Welcome to the Derby Arona Tenerife One Loft Race series for 2023/24
One of the most unique one loft races in the world
Pre selection training race 1 &2
1st England 1st UK 1st International Team Top Wing Syn
It’s been a long few months since pigeons starting to arrive onto the island of Tenerife and with the completion of the new loft in July, the first intake took place shortly afterwards and during the months that followed a steady flow of pigeons from many worldwide countries became housed within the new environment overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The much improved approach to the loft.
With the loft doors closing for entry at the end of October the team estimated that there was around 1400 pigeons within the loft bidding to be crowned the Derby Arona Champion 2024.
Shortly after, with all the pigeons coming together from various countries around the world, the team as common practice flock treat all the inmates for canker, coci and worms along with a vaccination against paramyxo to safe guard the flock and to prevent any cross contamination, along with this the pigeons by now also get assigned their unique ets ring and left to settle for a few weeks with outside access to the outside at first under netting to allow them to settle and take in their new surroundings, prior to being released into the warm Canarian skies with the earlier entrants.
THE LANDING AREA
With all birds not out now exercising as a flock during the first few weeks of December they were allowed to fly at will for the first week or so until such time the team increased the daily exercise period with the use of the flag to ensure fitness prior to the start of the preselection training which starts mid-January
All eyes peeled for the first sighting
With the Xmas period completed the team prepared the birds by now the team and the many participants were ready to get the 2023/24 race series underway,
The first few races are at short distances at first to give experience of being in the baskets, travelling to the release point and being released as a batch, this period also ensures participants that their pigeons are within the loft prior to paying to activate them, this is a unique process the Arona Team implement, as no payment is required on sending pigeons to the Arona race, the team will settle orientate and provide you, the participant, with assurance that your pigeons are within as they would have completed a minimum of 4 training flights the loft before the Derby Arona organisation request any form of payment, this also means that fanciers don’t pay for any pigeons lost during settling.. ONLY pigeons which are there.
TEAM TOP WING ENGLAND 1ST INTERNATIONAL PRE SELECTION TRAINIG FLIGHT 1
Training flight one is from a short distance of approx. 3 klm not far we know but we all do it as fanciers which ever part of the world we originate from as it essential to provide confidence of flying over the mountain regions that surround the Arona Lofts.
With the birds basketed up early on the day they were left to settle and get used to the new experience of being in the basket prior to making the short drive to the first liberation site just along the tri motorway which runs from south to north through the island, on arrival the pigeons were left to settle for a while before Goyo who works alongside Abel Ledesma looking after and caring for the birds on a daily basis released the convoy at 12:30
Team Familie Karas Antonin from the Czech Republic 3rd International tr1
With such a short distance we expected after a short period of orientation the birds would soon appear however as time went by there was a time of concern as we awaited the first arrivals to appear, with twenty minutes flying time rapidly approaching and still no pigeons to seen, with Abel’s whistle breaking the silence three pigeons were seen approaching and after a quick spin dually landed on the board and recorded their arrival, it was at this time the team discovered a breakdown in communications with the clocking system as no arrivals were visible on the result system, something we should expect as the loft is now in a remote area and until such times any breakdown in communications are unknown until it happens, with the first bird recorded it was a few moments later the birds began to appear small in numbers to start but soon larger batches were visible and a sigh of relief was shared by all concerned
Taking top honors representing Team England we see the syndicate of Team Top Wing claiming 1st England 1st UK 1st International with the arrival of pigeon named Top Wing Three recording an arrival time of 12.48 .08.10, in 2nd position we stay within the UK as Team Grassmere take the runners up position for 2nd England 2nd UK and 2nd International with their entry David recording 12.48.10.85, which was quickly followed in by the Czech Republic entry named Krishnamurti for Team Familie Karas Antonin for 3rd International, 12.48.13.05, with a small gap between the next arrivals Team Coppens and Segers from Belgium head the first main batch for 4th International with pigeon sp399 on 12.50.15.05, Team Bodnar Pigeons from Slovakia take 5th International with the arrival of lb2 on 12.50.12.21.10, Krysztof Bury from Norway takes 6th with pigeon Blue GT on 12.52.56.85, Team Highfield Lofts from England claim 7th with one of their entries Highfield 396 on 1253.32.20 narrowly ahead of the Welsh entry for Team Harris Family with Boomerand 34 taking 8th on a time of 12.53.32.21, for 9th International we head over to Slovakia and Team Toth & Pavelka with pigeon Rasto on 12.53.32.40 leaving 10th International to the local team from Tenerife Team Abona Sur with pigeon Mosquera 4 on a time of 12.53.33.80
