SCOTTISH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
APPRAISAL OF THE 2006 WINNERS
by Joe Murphy
With the end of the year drawing to a close I thought I would again highlight the performances of the 2006 winners with some extra information added to spice things up a little. I have also included some photographs of the winning pigeons and the happy fanciers taken when they received their trophies at the annual presentation in October.
Newbury flown 17th June 2006
For the first old bird race of the season with the SNFC the members entered 2838 birds into the inland race from Newbury. Convoyer Colin Gray liberated the birds at 06.00am with no wind at the liberation site he also stated that there was sunshine on the baskets and the birds cleared very quickly. The birdage is down by 779 birds on last year entry however this was to be expected due to the heavy losses experienced in the previous week’s bad federation racing. Plus the fact that at that time we had just received word that we could race from France many fanciers did not wish to take a chance on sending their Gold Cup entries to this inland national.
1st and 2nd section A and 1st and 2nd open are the Dumfries husband and wife partnership of Mr & Mrs Gunther Karl and Liz who have been very successful these past few years and were Solway federation fanciers of the year in 2005. Fanciers may also remember they won 1st south section from the SNFC Falaise race last year with Blue Boy who came up trumps and won the section again but better still he won 1st open SNFC. This year Blue Boy was raced out to Worcester winning a couple of prizes in the first 10 in the club however as it looked as if we were not going to race from France Karl stopped him for the season. When news of the Avian Flu ban was lifted Karl decided to enter him for the Gold Cup race and lifted him right into the Newbury race as a training flight. He was shown his hen for about 10 minutes prior to the race and he cooed down into the nest bowl calling to her and this was the condition he was sent to the race. Karl told me he only sent Blue Boy to have time on the wing as he had decided to send him to Alencon however if he wins the SNFC then that might be another story. Karl said he noticed the 2 cocks racing each other as they came towards the loft and as soon as they went through the doors he noticed it was Blue Boy so he timed him first and then the other blue cock right at the back of him. Blue Boy is a medium size cock and handles like a ball and also has a nice pearl type of eye.
The Guenther Family with trophies won for double 1st Open SNFC 2006.
Karl says he is a good racing pigeon and has won his fair share of prizes (29) over the 3 years flown on widowhood. As a young bird he was raced out to 200 miles winning 5th club 7th section from Seldom Gate. Then as a yearling he won 3rd club 3rd section Appleby, 3rd club 9th section Seldom Gate, 2nd club 3rd section Ripon, 3rd club 5th section Wakefield and 1st club 2nd section Newark. As a 2 year old he won 7th club 9th section Appleby, 3rd club 7th section Ripon, 3rd club 5th section Newark, 1st club 1st section Huntingdon and then 9th club Leicester. In 2005 Blue Boy won 10th club Ripon, 5th club 9th section Wakefield, 7th club Wakefield, 9th club 10th section Huntingdon, 3rd club 4th section Maidstone 313 miles. He was then given 2 weeks rest just his normal fly round the loft hen then received a training flight from Penrith a distance of 50 miles and then 2 from Carlisle a distance of 30 miles he was then repaired to his hen and was sent to the SNFC Falaise race sitting 5 days on eggs winning 1st section A 4th open. His breeding is from Karl and Liz own family of Daum Thorsten from Otzberg in Germany. Sire of Blue Boy is a direct son of Daum Thorsten Golden Couple, while his dam is again Daum Thorsten stock being from Jos Thone bloodlines. Karl 2nd section 2nd open winner is a 3 year old cock and was sent to Falaise last year returning injured during the week after the race. He was left to sit and Karl monitored his progress this year he has had 5 races out to Mangotsfield a distance of 252 miles prior to the inland national. He was prepared in the same widowhood condition as Blue Boy and Karl and Liz this year have raced both cocks and hens on widowhood with success I might add and from the national race they have 10 of their 11 entries home. This 2nd open cock sire was a black cock from black pied hen called Miss Chartreux who is now in Hong Kong. Dam of the 2nd open cock was a blue hen direct from Daum Thorsten of Germany and she too has produced many winners for Karl. Karl and Liz only fly the Daum Thorsten family and have done so with outstanding success since their introduction and as you can imagine Daum is as happy as the partnership with the achievements of his pigeons in the SNFC.
