SCOTTISH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
Report by Joe Murphy
Tours - Saturday 8th July 2006
I received this weather report from our analyst Steve Appleby who is so helpful to the SNFC. Steve wrote: My main concern on Saturday morning was the weather front consisting of drizzle and rain located over the channel which prevented liberations from France on Friday. During Friday evening this front moved into northern France and migrated in an easterly direction towards Belgium. At 06:00 hours some showery activity was still moving across northern France in an easterly direction affecting the Cherbourg Peninsula and the surrounding areas. The question is would the remaining cloud cover brake in time for liberations on Saturday morning? Fortunately the answer is yes due to the forecast rise in pressure. On viewing the satellite images, although cloud cover was evident over Northern France (see satellite image), some sunny intervals did develop over the race path to the English Channel. Winds over France were generally light from the west. The SNFC convoy on reaching the channel then picked up a light south westerly air flow and very good flying conditions. Visibility was in excess of 12 miles accompanied by long sunny intervals. The weather conditions over England can only be described as ideal. A fresh warm dry day with the risk of an isolated shower with high broken cloud giving sunny intervals and good visibility, winds light from the south west and temperatures reaching a maximum of 24c. A rain belt is approaching from the west and will not arrive until approximately late evening over the English mainland. It will then travel across England during Saturday night clearing away over the North Sea by Sunday morning. So pigeons up early Sunday morning continuing their journey north should have good flying conditions to reach their home lofts. Good luck to all competitors.
Birdage
The 136 members sent 339 birds which was broken down into the following: section A 23 members sent 59 birds, section B 28 members sent 83 birds, section C 32 members sent 75 birds, section D 9 members sent 22 birds, section E 32 members sent 79 birds, section F 2 member sent 5 birds and section G 11 members sent 16 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 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 when I say it was nearly dark as the sky was so heavy with all the rain. Many fanciers who phoned me today Sunday 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 and the 3 day birds deserve every piece of credit 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's 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 annals 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 Greatest Club in the land.
Section Winners
Scott Gibson.
Section D winner is Scott Gibson of Falkirk who 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. Scott was to phone me back with details of his hen however as I visited him last year when he won the national I have the information on disc so will just give you this. 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 feed 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 miles 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’.
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 I said Scott has not been in contact with me however 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 Parkes' Busschaert bloodlines. Not many lofts have in their possession a 14th open hen breeding a 1st and 4th open SNFC winner.
What can I say about Scott Gibson, the man with the Midas Touch as he has won 5 consecutive races from France into the Stirling area. Last year I thought he had a season in a million when he won 1st, 3rd and 4th SNFC races from France however he has kept up this unparalleled level of consistency by being 1st east section 7th open Alencon last week only beaten by 6 pigeons flying between 58 and 68 miles less than him. Then this week he has the furthest flying day pigeon at 621 miles being 15 hours 40 minutes on the wing to win 1st section D 1st east section and probable 1st open SNFC Tours. We have hear in our midst in Scotland a fancier who will be remembered for the rest of his life for the achievements of his pigeons and the great thing about all of this is that Scott only sends one pigeon to each race and they are excelling against the cream of the country. Congratulations to Scott on this win and believe me he has something special in The Gutty Hen.
Richard Combe's Tours bird.
Section B winner 2nd east section 2nd open with a velocity of 1141 is Richard Combe of Elphinstone who won 2nd section B 12th open in last week's Alencon race - so a loft in form at the moment. I have to say that Richard and his son Jamie kept to their normal routine regarding the birds so when the ban was lifted for the Avian Flu then they had birds sitting in the right nesting condition for the channel race. Richard's winner is a 2 year old blue chequer '3904' who was flying the water for the first time. She was sent to the race sitting on 2 day babies at basketing and was in excellent condition. As with most of the winning birds in these races she has not had a particularly hard race despite the near 16 hour flying time and she arrived home carrying good body and seemed relatively fresh. She arrived at 22.13. Richard was on his way to the garage to get some ice for his drink from the freezer and came dashing back in saying that there was a pigeon circling and by the time they got back outside she was hitting the top of the loft. As you can imagine, they were more than a little excited to be timing in one of very few day pigeons from 612 miles.
