Gwent Greater Distance Club 2010 Old Bird Season Report

Details: Published: 20 January 2001; Hits: 650

GWENT GREATER DISTANCE CLUB

Reports by Gareth Watkins

TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE - The 2010 Old Bird Season Round Up

This club was founded in 2007 with the aim of competing in long distance International races in conjunction with the BICC and the Welsh SRNFC. Since that time the membership has grown from the initial 12 stalwarts to its present membership of close on 50 lofts. Amongst these fifty competitors are the winners of no less than seventy Welsh Nationals plus a half dozen Queen’s Cup winners, so as you can imagine competition within the club is red hot.

Initially, all GGDC members were situated in the BICC west section competing against fanciers from the south coast of Dorset through Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and all of Wales. Success at BICC section and Open level was immediate with Adrian Ware winning both section and Open in the first season of competing. Further successes were achieved by Spencer Jones and Dennis Ford in winning the BICC Open during the 2008 season and other members consistently annexed top Open positions within the BICC. In addition to these outright wins and top ten finishes, GGDC members began to dominate the West section, despite the fact that on most occasions the wind was from a westerly quarter and certainly didn’t give the Welsh competitors any advantage. GGDC members were quite content with this arrangement as they were competing at section level at least, with fanciers in close geographical proximity.

However, in 2010 the section boundaries were changed yet again and as a result the Welsh members were divided between the west section and the north section. This division was based on the members’ distances from the Tarbes International race point. All members whose Tarbes distance was less than 600 miles remained in the west section, whilst those members whose Tarbes distance was greater than 600 miles were moved into the north section. As a result of these boundary changes, the GGDC members - the fanciers who were flying to the most westerly locations within the BICC, were now competing in the north section and competing against fanciers in the most easterly locations of the BICC in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk - some 200 miles to the east. Put more simply, Fancier A from Essex whose Tarbes distance is 599 miles does not compete at section level with Essex Fancier B, one mile to the north, whose Tarbes distance is 600 miles, yet Fancier C in Wales [200 miles to the west] whose Tarbes distance is 600 miles, does compete at section level with Essex Fancier B. With a predominantly westerly airflow over the UK, you don’t have to be an Oxbridge graduate to appreciate the massive disadvantage the Welsh and other pigeons in the western areas of the BICC were up against now!

Nevertheless, the members of the GGDC took up the challenge and as the results shown below demonstrate, more than met the challenge, with section wins in both north and west section from Narbonne and Perpignan. These wins were in addition to almost complete domination of the results of the west section of the BICC in very nearly every race.

It is to be hoped that commonsense and fairness will prevail at the next BICC AGM and the sections will be redefined to more accurately and fairly reflect the geographical dispersal of the members in each section. If we are to have sections based on geographical criteria then it’s only reasonable to expect that these geographical boundaries are fair and equitable to those fanciers who are expected to compete within them. Anyone who can argue otherwise could also probably make a good case in favour of MP’s expenses and bankers’ bonuses!! The alternative to setting section boundaries using geographical criteria is to set them on demographic grounds i.e. on the distribution of the number of members within certain areas. However, I am unaware of any pigeon racing organisation that has, as yet, defined its section boundaries on demographic grounds. I doubt very much if any organisation ever will.

Right, having got that lot off my chest, let’s move on to the results of the GGDC in the old bird programme.

First race up was flown from Falaise in early May. The winner here was none other than Spencer Jones of Pontypool, a previous winner of the BICC who clocked one of his roundabout team to win 1st GGDC 70th North section 231st Open. Close behind in second spot was “Globetrotter Lofts” aka Darren Roberts up there in Wrexham who also wins 71st North section 232nd Open. In third and fourth places were two roundabout birds to the Blaenavon loft of Dennis Ford, the first of these winning 72nd North section 234th Open. The in form loft of Amesbury, Humphries & Akers come in for 5th club and take the premier position in the west section. In fact the west section result saw GGDC members take the first seven positions with, in order, the Amesbury, H & A team 1st sect followed by Rawlings & Whitcombe; Mr & Mrs Mears; Keith Donnelly; Wyn Llewellyn; Adrian Ware and Tony Coombs bringing up the rear.

The Alencon race saw Dennis Ford’s roundabout team taking the first two positions as well as 6th & 12th sect 15th & 157th Open BICC. Dennis’s good friend John Smale of Abergavenny wins 3rd GGDC plus 18th sect 183rd Open BICC. The BICC west section result saw GGDC secretary Tony Coombs clock three good birds for 1st, 2nd & 7th section, with Mr & Mrs Mears in at 3rd sect, and Dave Smith of Cardiff clocked three sharp ones in this race to take 4th, 6th & 8th section. Ray Strawbridge clocked one of his “sprinting” Wim Mullers for 5th section with Mr & Mrs Terry Gardner in at 9th & 11th section and Keith Donnelly on the result once again at 10th section.