Alencon Gold Cup race flown 30th June 2006
We then came to our main race of the year and the pigeons were raced marked on Tuesday afternoon 27th June for our first channel race of the season which was from Alencon and was our Gold Cup race. As was expected the entry was down with 424 members sending 1556 birds there are many reasons for this the heavy losses sustained during club and federation racing also the fact that we did not know if we would have racing from over the channel until a few weeks ago. Which is not the best preparation for a marathon race like we have from this 500 to 650 mile race point? However even with this small group of birds it was obvious that only the very best is good enough to compete in the SNFC Gold Cup race and this small convoy entered by the top distance men in Scotland rank as the crème de la crème. The Gold Cup has been competed for since 1910 and here we are 96 years later racing for the same trophy our forefathers tried to win all those years ago. The magic of the Gold Cup race is something you have to be part of even if you only have one bird in your loft then it must go to this race. Fanciers dream of winning this cup however there can only be one winner therefore quite a lot of disappointed fanciers afterwards once they know they cannot win it. Nevertheless there is always next year and this is what keeps us going as pigeon fanciers the will to win it is like a football team and once you have lost that ‘will to win’ then the spark goes out of your life, however this has not happened to the true members of the SNFC who try every year to win this top award. Convoyer Colin Gray cut the stings at 06.30am in brilliant sunshine and the birds cleared very quickly and we expected a fast race. I anticipated that the early birds into the south of Scotland would be home on the 10 hours mark and my first reported bird on the lib line retrieving message centre confirmed my thoughts as Mr & Mrs Karl Guenther of Dumfries had timed in at 16.25pm. We had 69 day pigeons with early arrivals from 04.28am and the open result was finished by 09.53 am on the Saturday morning.
Double SNFC Winners in the same season
1st section A 1st south section 1st open was the loft in form Mr & Mrs Karl Guenther of Dumfries who timed in a 2 year old chequer cock at 16.25pm on the day flying 485 miles for a velocity of 1433.93. They have now named their winner Thor which is known as the ‘Viking God of Thunder’ as when he came to land he was soaking wet and pink around the wattles and eyes. Karl told me that the rain was so bad that it was bouncing off the payments and this continued from 15.00 to 18.00 hours on the Friday afternoon. He could not see across to the Cumbria hills it was so dark with back skies and he could not believe his pigeon managed to come through such atrocious weather and when he heard of birds north of him he was amazed that these gallant birds made it home and he has nothing but the highest respect for these wonderful pigeons.
Liz & Karl Guenther receiving the Gold Cup from President Tom Davidson.
Now for some details on the Gold Cup winner Thor as a youngster he flew the full federation programme and as a yearling was raced out to Maidstone where he won 1st club 1st section 3rd federation from this 300 miles event he was looking so good that Karl decided to send him to the last national race from Falaise which is also a federation duplicate race. Thor arrived at 06.11am 2nd morning to win 1st yearling in the federation as well as 91st open in the SNFC result. This year 2006 he flew the full federation race programme on widowhood and was then entered into the inland SNFC race from Newbury being the partners 4th bird just failing to make the result. He was given his hen for 24 hours prior to basketing for the Alencon national race and he returned from the race with a full wing as his first flight had fully grown and Karl was surprised that he had not dropped his 2nd flight in the basket. His sire is out of Kendriks –Meijbert from Holland from the Pau 116 and Barcelona lines. The Pau 116 won 2 cars during his racing career. Dam of the Thor is the same dam as the partners SNFC Newbury winner Blue Boy so therefore these 2 SNFC winners are half brothers being from the Daum Thorsten stock bloodlines. As a matter of interest the dam of both Thor and Blue Boy was lost in the spring of this year from the stock loft she escaped and sat about for 3 days and unfortunately she has never been seen again. What a mishap when you think she is the dam of 2 Scottish national winners however that is pigeon racing however Karl stopped 4 – 2006 youngsters from her and he has a full sister to her in the stock loft so these two national winners can be paired to their aunt to continue the winning lineage. I saw for myself how happy Karl, Liz and Nikki were at the national dinner and dance when they received their trophies for these wonderful wins. To win one national in a life time is a dream but to win 2 in the same season is exceptional again I express our congratulations to Karl, Liz, Nikki and Daum Thorsten on this unique experience and long may they continue to win and race their pigeon with the greatest club in the land the SNFC.