She flew 7 races to SNFC Cheltenham (280 miles) as a young bird without doing anything spectacularly well or badly. Similarly she completed 6 races to Maidstone (350 miles) without incident as a yearling. At the start of this year she was being considered for either Alencon or Falaise being just a 2 year old but her mate was lost early and she flew spare for much of the season. When a cock did become available she happened to lay perfectly for 2 day babies at Tours. Rather than lift her and mess her about to get her sitting for Falaise they opted to take a chance on her at Tours in her natural condition. Richard feels it is important not to upset them too much trying to force them into a certain nest for a certain race - better to take advantage of circumstances as best you can once plan A has gone by the wayside. In the build up to Tours she had 4 races, easy events from Otterburn (60 miles) on 22nd April, Northallerton (130 miles) 6th May and Selby (160 miles) 21st May before a testing 8 hour 25 minute fly from Peterborough on 3rd June which did her a lot of good. She then had 5 weeks off from racing and was just kept ticking over training wise until a week of hard training up to the weekend before basketing for Tours.
Her pedigree is full of Richard’s best birds of the last 15 years although her own parents and grandparents did not achieve as much as they had hoped. She descends from Midnight Son who appears several times in her extended pedigree, he was an SNFC Gold Award Winner and Dewar Trophy winner in 1998, winning 7 SNFC diplomas including 7th open Sartilly, 16th open Frome, 37th open Sartilly and 61st open Reims. The other top pigeon in her pedigree is Sapphire who won 5th & 31st open Sartilly and 29th open Beauvais. These two pigeons were the grandparents of Richard’s 2nd open Chenoise in 2003 and they have been responsible as parent or grandparent of several other top pigeons for him over the years. The Tours section winner’s mother was 135 was lost at Alencon last season when very well fancied. Richard thought so highly of this hen that he paired her to Midnight Son last year and was very disappointed when she failed to return from Alencon in 2005. She had previously won a diploma from SNFC Newbury as a yearling and both Richard and Jamie fully expected her to come into her own at 500 miles as a 2 year old but it wasn't to be. 135's mother was 841 who won 39th open Clermont in 2003 as a yearling before being killed by a hawk. Both Richard and Jamie were looking for this hen to have a big future in their loft so perhaps the Tours hen's pedigree does not really reflect the ability of her mother and grandmother.
Sire of the Tours section winner was a red cock 146 who didn't do much racing but was a half brother to 841 (see above - mother of 135) so there is an element of inbreeding here. He is a grandson of 4996 who was the result of Midnight Son x Sapphire (performances above). 4996 is the mother of Richard’s 2nd pigeon from Alencon (winning her 4th SNFC prize) last week so looks to have left her mark. Our congratulations to Richard and Jamie on another outstanding performance to have the only pigeon in section B on the day is exceptional and to be one of only 2 day birds in the east region is breathtaking well done to you both. Thanks to Jamie for sending me the details and the photograph of their winning hen.
Jack Gilmour.
Section A winner 1st south section 3rd open with a velocity of 1103 was Jack Gilmour of Ecclefechan who timed in his 3 year old red hen at 21.21 hours on the day flying 558 miles. Jack’s winner was sent sitting 7 days on eggs with her 3rd flight just burst as a youngster she flew most of the federation programme and then as a yearling out to the English coastline. As a 2 year old she won 2nd section 29th open SNFC Tours 2005 and this year her first race was from Cheltenham then the following week from Mangotsfield she was then entered into the SNFC Newbury race returning in the middle of the afternoon. She was then given about 4 or 5 training tosses early in the morning from Cumbria a distance of about 20 to 25 miles by Jack’s son who was working in the area at the time.
Sire was a direct John Carmichael from Ecclefechan via James Johnstone who was given up the birds and gifted the bird to Jack’s son in law Brian. The dam of the red hen was also a give from Andy Wilson of Dumfries and contains the Janssen blood, my thanks to Jack for supplying me with the details of his winner. To have the only bird on the day into section A is something special and one of 3 day pigeons is extraordinary plus the fact she will figure well up in the open result congratulations once again Jack on this performance.
Section C winner 4th open is Jock King of Kirkcaldy who timed in his 3 year old blue hen at 05.39am second morning flying 627 miles. Jock did not wish to give me details of his winning pigeon.
