NRCC Thurso Report 2010

By George Wheatman

THURSO 2010

It was another tough one for the North Road Championship Club when 322 members sent 2, 639 entries in the last old bird race of the season, from Thurso, on Saturday.

For the second successive race it was a Section Six member who came up trumps to take top honours. This time it was Ivan Rich, of Isleham, near Ely, who, just as Ray Farrington had done from Lerwick, proved that longer flying members can win NRCC races if they, and their birds, are up to the challenge.

Moreover, Will Attlesey, also from Section Six, finished as runner-up, while Lincolnshire and Section Two were in third place courtesy of the husband and wife partnership, of Bridget and Geoff Clare, of Sloothby.

There were four section winners in the first eight provisional open placings, and Kevin Lawson won Section One in the high placing of 15th open on a day when conditions were hardly in his favour.

These last two, longest, races – and even some of the extremely fast earlier races – have proved yet again that the NRCC can be won in any of the sections in the right conditions.

It was a difficult race for the London fanciers but there, again, was the incredible Pat O’Sullivan adding the Thurso Section Seven win to the section success from Lerwick just a few weeks ago, and keeping alive the thought that, maybe one day, the NRCC can be won in London. If it happens, who would bet against the name of O’Sullivan appearing on the trophy, especially as he now has such a deep pool of successful long distance genes in his loft.

So, yes, it wasn’t an easy race, and there are still a lot of empty perches in many lofts, and stories of birds being reported on boats out to sea.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man. And that man on Saturday was 61-year-old plasterer, Ivan Rich, of Isleham, near Ely. It is fitting that such a great supporter of the NRCC should reap the ultimate reward of an open win after impressive section performances in the past, including a section win from Lerwick last year.

The winner is a two-year-old blue chequer pied hen sent sitting on a four-day-old baby. She had been a consistent performer previously, and had been to Fraserburgh with the NRCC earlier this season.

Ivan’s policy is to send all his young birds to Dunbar, and then keep his yearlings for the shorter races in their first old bird season. As two-year-olds they have to fly Fraserburgh and Thurso, and the three-year-olds, and above, go to Lerwick.

He sent 36 to Thurso, and had nine on the day. He timed in at 6-41pm, the next one was at 7-38, and he had eight by 8-20pm. A big proportion of his entry has now returned.

He had 13 on the winning day from that difficult Lerwick race, and put eight in the clock.

Parents of the Thurso winner both went to Lerwick this year, and both were home on the winning day.

Ivan does not cultivate any particular strains, or fancy names, but simply pairs good distance birds together, and it is distance racing that is the big attraction for him.

He winters about 200 pigeons, including 30 pairs of stock birds, and keeps everything natural. They are on open hole and have to keep a wary eye for the increasing number of sparrow hawks, while buzzards and hobbies often startle the pigeons.

Even in the loft, there is no central heating luxury, as the front is all louvred. Loft visits are advised to take place in the summer, or armed with warm clothing at any other time of the year. This tough, natural regime is probably why Ivan’s birds have done so well in the two longest, hardest, races.

He trains once or twice a week to keep the birds in trim, and feeds food off the farm, wheat, beans and barley, plus some conditioning seed.

Partner Yvonne is a great help with the birds, and Ivan would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all she does. He was also amazed by the number of congratulatory calls he received after his Thurso win, and says thank you to everyone who made the effort to call.

Ivan has been a pigeon fancier for more than 50 years, and was a member of the junior section of the Ely club alongside such legends as Les Newman and Joe Brand.

Now it is on with the young birds, and training is going well. He hopes to be competing from Dunbar with the youngsters, but also hopes that the membership will rally round the old hens race, also from Dunbar, on the same day.

He points out that the entry fee has been reduced this year, and says it is well worth making the effort to prepare hens for this race. He has done well in this event in the past.

Ivan and Yvonne live very much the rural life at Isleham, with dogs, fancy birds and chickens all requiring their attention. They even have some Labrador puppies for sale off good working dogs. So time-consuming is this style of life that he now works only in the mornings as a plasterer. But it is the pigeons that have pride of place. No wonder, after that great win from Thurso.

