NORTH ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP CLUB
by George Wheatman
NRCC Dunbar sections 2016
The North Road Championship Club’s first race of the 2016 season, from Dunbar, was dominated by the eastern area members, with the first 101 places being filled by flyers from Sections F and C.
The outright winner, Rocky Wilson of Norwich, competes in Section F; runners-up, and arguably the outstanding performers in the race, Mr and Mrs Bob Boulton, from Addlethorpe, within sniffing distance of the bracing sea air from Skegness, are in Section C.
Rocky, winner of the open race from Perth in 2014, topped the Dunbar result with a three-year-old blue pied Vandenabeele cock bird flying on widowhood.
The sire was bought at the Blackpool show, and the mother was of Leroy King lines.
It had always been a steady, reliable pigeon with a few cards to his credit, and Rocky fancied him enough to pool and was rewarded with an amazing winning velocity of 2172 yards per minute to set a new record for the NRCC.
The win ended what Rocky described as a poor start to the season where he had been just off the pace in the early races.
Section A winners were Bill Bearder and Sons, stalwart supporters of the NRCC, and their successful pigeon was a two-year-old mealy cock bird flying on widowhood, which had flown every race to that point of the season.
Bill said that they had “done all right” so far this season, despite the disappointment of losing a number of birds to the peregrines nesting on Nottingham University, and to a particularly large and voracious hen sparrowhawk.
Section B winner was another regularly successful NRCC and Peterborough and District Federation competitor, former career soldier and retired lorry driver, 77-year-old Tony Woolsey, of Spalding.
He describes his winning bird as a “friendship pigeon”, as it came to his loft via an exchange with friends in Wales.
It is a two-year-old blue widowhood cock bird of Planet Brothers Van Loon breeding, and has already been first bird to the Woolsey loft three times as Tony, aided by his wife of 57 years, Edie, continues to set the hot pace he has enjoyed in previous seasons.
The section winner’s father has won a national race this season for his Welsh friends, while the Woolseys’ various exchange birds have been a hit in various parts of the country.
Section C winners were the husband and wife partnership of Mr and Mrs Bob Boulton, of Addlethorpe. Indeed, they were the most successful competitors in the race, taking second, sixth and 14th open positions, as well as having six more in the first 100 open.
You could almost hear the smile of satisfaction in Bob’s voice when he said “Yes, they did come well.”
They timed 14 in 23 minutes.
A wily old maestro, Bob loves his NRCC racing and few members can match his ability in preparing birds for special races.
This has been illustrated many times in the past, particularly with their open wins from Dunbar (2002) and Thurso (2013).
This time the section winner was a yearling Vandenbeele chequer cock bird which had been raced celibate early in the season, but had been paired up and was sitting when sent to Dunbar.
It was the only yearling the partners sent, and was a last-minute substitute after one of the fancied candidates returned from a training toss with its beak cut off up to the wattle.
Section E brought to the frame again a serial section winner in retired farmer Arnold Bennett, this time with a two-year-old blue Ceuleman cock bird flying on roundabout.
“He has won before and is a good pigeon,” said Arnold.
At the age of 83, Arnold is still enjoying the sport, although he has to overcome a mobility problem to tend to his birds.
He has moved with the times this year and now has an ETS system installed and this is proving helpful, although he has to “swipe” his birds to enable him to carry on with his traditional open-door trapping.
Advancing years have not stopped Arnold from planning for the future, and his young bird team this year will include a number of Frans Zwols pigeons bred from a winter investment.
Arnold is yet another fancier who has suffered from hawk attacks this year, and says he has lost four really good birds to these killers so glorified, in recent times, on the BBC Springwatch television programme.
Section H brought the fourth successive section win for that outstanding London partnership of Mick and Mickey Connolly, two of the stars of NRCC racing in an increasingly strong section.
The section winner was a two-year-old blue cock, flying on widowhood, which Mick described as “a very good bird.”
Probably goes without saying because it would not be in the Connolly loft if it did not match up to their high standards. But it has had 3rd and 8th Amalgamation with 5,000 birds competing on each occasion.
It is a busy, and testing, period for London fanciers with NRCC and London North Road Combine races coming thick and fast.
The Connollys do no training of old birds as they fly so well around the loft but, for the first time in several years, they did train young birds last year, thanks to relative Joe, and they had 15 to 20 tosses from ten miles. The result was even better young bird racing than usual.