A happy Jim & Gary Peggie.
Second section C winner 5th open winner with a velocity of 1015 is the father and son partnership of Jim and Gary Peggie of Methil who you may remember won 2nd section C in last week's Alencon race. They timed in a 4 year old blue chequer white flight hen on the roundabout system. When I went to verify her and take her photo she was in tip top condition and a credit to the partnership on the preparation in sending her to the race as you would think she had not been out the loft. She returned from Tours with her 3rd flight ¾ grown. This year she had 7 races leading up to the national Tours race. She was 3rd bird to the loft from SNFC Newbury just missing the result and she won 11th club Leicester 162 birds. As a youngster she was raced out to Ripon 154 miles and her nest mate won 1st east section 6th open Autermuchty young bird classic Cheltenham 300 miles. As a yearling she flew steady out to Maidstone where she won 2nd club 5th section 14th open Fife Federation 2347 birds, 44th Amalgamation 5247 birds As a 2 year old she flew Le Farte Bernard with the SNFC winning 2nd club but missed the open result. Last year she won 1st club 43rd open SNFC Tours 395 birds winning section C nomination. Her sire is a Wim Van Leeuwen bred by Louella Pigeon World and was bought as a batch of 6 for £99 he won 1st club 11th region C 51st east section 107th open SNFC Portland 2397 birds as a yearling before being lost from a short training toss. Dam won 33rd east section 46th open SNFC Chenoise and scored 3 times from the federation channel races, she is a grand daughter of our good mealy hen who scored 4 times at the channel including 26th open Nantes and 31st open Niort 690 miles.
2nd Section C Tours for Jim & Gary Peggie.
Section E winner and 1st west region is George Rankin and son Gareth of Larkhall, another loft in form as they were 9th section E 77th open in last week's Alencon race. The partners timed in their blue white flight hen Westbound Rainbow who is a previous SNFC diploma winner. As a youngster she flew to Wakefield and then as a yearling she was raced out to the Lanarkshire federation race from Newark. She was then the 5th bird in the clock from SNFC Newbury race. In 2004 she has won 15th section E 58th Open Falaise 1,716 birds and 12th section E 165th open Falaise 2 with 3,025 birds. Then in 2005 she was 2nd bird clocked to the loft from SNFC Alencon winning the Daily Express cup in the Lanarkshire Social Circle for the best 2 bird average. This year Rainbow was paired up on the 7th March reared a pair of youngsters in the first nest and one young bird in the 2nd nest. She laid her 4th pair of eggs on the 23rd June and was basketed for Tours sitting 12 days on eggs. This year she had Otterburn, Ripon which were brought back to Kelso, Leicester on the 10th June winning 3rd club velocity 1576, 245 miles beaten by 2 loft mates, and finally Otterburn 78 miles the Saturday prior to basketing for Tours on the Wednesday, she was sent to Tours with her 2nd flight a 1/4 up, and returned from Tours in excellent condition. Sire of Westbound Rainbow 11599 was from a father /daughter mating. The sire was the number one stock cock a son of Westbound Junior and the Double Section hen. The number one stock cock was paired to his own daughter Westbound Princess when he was paired to an Allan Darragh hen 05495.
Dam of Westbound Rainbow was a class pigeon who was 1st bird to the loft from the SNFC Lille race just failing to make the result; she was then entered into the Lanarkshire Federation Lille race again 1st bird in the clock and therefore did 2 x 500 mile races in the space of weeks. She was bred from a gift blue cock from Jean & John Hollinger of Ballywalter in Northern Ireland. He was a grand son of Rainbow Warrior who won 4 times in the INFC results winning a Gold Award and a Hall of Fame Award in the INFC for John Catherwood & son of Ballynahinch of Co Down. Dam of the Jean & John Hollinger cock was a late bred in 1995 from George Barr from blue tip cock 04487 who was a son of ‘Northbound’ and ‘Achievement’ when paired to the Allan Darragh hen 05495. The dam of the twice Lille hen was bred from a blue pied cock 16233 who won the Ace Pigeon’ in the club in 1997 he was from the above blue tip cock 04487 the son of Northbound and Achievement when paired to a hen reared by Joe Murphy & son Kevin. This hen was a gift egg from George and Gareth from Red Rocket their SNFC Gold Award winning cock when he was paired to their Number 2 stock hen. Prior to the Murphy & son sale I phoned everyone who had gifted birds to me and offered them their birds back hence the reason this hen was sent back to Blantyre. The grand dam of the twice Lille hen was bred by Jean & John Hollinger from their best INFC distance bloodlines. Congratulations to George and Gareth on yet another outstanding performance from a 600 mile race they are without doubt one of the best long distance lofts in the country and if they win the west section then this will be a record 7th time for the partnership which is a phenomenal achievement.
