GWENT GREATER DISTANCE CLUB
PAU INTERNATIONAL & TARBES RACE REPORTS
Report by Gareth Watkins
The weekend of 21st June saw members competing on two fronts in two different long distance races. Firstly we had the Pau International flown in conjunction with the BICC and Entente Belge and secondly we had the Tarbes National flown in conjunction with the Welsh SRNFC, CSCFC and London and South East CFC. One thing was for sure and that was there would be plenty of tired eyes at the end of the weekend!
The Pau International pigeons were liberated on Friday 20th June at 7am into a light easterly air stream. Saturday morning in Wales opened as forecast with strong westerly winds and heavy rain. These conditions persisted for most of the day and yet Jim Hooper of Cardiff clocked a two year old red cock at lunchtime on the Saturday to win 1st GGDC and amazingly, given the conditions, 1st West Section and 10th Open BICC. Some time later Jim clocked a second pigeon to finish 6th section 70th Open BICC. The first in the clock for Jim as stated is a two year old latebred that didn’t see the inside of a basket as a baby, was raced to 300 miles as a yearling and had Messac 260 miles this year before being set up for Pau. The section winner hadn’t been mated this year but was paired for the first time in early June and sent to Pau sitting 8 days on his first pair of eggs. The sire is of Jim’s old Kirkpatrick-based family whilst the dam was bred by Ken Hine and contains the best of Cannon and Fear Brothers bloodlines. Jim’s second timer taking 3rd GGDC and 6th sect 70th Open BICC is a pure Peter Titmuss, again originating from Ken Hine, who loaned the parents to Jim for a season’s breeding. This two year old blue hen was again untrained as a baby and flew through to 300 miles as a yearling. This year she was brought on steadily and her last race before Pau was the Messac race in late May after which she was mated and sent to Pau sitting her first nest of eggs.
Jim’s race team enjoy an open loft and are trained regularly from the “other” side of the Bristol channel – at least twice per week. A hopper of farm beans is before the birds at all times and they get peanuts and conditioning seed as a treat in the build up to the longer races. When speaking to Jim he asked me to thank the members of the Pill Invitation H.S. in Newport for inviting him to become a member and would single out Gordon Mears in particular for special praise and thanks.
The Padfield Family of Cwmtillery have been long distance tail blazers for some time now and it was no surprise to hear that they had once again clocked a good pigeon in an International race. Here they finish in second spot in the GGDC and 3rd Section 31st Open BICC. Vince and Dai’s timer was a six year old chequer pied cock of Wim Muller Jan Aarden and Invincible Spirit bloodlines. This battler has a long list of previous wins to his credit in classic competition including 33rd Open BBC San Sebastian; 23rd Open BBC Nantes and 163rd Open BBC St Nazaire. The Padfields race their team on the roundabout system in the early part of the season. At this time they undergo a strict routine of home exercise with both the cocks and hens putting in 2hrs home exercise per day in all weathers. They are sent to the shorter channel races on the system and are then re mated in preparation for specific target races from southern France and Spain. Once re-mated they are allowed to lead a relaxed life style with open loft and occasional training spins designed to bring on form and fitness at the right time. All old birds have food before them at all times both individually in their boxes and communally in hoppers on the floor of each section.
In 4th spot with the GGDC and winning 2nd North Section 71st Open BICC is a three year old cock of Wim Muller x Van Bruaene bloodlines bred and raced by one of the top partnerships in North Wales, namely Chris Davenport and Darren Roberts of Chirk near Wrexham. {And there’s me thinking that the only good things to come out of Wrexham were the lager and the road south to South Wales!] Chris and Darren’s terrifically game pigeon battled against atrocious conditions of gale force westerly winds and torrential rain for all of Saturday and Sunday morning to achieve this tremendous performance at 675 miles, only being beaten in the section by a bird on the eastern side of the country flying 617 miles. He deserves a medal the size of a dustbin lid! The sire was bought at a clearance sale for £85 when he was 14 years old. This grandson of the Genaaiden of Wim Muller has fully justified the partners confidence in purchasing him as he has now produced yet another first class long distance racer. On the dam’s side of the pedigree we have yet more outstanding long distance performers including Jones & Thomas’ winner of 1st North West Combine Niort 500+ miles. Like the Padfield pigeon, this 3 year old was raced on the roundabout system in the early part of the season before being re-mated and sent to Pau on chipping eggs. Incidentally this was only the second channel race for this cock, the other being Alencon at 370+ miles in 2007. A full loft report plus pics on the partners will appear in the near future.