Tours race flown 8th July 2006
From our longest race of the season 136 members sent 339 birds convoyer Matthew Boyle had the birds away are 06.30am into a light south west wind and he reported that the convoy cleared within one or two minutes. I anticipated day pigeons and started to phone the answer service from the 12 hours mark however it was not until near 21.30 hours that I received word of the first bird into the south section to Jack Gilmour of Ecclefechan. Then 2 birds within minutes of each other into the central belt flying 621 and 611 miles just after 22.00 hours exceptional pigeons and you consider it was raining cats and dogs at this time of night and believe me it was nearly dark as the sky was so heavy with all this rain. These 2 birds were to Scott Gibson of Avonbridge and Richard Combe of Elphinstone. Many fanciers could not believe that these birds made it home on the day as the weather at the home end was so bad however they showed their true class and made it home and these 3 day birds deserve the highest accolade for their outstanding efforts. The next morning the birds did not start to arrive home until the rain had subdued a little and even at this fanciers reported that their birds were soaking wet on arrival home. The result will be all over by mid morning which again proves we have the best long distance pigeons in the land when you see the performance of Jammie Donaldson grizzle hen flying 707 miles and now winning her Gold Award it makes you proud to be a member of the Scottish National Flying Club as she has now entered the annuals of the history books as the furthest flying Gold Award winner in the 31 years since the Gold Awards became introduced. We pride ourselves in giving credit to wonderful pigeons and their owners who compete at the ultra distance however when you have the calibre of birds like the 3 day pigeons and the others who won at distances of between 600 and 730 miles within the SNFC then we can hold our heads high as we are without doubt the Supreme Club in the land.
Tours Winner
Scott Gibson of Avonbridge near Falkirk timed his only entry a blue 3 year old hen at 22.10am flying 621 miles to record a velocity of 1164 to win 1st section D 1st east section 1st open SNFC Tours. She was trained out to 50 miles as a youngster then as a yearling she was raced on roundabout and was nothing special until half way through the season Scott noticed something strange about her. While putting feeding into the hopper the blue hen kept coming over to him and touching his Gutty (trainer for people who don’t know what this is) she loved playing up to his foot. So Scott gently kicked her away and she came back and he did this a few times he started to spend some time playing with her and he kept doing this every time he entered the loft. She was sent her to Buckingham which is a distance of 300 mile and she won 1st federation by a margin of 55 minutes. The next week she was sent with the Scottish Central 3 bird club to Fareham a distance of 375 miles and she came up trumps again and won 1st prize and over £1,300 and a colour TV and was then named ‘The Gutty Hen’. Throughout the winter months Scott made up his mind that the Gutty hen was earmarked for the Gold Cup race of 2005. She was entered into the Uttoxeter race a distance of 225 miles and she won 1st club. Two weeks later she was entered into the SNFC Newbury inland national a distance of 329 miles and she won 4th section D 45th open with a velocity of 1223 winning £336. She was then entered into the SNFC Gold Cup race and was Scott’s only entry and she won 1st section D 3rd east section 4th open SNFC £2,468 for her efforts in this race. This year I don’t know what her preparation was as Scott did not contact me with her details. Her breeding is as follows: Sire was bred by John Bosworth and won 1st North West federation 4th open Scottish Central Combine from Sartilly. Dam is a dark hen who won 1st section 14th open SNFC Le Ferte Bernard 2004 Gold Cup race for Scott and is from Billy Park Busschaert bloodlines. Not many lofts have in their possession a 14th open hen breeding a 1st and 4th open SNFC winner.
Scott Gibson receives the Gold Globe from Tom Davidson.
What can I say about Scott Gibson the man with the Midas Touch as he has won 6 consecutive races from France into the Stirling area. It is when you look at Scott’s open results that the picture really sinks in as these results are nothing short of astounding as he has been 4th open, 3rd open, 1st open, 7th open, 1st open and 4th open so in 6 races against a total entry of 8920 birds from the whole of Scotland his worst position is 7th open and only 14 pigeons have beat this Avonbridge loft which is unparalleled in the time I have been a reporter for the fancy press. Another great achievement is that he has won ALL SNFC AVEAGE Trophies for the 2nd year in succession which speaks volumes for his commitment and his team of pigeons. What you must remember is that Scott is only sending one bird to the majority of these races. He had 1 at Alencon (7th open), 1 at Tours (1st open) and 3 at Falaise (4th open) gentlemen results like this speak for themselves and I cannot elaborate anymore on the performances other than to say they are truly exceptional and congratulations to Scott on these wins.
