British Participation in The Barcelona International Race

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BRITISH PARTICIPATION IN THE BARCELONA INTERNATIONAL RACE

by Gareth Watkins

Barcelona International liberation - photo courtesy of John Ghent

For many, the Barcelona International race is the epitome of what long distance pigeon racing is all about. This article is meant to outline the feats of the British pigeons that competed in the Barcelona races of 1931, 32 and 33 and, after a 23 year gap, the races of 1956 and 1957. I am indebted to Jeff Byles for supplying me with the information contained within.

1931

In 1931 there were 275 competing pigeons from Britain, entered by 174 fanciers and the race was blessed with excellent weather conditions of superb visibility and a light southerly wind. Liberated at 8 am on July 4th, the first birds were clocked into the UK on 5th July when three pigeons made it to their home lofts. These were followed by a further thirteen birds clocked on the 6th July and five on July 7th, two on the 8th, one on the 9th, three on the 10th, five on July 11th, eight on 12th, one on the 14th & 15th, two on each of the 19th, 20th & 21st, four on 22nd & 23rd and a further one pigeon on the 24th July.

The final total of pigeons verified was 57 from an entry of 275 making a 20% rate of return.

The British Section result was as follows:-

1st George Stubbs of Cosham vel 910 also finishing at an incredible 4th Open International against 5,033 birds.

2nd W Smith of Blackwood [Gwent?] vel 900.

3rd C R Gush of Seale vel 797.

4th W W Harris of Bedworth vel 656.

5th T H Burton of Liverpool vel 585 - 1st North Section.

6th A T Matthews of Lymington vel 573.

7th C F Walters of Exmouth vl 559.

8th J B Joel of St Albans vel 557.

9th A Amesbury of Trethomas vel 544.

10th E Bates of Guildford vel 530.

11th Open Record & Tallman of Exeter vel 528.

12th Open Stan Curtis of Penrhiwceiber vel 500. Stan was an Englishman who came to South Wales to work in the mines and won National races in Wales and in England with the NFC. Apparently he was a real character and he was certainly a top class pigeon fancier.

13th Open G Bunting of Faversham vel 495.

14th D Davies of Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley vel 470.

15th J Whitehead of Birmingham vel 461.

16th H Fletcher of Bristol vel 458.

17th Jarvis Brothers of Dover vel 434.

18th E Baker of Walsall vel 417.

19th Stan Curtis with his second timer vel 367.

20th E Charnock of Purbright vel 321.

21st J E Beesley of Guernsey vel 316.

A number of other pigeons were subsequently verified including J W Toft's Record Cock and W M Gaze's "Barcelona Billy" and "Dauntless". "Billy" was later sold to J W Shearing and became a great success as a stud cock whilst "Dauntless" was a progenitor of the "White Logans".

The late great George Stubbs of Cosham - see text

1932

And so we move on to the Barcelona International race of 1932 when 60 British fanciers entered a total of 101 birds. The convoy was liberated at 9 am on July 2nd into high temperatures and a light easterly wind.

The race was won by a pigeon racing to the Exeter lofts of Record & Tallman recording a velocity of 774 ypm at a distance of 701 miles. This pigeon named "All Alone" finished at an incredible 3rd Open International having been 11th Open British section Barcelona in 1931 - some pigeon that!!!

2nd Open was won by a pigeon covering 728miles to the St Albans loft of J B Joel recording 595 ypm.

3rd Open was one once again to the great long distance fancier George Stubbs of Cosham vel 584 at 672 miles. This was the same pigeon, "The Barcelona", that won 1st Open in the 1931 Barcelona race.

4th Open C F Walters of Exmouth vel 570 at 693 miles.

5th Open Harris Brothers of Bilston vel 548 at 798 miles.

Further arrivals were recorded by Denman of Oadby and Jupe of Gosport on 10th July, Stokes of Twyford and Harris of Bedworth on 11th July, Watts of Worcester on 12th July, Amson of Tunstall and Stan Curtis of Penrhiwceiber on 14th July, R H Wood of Brierley Hill on 17th July, W Bates of Blackwood, Hunt of Blackwood, Stokes of Twyford and Bates of Guildford on 19th July, Walker of Coleshill on 22nd July and Stokes of Twyford with his third timer on 23rd July.

There were a total of 19 pigeons recorded in three weeks in this very tough race.

1933

By 1933 British support for the Barcelona race had dwindled to just 56 pigeons entered by 35 fanciers, due no doubt to the difficulty of the 1932 race.

The pigeons were liberated at 8.10 am on July 1st into a westerly breeze. The eventual winner of the race was clocked deep in the Welsh Valleys at 4.26 pm on 3rd July at the loft of David Brothers & Pugh of Nantymoel high up at the top of the Garw Valley. The winning pigeon named "Welsh Boy" was undertaking his 25th cross channel race and at 7 years old lacked nothing in experience.