TARBES
Next we move on to the Tarbes race flown on Saturday 21st June. The Welsh contingent were liberated at 5.30 am along with the CSCFC and the London and SECFC convoyed by Keith Mott. Conditions in France were reported to be ideal with a gentle helping southerly breeze over most of the course. Given these conditions hopes were high that there might be day birds into South Wales. Unfortunately the torrential rain and gale force winds that had battered Wales for most of the day failed to abate and any hopes that 16 ozs of feather, flesh and bone could overcome such conditions were quickly dispelled. However reports filtered through that there were numerous timings in the better weather conditions prevailing in England with the Wiltshire ace Brian Sheppard getting two quick ones after 12 ¼ hours on the wing.
So it was that the competing fanciers rose early on the Sunday in anticipation of early birds. They were not to be disappointed as a steady stream of birds began to arrive in South Wales shortly after 5 am. as weather conditions began to improve. At 6.43 am Blaenavon fancier Dennis Ford timed his 5 year old grizzle hen to win 1st Gwent Greater Distance Club and for the second year running finish at 3rd Open WSENFC.
As with all of the Ford race team, the grizzle hen was flown on the roundabout system. The team are mated in late February and allowed to rear a youngster in the first nest and are usually sent to the first race sitting their second round of eggs. Once they return, they are immediately put on round about and stay on the system for the remainder of the season. The only training they receive throughout the season is three 25 mile tosses from the Severn Bridge when sitting their second round eggs. Home exercise is then the order of the day with both cocks and hens doing 2hrs per day around the loft starting at 5.30 am. from Monday to Friday. This, along with weekly racing in accordance with DEFRA guidelines is enough to keep them ultra keen ad super fit.
The grizzle hen is bred from a direct son of Lambert & Davies’s “Golden Pair” when mated to a hen bred by Don Chaffe of Maerdy and bought as a Christmas present for Dennis at a WSENFC auction, by Dennis’s daughter in law Sharon and daughter Jennifer. The 2008 season has been a continuation of Dennis’s 2007 “dream season” as the birds have hit super form once again with 1st National Messac; 2nd National Tours and 1st section 11th Open Lessay to mention just three top class performances in addition to this 3rd Open National Tarbes. Congratulations Dennis and good luck for the future.
The Preece Brothers and Sons partnership from Cwmtillery clocked an early one but failed to submit a race sheet not knowing that it was a GGDC race! Notwithstanding this, Steve Jude of Cwmbran clocked a 4 year old grizzle cock of Burgham Bros bloodlines via Dai Rawlings to take 2nd spot. This “character” was raced on round about in the early part of the season and was then re-mated to TWO hens. Steve removed him from the loft two days before basketting and then replaced him an hour before the off. He quickly settled down on one set of eggs for a short while and then transferred his attentions to the second nest of eggs shortly before basketting. This certainly motivated him as he will also feature in the top ten of the National result. A previous winner of 1st Messac as a yearling he also finished at 10th Open in the BBC Messac race earlier this season. Feeding in preparation for Tarbes included plenty of maize, peanuts and linseed. This is yet another top performance to add to Steve’s previous National wins from Lerwick and Guernsey.
In third place is a 5 year old chequer hen raced by John Smale of Abergavenny. John is a previous winner of 1st WGNFC Thurso plus Queen’s Cup and 1st National Crieff along with scores of other excellent performances in long distance races. He sets his stall out for these races and rarely fails to get one. Over the years John has acquired some of the best long distance bloodlines from some of the best long distance fanciers in the UK so it is little wonder that he is constantly at or near the top in classic races. To write that this hen is bred for the job would be a massive understatement as she has in her pedigree two Thurso National and Queen’s Cup winners; a second National Thurso and “Adam” the only pigeon in Wales to have been 1st Welsh Combine twice! The make up of her pedigree shows “Gillian” , John’s Thurso National and Queen’s Cup winner on both sides as her dam is a daughter of “Gillian” and “Double Top”. Double Top in turn was 2nd National Thurso behind Gillian and twice a Fed topper with the massive Welsh NR Fed in the mid 80’s. The Tarbes hen has plenty of excellent performances to her credit starting with 3rd club bonn on the day as a yearling[beaten by two loftmates]; 10th National Bergerac on the day as a 2 year old when only 12 pigeons made on the day into Wales ;15th section J with the NFC from Bordeaux and 14th section J 122nd Open NFC Tarbes in 2007. Some pigeon! She was sent to Tarbes this year with her first baby of the season just chipping out on basketting.
That’s all the information that I have at present. My apologies for the late publication of the last three race reports – this is due to a technical hitch with my Internet connection. Hopefully I will be back on line by the time these notes appear.