Falaise race flown 21st July 2006
For the last old bird race of the season 428 members entered 2039 birds into the Falaise national with nearly a 1000 of these birds from north of the Firth of Forth which is quite staggering considering the losses incurred this season. Matthew Boyle reported that there was fog at the liberation site which held up the release of the birds however this took place at 08.05 hours when they had sun on the baskets and he reported that the birds cleared very well. We anticipated birds would be home on the day and I thought it could be possible to have birds up into the Central area on the 13 hours mark.
Fife Winners
Winning 1st section C 1st region east 1st open are the Fife partnership of Gilmour Brothers of Leven who consist of brothers Ian and Robbie. They are steeped in pigeon racing as they have had pigeons most of their lives with Ian the main authority as the loft is in his back garden. Robbie is a long distance lorry driver and is away most of the week so depends on Ian to carry out the loft duties and attend to the birds. Ian was a very successful business man who has now retired and is a full time ‘Doo Man’ so to speak. The partner’s have had a torrid time of it at the date of the race as their 95 year old mother Mary died during the week and they buried her on Friday the day of the race. So therefore a pigeon race was the last thing on their minds, however as fate would have it 21 years ago the partners won the Fife Federation open race from France with a pigeon they called Young Dennis and 2 days prior their father Jock had died. Ian casually remarked on the Friday of the Falaise race day if fate would play another part in their lives now that Mary was looking down on them. Little did they know that she was encouraging their 4 year old chequer cock to keep up his blistering pace to lead the convoy of 2038 birds and win the race by a clear margin of 14 yards a minute? The winner is now named Robbie’s Boy and was sent to the race sitting 10 days on eggs his 3rd flight was ½ way up on one wing when I verified him he was in very good condition and handled like he had not lost any weight and hadn’t been out of the loft. He is a medium sized cock with a full yellow iris and a yellow circle of coloration. Robbie’s Boy has been a very consistent pigeon over the years for the partnership and as he does not have an F in his ring was know in the local club as the ‘No F cock’ as he won his share of prizes and pool money. Last year he won 6th open in the Fife federation duplicate race with the SNFC where he won 31st open Falaise. This year due to the late start on racing here in Fife because of the Avian Flu outbreak he was entered in nearly every race he had Otterburn 1 & 2 a distance of 84 miles, then Ripon 155 miles, Wakefield 185 miles, Leicester 260 miles winning 9th club and he was also on the federation open result. Then the comeback race from Ripon again on the club result, he was then sent to Maidstone the federation open race and he won 30th section 80th open. He was then given 2 training tosses from Crail on the Fife coast line and one from Berwick on Tweed prior to going to the national Falaise race. Robbie’s Boy was bred by Ian McLaren of Largo Ward in the east of Fife. Sire was purchased at the late Gordon McCaw entire clearance sale and was bred by Dennis N Dall of Ladybank. Dennis gifted this bird to his friend Gordon who was a little down at the time and Dennis said to him ‘Here this will put your name back up in lights’. This cock was bred in the purple and anyone who has followed the SNFC results over the years will know the name of Dennis Dall for the performances he achieved while flying with the club winning 1st open Niort 2nd open Tours winning a SNFC Gold Award it goes on and on. Sire of the gift cock was a half brother to Rowena 1st open SNFC Niort (she also won 3 SNFC diplomas) being from the same sire as this blue cock was an exceptional breeder as 3 children from him won at Nantes 630+ miles. The blue cock bloodlines go back to the famous Morgan and Cooke of Wales being direct from the Iron Man. Dam of the Gift cock was Barbara who scored 5 times from France for Dennis and was in the first 100 open on each occasion and of course won the coveted SNFC Gold Award.
A happy Gilmour family with trophies won for 1st Open Falaise.