Derek Hay.
Second section E 2nd west section winner with a velocity of 949 is SNFC committee member Derek Hay and his wife Linda from Kirkintilloch north of Glasgow. They timed in their 5 year old hen chequer hen 07.24am Sunday morning she was sent sitting 16 days on eggs and she cast her 2nd flight in the basket. As a youngster she had 3 races only to gain experience from coming out of the transporter, then as a yearling she flew from the south coast 370 miles to Kirkintilloch. As a 2 year old she was timed from Reims just failing to make the result, and then as a 3 year old she returned injured from the SNFC Falaise race. Last year she won 18th section Falaise and was earmarked for Tours from the word go, however with the doubt about channel racing Derek entered her into the Leyland race which due to bad weather the convoy were brought back to Gretna a distance of 78 miles. The chequer hen took 3 weeks to return from this race and she looked like a ‘townie’ with no plumage and dark lifeless eyes. He left her alone for a while till she picked up and once she had thrown her first flight Derek knew she was on the mend so he started to give her some light training tosses. These increased more or less on a daily basis once she showed no signs of stress from this training so Derek tossed him in every direction of the compass depending on where he was going that particular day. With all this training and attention at home she started to look the part and Derek was happy to send her as him main pooled pigeon to the Tours race. He told all his close pals that he had a hen who would do well from Tours and even with her only having the ONE race did not stop him from having confidence in this chequer hen. She came up and proved he was correct by being 2nd section and should be well up in the open result. Sire is a chequer inbred cock to Lady Linda who won 1st west section 7th open SNFC Sartilly (the day our Mystical Rose won the national) his sire was a red cock from Billy Holland being bred down from offspring of Lady Linda. Dam of the chequer hen won 1st region Sartilly in 1995 being the partners only entry, she also won 3rd region from Rennes and she was a daughter of Lady Linda. Congratulations to Linda and Derek on another fine performance after their 2nd open 40th open Alencon last week in the SNFC and again thanks for the photo to go with this report.
Section G winner and probable 1st north section with a velocity of 938 is without doubt one of the best 600 to 700 mile fliers in Britain namely Jammie Donaldson of Peterhead. His winning pigeon is a ‘pigeon and a half’, a 7 year old grizzle hen named Reim’s Girl. She has won 1st north section 52nd open SNFC Reims 620 miles in 2002, then the following year she won 1st north section 239th open SNFC Reims again 620 miles. In 2004 she was sent to the SNFC Tours race and she won 2nd north section flying 707 miles beaten by a loft mate for the top award. Then in 2005 she won 2nd north section 7th open flying 707 miles again beaten by loft mates so you will see that on the 2 occasions she never won the section she was beaten by her own loft mates which is truly remarkable and had she not been then she could have won 5 x 1st sections on her own. She must rank as one of the best 600/700 milers in Great Britain if not the WORLD as there are not many of these type about at the present time.
This year she had 3 races before going to Tours - Arniston 120 miles, Hexham 180 miles and the comeback Perth 99 miles. She was then sitting over due 3 days for the Tours race and received no training. Jammie slipped her a baby, her first of the year 2 days before basketing and he noticed the soft milk round her beak prior to the race and in fact she still had some of this on her beak when basketed for the race on Wednesday.
