GWENT GREATER DISTANCE CLUB
Reports by Gareth Watkins
Barcelona 2009
Dave Padfield holding cheq pied cock - 1st GGDC, 1st sect 2nd Open BICC Barcelona
The highlight of the season for members of this trailblazing club is the endurance test that is the Barcelona International race. In the past two seasons the winners of this race within the GGDC have been the Padfield family in 2007 and Wilf Reed in 2008 and on both occasions the winner has featured high in the result of the BICC despite the fact that they were the furthest west of any of the competitors and having to battle against a predominantly westerly wind in both events.
So we come to the 2009 Barcelona race and the small Welsh contingent of 19 birds entered by 8 members were liberated at 8.45 am BST on Friday 3rd July, along with 28,000 other pigeons entered by fanciers throughout Europe, to compete in this 750 mile endurance test. No day birds were recorded in the whole of Europe and so the competing fanciers were set for a long wait on the second day to hopefully witness the return of one of their entries in this gruelling marathon. At 18.15pm on the second evening the Padfield family of Cwmtillery experienced the ultimate thrill of long distance pigeon racing, when they spotted their seven year old chequer pied cock rifling up the valley after completing his 754 mile journey from Northern Spain. Although Vince and Dave didn’t know it at the time, the chequer pied cock was to prove good enough for 1st West section 2nd Open BICC, beaten by the race winners Mr & Mrs R Elliott of Chadwell Heath in Essex, more than 200 miles to the east of the Padfield’s loft location.
The section winner.
The section winner has quite a bit of “previous” having won the following positions in top flight classic competition:- 23rd Open BBC Nantes; 163rd Open BBC St Nazaire; 33rd Open BBC San Sebastian plus 3rd Open Single Bird NFC; 31st Open BICC Pau International also winning 1st Open Single bird NFC. Not bad eh? In addition he flew the 2007 Tarbes race despite being badly injured somewhere along the 608 mile course. In 2009 he was mated in late March, allowed to sit 12 days, and then separated and raced on round about right up to and including Barcelona.
Breeding, as you would expect, is impeccable. The section winner’s sire is a son of the partners’ renowned “Invincible Spirit” stock pair. This pair consists of a grand son of Invincible Spirit mated to a double grand daughter of Invincible Spirit. They are responsible, when crossed with other long distance bloodlines, for many of the lofts top long distance performers. In fact, another son of this pair is the sire of the partners’ 2009 section winner in the BICC Pau International. Dam of the section winner is bred from the best of the Wim Muller Jan Aardens that the Padfields introduced in the early 1990s. These have excelled for the partners since their introduction, winning top prizes in all competitions up to International level.
Not content with topping the section in an International race for the second time this year, the partners clocked a second arrival at 11.09 am on the third morning to win 2nd GGDC and 2nd section 13th Open BICC. This eight year old chequer cock also has a string of previous top class performances including:- 132nd BBC Nantes; 325th NFC Bordeaux; 68th BBC Palamos; 77th BICC Pau International. He is bred from a Wim Muller x Morgan & Cook “Iron Man” [7 times Lerwick] cock which won a string of top prizes in classic competition for Vince and Dave, when paired to a Wim Muller x Clerebaut hen which won 20th National San Sebastian and 78th Open CSCFC Dax. The 2nd section winner was raced on roundabout in the early part of the season and, like the section winner, flew in three short / middle distance channel races from Lessay, Fougeres and Tours before being re-mated and sent to Barcelona sitting 14 days. As with all the Padfield’s race team the Barcelona cocks have access to a hopper of beans 24 hours a day and this is supplemented by a little high carbohydrate widowhood mixture fed individually in the nest box. When on round about, the race team are exercised for 1 hour twice daily and are forced to fly the full hour if necessary. Those birds that are re-mated are then allowed an open loft apart from the times that the round about team are at exercise. Hard work applied by skilful fanciers to top class long distance pigeons reaps rich rewards is certainly true in the case of Vince and Dave Padfield as well as the next fancier on the GGDC Barcelona result, none other than the legend himself, Wilf Reed of Upper Redbrook.
2nd sect BICC Barcelona
As I mentioned earlier in this report, Wilf won the GGDC Barcelona race in 2008, finishing in the top dozen or so of the BICC Open result. This year he comes in with a timer to take 3rd GGDC, 3rd section 18th Open BICC. This will be a great pick me up for Wilf as he hasn’t enjoyed the best of health due to an injury to his shoulder caused by an accident on the farm. The Reed timer is a six year old blue hen sent feeding a small baby. She was raced on the round about system in the early part of the season and sent to her final preparatory race from Saran, 333 miles, before being re-mated for the Barcelona race. She is bred from a full sister to “Endurance Pride of Wales”, Wilf’s BBC Palamos National winner when mated to a nephew of “Endurance”, once again bred from another full sister to “Endurance”, so all the best of the old Clerebauts in this one. The race team are exercised for one hour morning and night throughout the season and, due to constant hawk predation, receive very little in the way of training flights.
Wilf & Janet Reed
The Reed loft
At the time of writing this report, these are the only three birds recorded in the GGDC 2009 Barcelona race. Yet again, as in the recent Pau International race, GGDC members recorded a hat trick of 1st, 2nd and 3rd section in the BICC. Next race Perpignan. Good luck to all.