Next we come to the Saran race and what a beauty this one proved to be! The birds were liberated to face a strong west north west wind and not surprisingly, all the early timers were recorded over on the east side of the country. Nevertheless, despite the adverse wind conditions, which deteriorated even more during the day here in Wales, reaching strengths of up to 30 mph from the north west, eight Welsh pigeons struggled on to reach their home lofts on the day of liberation. Leading the way in the GGDC was a bird to the Cwmtillery lofts of Preece Brothers and Sons. This terrifically gutsy pigeon recorded a velocity of 955.8 ypm to narrowly beat another courageous pigeon timed by Dennis Ford of Blaenavon by the smallest of margins - 0.8 of a yard!! These win 100th & 101st sect; 191st & 195th Open BICC respectively. The section and open positions of these first two birds does not in any way reflect the quality of their performance given the prevailing conditions. Rawlings & Whitcombe come in for 3rd GGDC plus further timers to win 1st ,7th & 8th west section. Dennis Ford clocked another day bird to finish at 4th GGDC and 108th section 215th Open with the Preece loft getting a second timer for 5th club and 115th sect 238th Open. They also clocked a third pigeon in the dark at 10.20 pm to take 123rd sect 269th Open. Wilf Reed up at Monmouth clocked two day birds to win 119th & 122nd North sect 258th & 265th Open. Other members to win west section prizes were, in order, Keith Donnelly at 2nd & 9th sect; Ieuan Williams at 3rd section ; Ray Strawbridge with two for 4th & 6th section; Mr & Mrs Jim Hooper at 5th section and Wyn Llewellyn at 10th section.

The Poitiers race proved to be another great success for GGDC members with the Preece loft in once again with an early timer for 1st GGDC plus 3rd North section 12th Open BICC. Their second on the clock was good enough for 29th sect 114th Open. In runner up spot but good enough for 1st west section was one to the Caerleon loft of Gordon and June Mears. John Smale of Abergavenny wins 3rd GGDC plus 6th,7th & 14th north section; 38th, 42nd & 70th Open. Wilf Reed had two for 8th & 27th north section 43rd & 109th Open The Padfields come in at 11th north section 50th Open with Dennis Ford 12th north section 54th Open. Mr & Mrs Terry Gardner win 6th west section with Ray Strawbridge continuing his early season form with one at 7th west section.

The Pau International race is always one that most long distance enthusiasts are keen to win and in 2010 the winners in the GGDC were the Cwmtillery partnership of Vince and Dave Padfield. Their first in the clock wins 5th North section 25th Open BICC to add to their long list of top class long distance performances. Ieuan Williams of Llandaff clocked the same dark pied cock, hopper fed and raced natural, that had won 3rd west section in the difficult Saran race to win 2nd GGDC plus 2nd west section 40th Open BICC. Keith Donnelly of Cardiff is rapidly making a name for himself in Welsh pigeon racing circles and here he wins 3rd GGDC,3rd west section 52nd Open. The Padfields' second timer comes in for 4th GGDC, 6th north section 55th Open and finally we have Mr & Mrs Jim Hooper timing one for 5th GGDC, 4th west section 64th Open.

The Barcelona race is one of the most difficult races on the long distance circuit and in 2010 the winner was a diminutive chequer cock of basically Jan Aarden bloodlines raced by club chairman Ray Strawbridge. This four year old had been to virtually every long distance race point in the south of France prior to the 2010 season and in this race he was sent feeding a small youngster. Raced on the roundabout system in the early part of the season, he competed in the Alencon and the difficult Saran races with the BICC before being put down for Barcelona. He finished in fine style, almost knocking Ray over in his hurry to get into the loft, to win 1st GGDC,1st West section 25th Open BICC also winning the Clive Hughes sponsored pigeon portrait which accompanies this article. “Tom Thumb” as he is now known, was the only bird clocked in race time in both the GGDC and the West section of the BICC and will now be retired to stock.

Next race on the programme was the Tarbes International race and here we see Jim Hooper repeat his success of a couple of seasons ago to win 1st GGDC, 2nd West section 31st Open BICC. Jim’s close friends Terry and Carol Gardner come in for 2nd GGDC and 3rd West section 97th Open BICC. These were the only two birds recorded in race time.