And now some of those birds are in the old bird team and keeping up expected high standards.
Section I winner was 61-year-old lorry driver, Trevor Ablett, of Ipswich.
The bird that completed the task was a well thought of, proven three-year-old widowhood cock bird of Staf Van Reet x Lambrecht breeding.
“It has been a good pigeon for three years running,” said Trevor.
Disappointing thing was, however, that it was still missing when we spoke from the following NRCC Perth race.
Trevor had a good race from Dunbar with all his six entries back on the day.
He is the shortest flyer in the Ipswich club, and often has the disappointment of being beaten by the longer flyers, but usually manages to hold his own, particularly in the NRCC races.
He is yet another fancier faced with the problem of marauding hawks.
Convoyer’s Report.
Starting his second season as convoyer for the NRCC, Darren Shepherd gave members another good race, and this is his report:
"With the birds all marked at Nottingham, committee man Paul Crooks and I loaded the birds onto the feeder van and set off to meet Merv with the rest of the convoy on the Newark road.
The birds were loaded onto the transporter and Merv and I set off on our journey North to Dunbar, it was a nice clear day with the usual build up of traffic for Friday afternoon. We got as far as Newton Aycliffe Services when Merv had to have the first of his breaks. Whilst there I had contact with the NRCC weather adviser Brian Garnham who informed me that he had checked the forecast for Saturday and he had no concerns other than there may not be much sun towards the bottom end of the country, he did however believe there would be no issues. I informed Brian that I had been speaking with some of the Scottish Federations that were going to be at Alnwick and Consett. I also spoke with the Welsh Fed at Hexham and the London Federation who were at Berwick. I had arranged to speak again with them all early in the morning and I had told them it was my intention to liberate anytime from 8:00am if all was good.
We arrived at Dunbar at 9:30pm, Merv had to deal with a few parked cars in the car park but as always he got the lorry into a good safe position for liberation the following morning. The curtains were opened and Merv and I got the birds watered, Merv passed comment that a lot of the birds were ready for a drink. Once we had finished watering we decided as the wind was cold, blowing from the North East, we would cover the birds up for the night to protect them from any drafts.
SATURDAY MORNING
I was awake and up at 5:00am, as I looked out the window of my convoyers den I saw blue sky, unlimited visibility and from the way the trees were blowing it was a good Northerly breeze.
5:15am
I opened the curtains, checked the birds and started to top up the water, again the birds began to drink.
5:30am
Alex Rae from Aberdeen, race controller, rang and asked what it was like in the area and was I still thinking of liberating at 8:00am. I said yes I was and he said he would ring me about 7:00am for a further update.
6:05am
I spoke with the Hull Federation convoyer at Berwick who said it was an ideal morning. The Sun was just getting up, blue sky and a strong North West wind, he could see the Essex and Kent Federation getting prepared for liberation.
6:10am
My trusted assistant Merv gave me a nice hot coffee and said it was a bit fresh. I replied yes but we were both in our shorts! I also spoke with Brian who told me he had been looking around the web cams and it was starting to open up nicely. I asked Brian to contact me at about 7:45am and we would make a decision.
6:20am
I spoke with my good friend Pete Matthews, top North East convoyer down at Eastbourne. We regularly exchange information on the line of flight no matter where we are. Pete told me Ripon and the Vale of York was good and we would have a better than his who faced a cold Northerly wind.
6:30am
The race adviser rang from North Scotland and asked if I had a time as he was sitting at Alnwick and did not want to clash.
6:40am
Merv and I talked about our intentions and I listened to information which Merv had got. It's a great team and I am grateful to Merv who makes my job so much easier. Merv always tells me to relax and just do what you are good at!
7:15am
North Scotland said they were going to liberate at Alnwick at 7:15am.
7:30am
Brian and I had a chat and agreed to get the birds ready for an 8:00am liberation.
8:00am
The strings were cut and away they went. By the time I had stepped back to see where they were heading they had disappeared out of sight! Merv said, "WOW, they just went!"
8:20am
Whilst I was checking the crates and shutting the lids up one if my contacts at Purdy Lodge rang and said I have just seen your birds sky high going like a steam train! I knew it would be a good, fast race. Purdy Lodge is about 30 miles from Dunbar, South of Berwick.