A relief for all when batches finally started to arrive
in the minutes that followed the skies were a mass of pigeons which had come through the first ordeal, maybe it was an orientation issue or peregrine presence we are unsure but thankfully prior to tr2 only six pigeons remain unaccountable giving a returns ratio of 99.46 %
with the slight disappointment of the system not working properly at the loft, once back in the office the team were quickly looking into the problem and within no time a full result was published on the website, the cause is still unknown but with the loft now in Valle de Larenzo and the office in Guasa on return it was quickly rectified in preparation for tr 2 in the coming days
Pre selection training race 2 (Tuesday)
it’s been three days now since we experienced the first race of 2023 a bit of an uneasy start this year’s campaign at first but finished on a positive with 1106 pigeons safely home from the liberation of 1112 released
therefore with 1106 birds were again basketed and off on the road again for the second training flight from a distance of 5klm and with fingers crossed the birds would now come through their second flight unscathed, with a liberation at 12 noon in what seemed a brisk wind over the island we were again live at the loft via Facebook and other social media sites to witness the returns this is a temporary solution as we await the installation of new fixed cameras around the loft and trapping area
again we waited in patience for the first sightings and thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long on this occasion, as within twenty minutes after liberation the first birds consisting of a approx. 100 pigeons were over the loft and trapping to record their arrival
Team Mazury Belgium 1st International training flight 2 with pigeon Sylvester
Taking top spot and the claim of 1st international training race 2 we see pigeon Sylvester for Team OLR Mazury representing Belgium first over the line on a time of 12.19.01.30 just ahead of the fellow Belgium father and son syndicate of Cremmers & Son with pigeon Dreamer as runner up on 12.19.02.10 Team Bamford’s top flight from England take 1st UK and 3rd International with pigeon top flight Superfly on 12.19.01.80, Team Poland take 4th with pigeon Eulipus for Team Koszalin with a time of 12.19.02.10, Team England take 5th and 6th International with Team Toto Buzi taking 5th with pigeon Milvis timing in on 12.19.02.11 and Team Lancaster Bombers with pigeon Phaleria coming in for 6th on 12 .19.02.25, the Wales team syndicate of Webb, Southwood & Levingston takes 7th International with the arrival of their entry Mariposa timing in on 12.19.02.76, we go back to the winning nation of Belgium for 8th International with dream team Jask, Maseo & Dirk with pigeon Millaca in the clock on 12.19.02.85, the 2023 final race winner Jozsef Kavoc from Hungary takes the 9th International position with pigeon Espurila on 12.19.02.90, and as such leaves 10th position to Team Poland and entrant Artur Gasiorowski and his pigeon Pholcus on 12.19.02.91
Team Cremmers & Son Belgium 2nd International tr 2 with pigeon Dreamer
Thankfully a steady flow of arrivals were visible at regular intervals indicating that whilst it’s still a learning exercise the birds are sticking together and coming in groups, this on seeing the result updating throughout the afternoon it was pleasing to see pigeons still coming through until nightfall and by the following evening
Pigeons from tr2 trapping well on return
With a number of races being completed this also means the start of the King of Sprint averages this is a competition that pigeons accumulate points for individual pigeons positions on the result and run on a race by race average based on positions gained, from the first trainer from 3 klm to the final race, we will catch up on this at regular intervals during the series and highlight the leaders.
OWNERS ACTIVATION PERIOD
We are halfway through the pre-selection training flights following tr2 meaning we have just two more to overcome before owners activations takes place from Jan 20th to 25th, remember these pigeons have already settled into their new environment and loft orientation and overcome by then four pre-selection training flights, now is the time to repay them for a limited period only, owners have the option and one off opportunity of activating their entries and securing the pigeons within their teams for the one off payment of 220 euro per pigeon, this payment takes each pigeon through the series including the final race at the end of March, failure to do so opens up opportunities for others to step in and take over your pigeons and any prizes they may take in 3rd party activation when outsiders have the opportunity of joining the race with any unpaid pigeons, our advice is to ACT QUICK BY making contact with the Derby Arona Team or Country Agent and secure your pigeons as your loss could well mean someone else`s gain later down the line ..
Tom Harris