Sire was bred from Jammie’s good stock pair the Dennis Dall cock and Rennes Lass while her dam is bred from a sister of Sartilly Ann who was a daughter of Circus Boy who left a dynasty of outstanding pigeons in Jammie Donaldson’s loft. Congratulations to Anne and Jammie on a truly fantastic result with this superb ultra long distance pigeon. She is worth her weight in gold and now wins the coveted SNFC Gold Award and is the furthest flying pigeon in the history of the SNFC to win a Gold Award flying further than Aberdeen. She is the 6th pigeon to win this award in the North section. Dave Rose of Aberdeen won in 1975 and 1996. F Douglas & son of Aberdeen won in 1984, Larry Campbell of Aberdeen in 1991 and Doddie Ross of Aberdeen won in 1994. Now Reims Girl will make the history books as the ultra long distance champion of all time in the SNFC. My thanks to Jamie and Anne for the details of their winner and again I publicly congratulate them on this stupendous accomplishment.
Tom Blakeley.
Section F winner is Tom Blakeley of Irvine in Ayrshire who timed in his 4 year old chequer hen at 10.00am Sunday morning to record a velocity of 820. She was sent feeding a 3 day old youngster and her 1st flight was ¾ grown. As a youngster she flew out to the 150 mile mark and then as a yearling to Cheltenham a distance of 280 miles. As a 2 year old she won 10th section Newbury inland national and then last year she was 2nd section F Falaise behind Jackie Mathieson who won the section last week in the Alencon race with his winner from Falaise. This year she has had 3 races from 100 mile, 250 mile and then one 40 mile toss before the comeback federation race 113 miles last Saturday prior to basketing on Wednesday. She contains Delbar bloodlines as her sire was a Ian Axe Delbar bred pigeon while her dam was a Delbar from Louella Pigeon World. Our congratulations to Tommy on this win and it was a pleasure to speak to him and I also thank his son for sending me the photo to go with this article.
Tom Blakeley's 1st Section F winner.
Conclusion
This turned out to be a better race than first imagined as again the birds were caught in a band of rain which spread across the country and therefore shut the majority of birds out for the night. When I heard of the first south pigeon I thought that this would be the only bird on the day with the others shut out and when I received word of the 2 birds into the central belt after 16 ½ hours on the wing you have to be amazed at their efforts as it was heavy rain from the borders up into this vicinity. The heavy rain that fell over night did not stop until after 06.00 and stopped some birds from rising early next morning however soon after this time I again started to receive arrivals for the lib line service. When you look at the big picture and have birds recorded into Peterhead and Fraserburgh in the far north of the country it proves without doubt we have the best long distance pigeons in Scotland. We are the only club who caters for the ultra long distance fanciers and their quality pigeons and it gives me great pleasure to highlight these wonderful pigeons. Again I must thank the above fanciers for their feedback on their winners and again ask the committee to forward details and photographs of any birds they verify within their area. We can all enjoy a week off next week end (thank God as I have been burning the midnight oil these past few weeks on updating these reports) before our last race old bird race from Falaise which I hope will have a good entry to finish off the season.
Compiled and copywrite Joe Murphy, SNFC Press Officer.
Provisional Section Winners
A
1st |
W.Gilmour |
Ecclefechan |
1103.25 |
|
2nd |
W. J Smith |
Dumfries |
781.158 |
|
3rd |
G. Dalgleish |
Ecclefechan |
735.53 |
B
1st |
R P Combe |
Elphinstone |
1141.88 |
|
2nd |
D. E. Newcombe |
Macmerry |
987.96 |
|
3rd |
D. E Newcombe |
Macmerry |
965.40 |
C
1st |
J King |
Kirkcaldy |
1042.73 |
|
2nd |
J&G Peggie |
Methil |
1015.74 |
|
3rd |
J Brockie |
Ballingry |
980.19 |
D
1st |
S Gibson |
Avonbridge |
1164.004 |
|
2nd |
Gauld & Morrison |
Crieff |
855.76 |
|
3rd |
T & M Paterson |
Plean |
850.77 |
E
1st |
G Rankin & Son |
Larkhall |
962.79 |
|
2nd |
D&L Hay |
Kirkintilloch |
949.001 |
|
3rd |
D Simpson |
Larkhall |
900.64 |
F
1st |
T Blakeley |
Irvine |
820 |
|
2nd |
||||
3rd |
G
1st |
J Donaldson |
Peterhead |
938.65 |
|
2nd |
Ritchie & Whyte |
Fraserburgh |
878.74 |
|
3rd |
J. Donaldson |
Peterhead |
675.4 |