In 2nd Open position was one to the Blackwood [is this Blackwood, South Wales?] fancier W Smith being clocked at 2.15 pm on July 5th. I wonder is this the same W Smith of Blackwood whose pigeon finished as runner up to "The Barcelona" of George Stubbs in the 1931 race?

3rd Open was clocked at 6.20 pm on July 6th at the West Bromwich loft of T Yorke.

The partnership of Record & Tallman clocked at 12.30 pm on July 7th to maintain their excellent record in Barcelona races to finish at 5th Open following on from their 11th Open finish in 1931 and 1st Open in 1932.

J Wellings of Ludlow clocked at 3 pm on July 7th for 5th Open.

Further arrivals were clocked by Carter of Hathersage on July 14th followed by George Stubbs' timer on 15th July; J G Corrie of Bramhall at 852 miles on 16th July.

A total of just 8 pigeons were recorded in this 1933 race and this was probably the main reason behind the cessation of British participation in the Barcelona International for the next 23 years.

1956

Participation resumed in 1956 mainly due to the efforts of two men - F Kightly and Wing Commander W D Lea Rayner of the London Columbarian Society. These two gentlemen made contact with Maurice Delbar who was President of the Cureghem Centre in Belgium, the organisers of the Barcelona International, and they were then advised to contact a Mr Culpan, an "Englishman abroad" in Belgium who was the Cureghem Centre secretary. The rest as they say is history and the British were firmly back on foreign soil competing against the best of Europe in the most prestigious pigeon race in the world.

However, there was a self imposed restriction on British entries in as much as the entrants had to be of three years old or older, thus ensuring that they had gained a fair bit of experience before being put to the "acid test".

So it was that 121 British pigeons entered by 100 fanciers took to the starting line in the 1956 Barcelona International race. The convoy was liberated at 6.30 am on June 30th and the eventual winner was clocked at the Walsall loft of John Taylor recording a velocity of 712 ypm over the 797 mile course. This was the great blue cock "News Lad". More on this great long distance racer later in this article.

In the runner up spot was a pigeon named "Gus" racing the 698 miles to the Yeovil loft of Pinney Brothers and recording 707 ypm.

In 3rd Open was one to Folkestone fanciers Mr & Mrs Howland on 691 ypm for the 671 mile course.

R Freeman of Whyteleaf clocked on 548 ypm flying 692 miles to finish at 4th Open.

Brown & Heappy of Ambergate finished at 5th Open vel 545 ypm for 824 miles, with the great G W J "Peter" Titmuss in at 6th Open vel 540 for 729 miles.

E F Cannon of Farncombe took 7th Open on 538.8 ypm with a pigeon flying 689 miles in a very close finish with Cyril Wells' timer recording 538 ypm over 687 miles.

C E Brading of Folkestone had one to record 525 ypm over 671 miles to finish at 9th Open followed by one to the great Gloucestershire fancier Tom Clarke of Frampton on Severn in at 10th Open vel 447 ypm for the 747 mile course.

A total of 31 pigeons were verified from the 121 bird entry and the longest flying pigeon was recorded at the Sheffield loft of J Wilmott & Son flying 848 miles.

The final positions in the International result were:-

J Taylor's News Lad 49th Open, Pinney Brothers 56th Open, Howland 62nd Open, Freeman 110th Open, Brown & Heappy 112th Open, Titmuss 115th Open, Cannon 118th Open, Wells 120th Open, Brading 125th Open and Tom Clarke's timer 178th Open.

1957

Next we move on to the 1957 Barcelona race when the number of competing fanciers and pigeons had dropped dramatically with 36 fanciers sending just 45 pigeons to compete against 3,350 pigeons from the cream of European lofts.

The convoy was liberated at 6.45 am on July 13th and the winner, for the second year running was clocked at the Walsall loft of John Taylor and was none other than "News Lad" the winner of the 1956 Barcelona race. News Lad covered the 797 mile course with an average velocity of 270 ypm. In the runner up spot was a pigeon flying even further than News Lad to the Worksop loft of J Godfrey at 837 miles and with a velocity of 252 ypm. Under the rules laid out by the British section the race closed when the velocity dropped to 220 ypm but the International result remained open for a full 8 days. The outcome was that News Lad finished at 229th Open with the Godfrey pigeon at 265th and Pinney Brothers’ great racer "Gus" taking 547th Open at 698 miles.

The reason for the poor returns was explained by the fact that the "Mistral" wind hit the pigeons in Southern France followed by a strong westerly wind and heavy rain further north.

However a number of other fanciers verified pigeons later including the great Norman Southwell who had four from four. Some great performances were also recorded at the extreme distance as C E T Howson of Hull recorded an arrival at 862 miles with T A Murray of Anstruther, Fife recording his arrival on the 24th day flying an incredible 1,047 miles and 1,443 yards. This was at the time, the long distance record into Scotland and the best time ever recorded into the British Isles for a pigeon flying over 1,000 miles.

That then is a brief history of the early years of British participation in the Barcelona International race.

Who knows, with the right weather conditions, we might have a British winner of the race in the near future to add to the eight International wins by British fanciers in recent years from other International races.