Dam of Robbie’s Boy was purchased by Ian McLaren from Mr & Mrs Woolis of Grimsby she is grand daughter of Lona when paired to Ambition. So you will see that Robbie’s Boy is bred for the job and he will win Ian & Robbie the federation French trophy for the 3rd time as they won it with Young Dennis (another bred by Dennis N Dall) in 1985 then in 1994 they won it with their Black Krauth hen and now 2006 with Robbie’s Boy they also topped the federation and were 6th open from Falaise in 1978 with John Boy whom I wrote an article on all those years ago. It is not until you start going over these detail and you wonder where all the years have gone. In fact when I was about 15/16 years old I used to pal about with Robbie Gilmour and like a lot of friendships once you started to work and get married then you drift apart however it was good to meet up with Rob and Ian and their wives when I verified their winner. Congratulations to the partners on winning the Scottish National Flying Club and they now complete the treble of Fife winners as Frank Tarnawski won the Gold Cup from Alencon in 2005 and Mac Andrew & Dow won Falaise in 2004. When you look at the birdage in the SNFC then this is the club you want to win in and we take our hats off to the above fanciers who have proved without doubt if their pigeons are fit enough then they are good enough to win and we can hold our heads high in any company especially within the ultimate club in Scotland the SNFC.
Leicester Young Bird national flown 13th September 2006
After a 2 day hold over due to bad weather at Huntingdon the 1665 birds were moved to Leicester and liberated at 10.00am on Monday 18th of September into a south west wind. The forecast was that the wind would freshen throughout the route and a rain bearing weather front would spread in form the west reaching central areas by afternoon. This would have a significant effect on the birds racing into central and the west section. However some outstanding performances were achieved in this race with the furthest flying youngster a blue hen to A Ritchie in Banff a distance of 355 miles timed at 19.07 for a velocity of 1143.
The winners of the race are now a recognised top class partnership who have excelled in the past few years with some outstanding performances as they are past winners of the SNFC young bird race from Cheltenham in 1989 and 2004 and have now won the Leicester race in 2006. When you take into consideration that they won 4 out of the 5 races with the other national racing club it shows you the calibre of pigeon fanciers we have in Robert Walker and Jim Wilson. Both fanciers are hard working men who keep pigeons as a hobby and the birds have to fit into their way of life it is as simple as that however they are both very dedicated pigeon men and put 100% effort into trying to win every race they compete in.
Their winner was a chequer cock a gift bird from Alan Gowland of Wakefield and he was sent to the national feeding a 14 day old youngster and he had flown all club races out to and including Leicester the previous week from where he won a prize. It was a great pleasure to congratulate both Jim and Robert at the SNFC dinner and dance and I have included a photograph of them unfortunately I do not have a photo of their young bird national winner to go with this story.
Conclusion
Well that bring to a close the 2006 season and it will be remembered for a lot of reasons with the worst being we just about had no channel racing because of the Avian Flu outbreak. The losses incurred during the club and federation this year has been horrendous with many fanciers finishing half with through the old bird season, as for the young bird losses I’m at a loss on this as it has happened for the past 20 plus years and we are no further forward and no-one seems to give a hoot about it. It is accepted that if we breed 80 youngsters and are left with 20 at the end of the season then fanciers are happy, whereas years ago if you bred 20 you would be left with 15. Some fanciers like Walker & Wilson, Stewart Roberts and Gregor MacAuley who are there or there about at the top of the young bird national every year seem to have a system that works and maybe fanciers need to study these peoples management methods to see if it will help their fellow fanciers combat these losses. I will finish off this short article on the principal winners of the Scottish National Flying Club by again congratulating the 5 winners on their performances during 2006 and we now look forward to the 2007 season. Who knows it could be YOU reading this article that I may be writing about next year one thing is for certain you need to enter your birds into this the premier club in Scotland to participate against the VERY BEST of pigeons and fanciers. If you think you have the birds to do it then this is the club you want to win as we have the history, the trophies and the respect from everyone who knows and reads about the Scottish National Flying Club. Flying your pigeons in the SNFC is the ultimate challenge for all true long distance pigeon fanciers in Scotland, to compete against and beat the best in the land and there is no higher accomplishment in pigeon racing. It has been a great pleasure to be the clubs press officer over the past 2 years and although I was unavailable to compile the report for the young bird national due to being hospitalised I must thank Andrew McKee who stood in for me and did a first class job. We will again endeavour to give your birds the best attention possible while in our care as your entries are the most important possessions we have and they will be given the same respect as if they were our own individual pigeons. On behalf of the officials and management committee members may I wish all members a very Happy New Year and we look forward to meeting you at the club annual general meeting in a few weeks time to check out the proposals for 2007 log onto www.snfc.co.uk
Compiled and copyright Joe Murphy SNFC Press Officer
22/12/06
