it’s a second arrival for Team Belgium with Team Buyl & Howell seeing their pigeon, Crackske taking 9th on 13.45.28.60, rounding off the top ten with Team Germany and the H & M syn arrival of pigeon Silvy continuing to maintain a steady consistency in positions backing up its previous 3rd in tr13 with 10th today on 13.45.29.
With Team Zihlavnik and pigeon Timo Slovakia 2nd international tr14
The team and participants witnessed the pigeons coming through looking no worse for wear following today’s flight as the team are once again praised on the way the pigeons are trapping on return a true testament to Abel and the loft crew management at the Arona lofts.
Evin, Peter & Noemi Slovakia 3rd international tr14 with their entry R508
Once again we witnessed pigeons continuing to come throughout the afternoon at regular intervals as the livestream continued to run showing the arrivals, everyone seemed happy with today’s outing as of clock checking as the sun set shortly after 7pm 1374 pigeons were perched, backed up with more arrivals on days two and three there was an acceptable returns of 1414 arrivals some 97.5%
Friday and were on the road again for the third time this week as the team continue to test the ability and stamina of the inmates with another liberation from the furthest north easterly location a distance of 70klm as we set our sights on the first hotspot races on the horizon.
With 1,414 pigeons now making todays journey along the tf1 to the north and following a period of settling the birds after their journey the birds were released at 12-midday into a 22klm per hour northerly wind with light and variable cloud cover and a temperature of around 18 degrees, with the birds clearing the sight in the minutes that followed it was all eyes on the loft at the home end as participants awaited the returns.
Paul Bamford Wales 1st international derby Arona tr 15 with pigeon Regina
Taking top spot and rounding off a good week for Team Team GB & Ireland we see Paul Bamford from Wales taking todays honors of 1st Wales 1st uk, 1st international derby Arona tr15 as he sees his entry Regina timing in at 12.54.15.15. The local syndicate from the neighboring island of Fuerteventura, Team Continental Team Colombia & Lanzarote see their entry Prince taking the runners up position of 2nd international on 12.54.15.45, whilst in 3rd international position we head west across the Atlantic to the USA, with Team Paul Daniels coming in on 12.54.15.17 with his entry Biba, pigeon Armando for Team Soepboer from the Netherlands takes the 4th spot with a time of 12.54.16.60, as we see one of the Arona regular entrants Team Anita & Tage Gravesen from Denmark seeing their pigeon Tika 665 come in for 5th place with a time of 12.54.18.50, Team Netherlands record the arrival of Fritz for Team Bas Weijers on 12 54.18.95 to take the honors of their nation and 6th international on 12 54.18.95, just holding off the challenge of pigeon Jan 439 from Team P.S.S.S from Belgium into 7th on 12.54.19.45, taking 8th place we see Team The Slovakian Syndicate of Sadalak, Vendelin & Andrej once again in the leading batch with another of their entries Afrodita coming in on 12.54.20.80, whilst Team Poland see pigeon Rinda for Team Dariusz Lata in the clock for 9th 12.54.22.05, finishing off todays leaders we see Team Germany claiming 10th with Team Hartnut Buse and pigeon Gagarin timing in on 12.54.22.70.
Team Continental Team Colombia & Lanzarote 2nd international tr15 pigeon Prince
It’s a well-known pattern now in the derby Arona that whilst the early birds make light work of the journey from north to south of the island by taking a direct route, some take considerable longer this is unknown as to whether some take a different and much longer line through the Gumiar Valley therefore they need to correct themselves or they’re turned by the local peregrine population and make their own way through, this then results in birds returning later in the day and the days that follow and as such on the day 1, 251 pigeons had homed followed by further returns on days two and three this number increased to 1289 =91.15%
Pigeon Biba 3rd international for Team Paul Daniels from the USA
With another full week’s training completed this has impacted on the king of sprint averages table with fifteen races completed we see Team Blaydon racers Syn from England top of the table with pigeon Jayden on 21,656pts in 2nd we see the Netherlands syndicate of Bustraan, Bosse & Hoondert with their pigeon Super Boy on 21,103pts and the previous leader dropping to 3rd Team Jiv from Norway with pigeon Burbuja on 20,964pts
Pigeon Jayden current “King of Sprint Average" leaders for Blaydon Racers Syn England
With the island training shortly coming to a close we set our sights now on the forthcoming hotspot races these are from the neighboring island of Gran Canaria for hotspot races 1 survival race from the west coast of Gran Canaria followed by hotspot race 2, from a more central location and hotspot race 3 from the east side of the island all this is in preparation for the final race from Fuerteventura, a line which will incorporate a double island jump taking on two crossing of open waters and Gran Canaria on their return to the lofts in Tenerife.
Release point for hotspot 1 Gran Canaria (Survival race)
As for the final race, the week gets underway with live basketing at the loft on the Thursday followed by the traditional welcome evening and of course the final race and gala night on the Saturday 26th and Sunday 27 March, all permitted subject to covid regulations if any at the time.
Derby Arona
