CYRILLE SCHASCHKOW

of France

1st International Barcelona 2005

Information and photos supplied by Nikolaas Gyselbrecht of www.pipa.be in conjunction with Elimar Pigeon Services

The Barcelona International race is always one that attracts the best of the long distance European fanciers and is always hard fought. Winning this race is the ultimate accolade that any long distance fancier can achieve. This year in 2005 it was the turn of "Diva Barcelona" to win the Barcelona international race in what were very hard weather conditions against 25,835 of the best-selected European pigeons. Her unbelievably high willingness to win gave her an extra advantage to outclass this 2005 field. In the result you'll only see the name of Cyrille, but the oldest brother, Raymond, who lives in Sarreinsming also takes part in the activities on the loft. Brothers SCHASCHKOW have made Barcelona their major goal, a goal that they have now achieved. Like most competitors in this race they do realize this race is the most honest race of all races because the pigeons have to be good to compete. Make no mistake about it Barcelona is a high demanding race of which only the best pigeons can win.

When fanciers send to this type of race there are always some who are possibly within striking distance on the day of liberation but only if the conditions are right. On the Friday evening the SCHASCHKOW Bros probably like a few more were waiting for their pigeons in the rain in their case until 11pm to see if there could be any pigeons at home on the day of liberation. Due to the bad weather they could be sure there whether or not there would be and they could not see any pigeons flying late into the evening with the conditions on the first day. So like all good distance men it was a case of getting up early in the morning and Cyrille went back to the loft around 4.40am, because he was convinced that his hen would already be there waiting for her boss, just like she did from Pau 2004 (clocked at 5.13am) and from Marseille (clocked as yearling at 5.48am). He wasn't wrong because this small hen was waiting, just on the same spot as from Pau 2004. No doubt she raced during the night, to get back to her loft as soon as possible.

Cyrille knew that this had to be an early pigeon, because in the Pau race of 2004 the east side had a little bit of an advantage but for this race the chances were equal. Raymond joined his brother just after 5am to find there was a problem; Cyrille still wasn't able to get his "Diva Barcelona" into the loft to clock her. After trying several times the hen finally entered the loft at 5.03am and straight into the clock what a sense of achievement the brothers had at this particular time, they knew she had to be a good pigeon.

A method for a real champion. Most of the time such excellent champions have something more to achieve these good results. Also brothers SCHASCHKOW have something extra because they have so much experience and motivation, which gives them an advantage in comparison to other fanciers. Only hens sitting eggs are in the Barcelona team they prefer to leave the cocks at home in the lofts. Most Barcelona specialists are convinced that the pigeons need a preparation flight at about 600 to 700 KM. The last race before Barcelona was the race out of Villefranche sur Saone on June 5 th , 390 KM! But the biggest difference is the training method, every morning around 5am his tasks for the day begin and they put the pigeons in the baskets and put the baskets in the car of Cedric, the son of Raymond. This is the easy part because Cedric works in Straatsburg so he takes the Barcelona team with him every morning to release the pigeons, without paying attention to the weather or circumstances of the day. This is a daily flight of 90 KM and it replaces the training around the loft because hens on the nest don't train well if they can only fly around the lofts. It also improves their orientation and they get used to all weather conditions. It takes about them around 53 minutes before they are back at the loft and on their nest.

"DIVA BARCELONA" was born to win a hen that has everything you would want in a distance pigeon. "Diva" is a 4y chequered hen, medium in size with very good feather quality. Even an inexperienced pigeon fancier can tell this pigeon is high quality. "Diva Barcelona" has a very high willingness to win, she doesn't know how to give up and it's also very difficult to handle her, she only wants to be in her nest. At the age of 4yr's she has achieved the top performance of her career. But before this race she had achieved success: In 2003 - 292nd against 20.204 pigeons in the International Barcelona Race, and 94th against 4.344 hens. In 2004 , she once again won good result from Dax and Pau (216e int hens). In 2002 a prize out of Marseille but what the brothers did notice was how quickly she recuperates after the race. They basketed 27 hens for the Barcelona race but the brothers didn't want to put her as their first nominated pigeon because Raymond had the feeling this would bring bad luck.

Cyrille and Raymond did everything they could to reach the top of the tree in the European pigeon sport. Every year no matter what the tension rises more and more when the Barcelona race is approaching. After that the pressure is not there, they don't have the same expectations for Marseille or Perpignan. After they received the telephone call from the organisers, the media jumped on it and suddenly their quiet village was now the centre of the pigeon world. On Monday they received a visit from an Asian television team. Raymond doesn't care about all the visits but Cyrille prefers the silence, but he understands it's all part of the Barcelona victory, a victory that will remain in their minds for the rest of their natural lives.