Saintes, in the west of France close to the Bay of Biscay, at 420 + miles, is a race point ideally suited for testing yearlings in their final race of the season. The Saintes race flown in conjunction with the Welsh SRNFC on July 3rd 2010 proved to be a real tester as only 16 gallant pigeons made it to their home lofts in Wales on the day. First in the clock winning 1st GGDC, 3rd East sect 9th Open National was one to that man up there in Blaenavon, Dennis Ford. Spencer Jones of Pontypool managed to get his round about/ celibate/ widowhood team over their mid season blip to take 2nd GGDC 4th East section10th Open National. The Llanhilleth ace, Andrew Vincent clocked yet again to win 3rd GGDC, 5th East section 13th Open National as a curtain raiser for the superb Bergerac performance that was soon to follow. John Ludlam of Nelson has also enjoyed a highly successful season at club, Fed and National level and here he clocked to gain 4th GGDC,7th Centre Section 14th Open National. Yours truly, competing as D. Watkins, Son & Cockcroft, timed the last GGDC bird on the day after 14 hours and nine minutes on the wing, to take 5th GGDC, 8th section 15th Open National. Although there were only 16 birds timed on the day into Wales the Sunday morning saw a steady stream of returnees to their home lofts.

The Bergerac race was flown in conjunction with the forward looking Welsh South Road National Flying Club. At 500 miles plus to most competitors it is a good test of pigeon and fancier. The 2010 season saw Andrew Vincent of Llanhilleth, one of my previous “tips for the top”, come to the fore in winning 1st GGDC, only bird on the day and 1st section 1st Open National, only bird on the day. A truly superb performance Andrew and one that has been on the cards for the past couple of seasons, such has been your consistency. Well done and congratulations from all the GGDC members. Dennis Ford clocked early next morning to win 2nd GGDC plus 2nd section 2nd Open National. Keith Donnelly clocked to win 3rd GGDC and 1st Centre section 4th Open National with G. Lewis & son of Llanhilleth in for 4th GGDC 5th section 6th Open National. Terry and Carol Gardner are thereabouts once again at 5th GGDC 7th section 9th Open National.

The Narbonne International is a relatively new innovation as it has only recently taken the place of the Marseille International. Situated in the Languedoc region of Southern France, close to the Pyrenees, it is close on 650 miles to most Welsh lofts. The winner of this race in 2010 is the same partnership who won the corresponding Marseille race in 2009 – none other than Terry and Carol Gardner of Caldicot. Apparently it was lucky that Carol was working the night shift that day as when she got home from work a little after 6 a.m., Terry was still deep in the process of checking the insides of his eyelids for pin holes! Carol soon had him up and down the loft and it wasn’t long before his timer appeared to win 1st GGDC 1st West section 8th Open BICC. Wilf Reed clocked one of his top class team of long distance racers to take 2nd GGDC 1st North section 15th Open BICC. It was also good to see the ever popular Wyn Llewellyn clock another good one for 3rd GGDC 2nd West section 21st Open BICC. Congratulations to all three fanciers as they were the only birds in race time.

The Perpignan race is the last one on the International race calendar and at 650+ miles is a stern test of both fancier and pigeon. In 2009 this race was won by a small dark chequer hen of Wim Muller bloodlines raced by Ray Strawbridge of Newport. The 2009 BICC result saw her finish at 2nd section 23rd Open BICC, a truly marvellous performance. In 2010 she was put down again for the same race but unfortunately returned from the BICC Saran race earlier in the season having been badly hawked. Ray nursed her back to health and within a few days she was out at exercise with the rest of the race team and so Ray decided that, all being well, she would be prepared once again for Perpignan. So it was that the little battler was sent to Perpignan with 15,000+ other pigeons from all over Continental Europe to be liberated at 6.50 am on Saturday 31st July. At 20.21 on the Sunday evening Ray saw a dot in the sky far off to the east and in no time at all the dot became a pigeon dropping like a stone to the loft. The pigeon was rapidly trapped and Ray was both amazed and exhilarated to see that it was his little dark chequer Perpignan pigeon. She was quickly clocked and verified and Ray was later to learn that she was to finish once more at 1st GGDC and on this occasion was placed at 1st West section 20th Open BICC being the only bird clocked in race time in the west section. Now named “Marie” after Ray’s wife she will be retired to stock and in all probability will be mated to the Barcelona winner “Tom Thumb” in 2011 – what a pair!

The second bird clocked in the GGDC was another real battler to the loft of long distance legend Wilf Reed. This one wins 2nd GGDC and 1st North section BICC. The above two pigeons were to be the only two in race time in both the GGDC and the north and west sections of the BICC.

Well that’s the old bird season done and dusted. It was my hope that one of the other members of the GGDC would take up the pen on behalf of the members, as I had intended to retire from writing at the beginning of the season. However not one fancier has come forward in the intervening months to cover the race results of the members. Nevertheless, I felt that the performances of the Welsh fanciers and their courageous pigeons were just too good to be ignored – hence this one off “come back article”. The members of the GGDC would like to thank our generous sponsors including Howdens; Robert Davies, Terry Ash and Clive Hughes Photographics for their continued support.

Here’s wishing all good racing for the remainder of the season.