In second place was Will Attlesey, of Soham, who flies in partnership with his wife, Hilary, the Ely club secretary. Their runner-up was a yearling Stichelbaut widowhood cock bird, which has been to all the NRCC races this year except Lerwick. This is another successful distance loft. They sent 20 and had 16 home. They had all 12 entries home from Lerwick. Sixty-three-year old Will started racing in 1976, is a past section winner, and was second section from Lerwick last year. He said his first Thurso bird came from the direction of the Riches’ loft, and he wondered if the two birds came together.

Section One winner, and 15th open on the verification list, was the class act that is Kevin Lawson, of Ollerton. His section winner is a two-year-old chequer pied hen that is full sister which won the section from Lerwick. She was also 43rd open from Dunbar last year. Kevin sent 30, and had 12 home in a 50-minute spell. He had 21 home on the day, and the count was up to 26 by Sunday afternoon. With the wind raging from the west, it was never going to be ideal conditions for the star Ollerton loft. He did, however, have nine yearlings on the clock, and there was a particularly outstanding performance from one of these. It was having its first-ever race!

It was all a big mistake, really. Kevin has two pigeons that look very much alike, albeit that one is a cock and the other a hen. He meant to send the cock, but picked up the hen. He did not realise the mistake until he reached the marking station, and decided to send her anyway, even though she had only been trained 91 miles as far as Scotch Corner.

So, what happened? Yes, you have guessed it. She was his seventh pigeon to the loft!

In third place, and winners of Section Two, are Geoff and Bridget Clare, from Sloothby in rural Lincolnshire. This is one of the outstanding lofts in the NRCC with four open wins to their credit, plus a bucketful of near misses, including second open Fraserburgh this year.

Anyone who knows Geoff, and how he was stung by the rare experience of failing to time in from Lerwick, would have put money on him doing well in this race, so fierce was his determination to bounce back to the top.

Indeed, he was at the top of the leaderboard for a lengthy spell, but the disappointment of missing out to two outstanding pigeons in Cambridgeshire, was compensated by knowledge that his Simmonds Bros Jansennes can cope with the toughest of races.

Their first timer was a handsome three-year-old blue chequer widowhood cock bird, who won the club from Ayciffe, and was fifth Peterborough and District Federation, the previous week. He is brother to the bird that was second open Fraserburgh. His brother was also 16th open Dunbar.

Said Geoff: “You can always count on him. He is no bother. He just sits in his nestbox and gets on with life. He has had seven races this year on roundabout. I did toy with sending him to Lerwick, but decided to save him for Thurso.”

Bridget and Geoff have had a good season, winning five firsts in the strong Alford club, winning the Fed twice, as well as being second and fourth.

In the NRCC they have been 16th open Dunbar, 6th open Perth, 2nd open Fraserburgh and 3rd open Thurso.

They also timed two other birds in quick succession, the second being their best hen, a three-year-old blue Simmonds Bros Jansenne that has won more than £1,000 in pool and prizemoney this year. The third timer was a 2008 blue chequer which won the NRCC old hens race last year.

You don’t usually have to look far to find a contender for winner of Section Three these days. Just to the Lincolnshire village of Horbling where that great pigeon lover, Frank Bristow lives, and this is the place to be. Again he did not fail as he claims fourth open and wins the section with a Wily Thas pigeon which carries the name “Rusty.”

This is a three-year-old widowhood cock who carries some bronze on his dark chequer feathering.

“Rusty” is a bit of a character and is more likely to land on the roof, and preen himself, when the other cocks take to the skies for exercise, and has to be “persuaded” to join the others.

Frank sent 20 to Thurso, and timed six on the day, and had two more on Sunday.

“Rusty” was pooled through to £5, and also carried the £1,000 nomination.

Frank, knowledgeable and enthusiastic without compare, has been a successful fancier for many years, and most people, can only dream of matching his achievements, but he seems to have moved to a new level of consistency in recent seasons, both from the north and the south. Especially in national races.

There are some famous names in the Norwich partnership which won Section Four, Lambert, King and Lambert.

Active members are 67-year-old John Lambert, and Wayne King, youngest of the King family who won the young bird national last year.

Sentiment keeps the name of the third member, for it represents the late “Doodles” Lambert. Indeed the partnership bought pigeons from his bereavement sale.

The section winner - and provisionally eighth open – is a three-year-old chequer widowhood cock bird, flying Thurso for the first time.

He stems from Michael Ward pigeons, in Cumbria, which, in turn, are of the Billy Knapp strain, the legendary Up North Combine fancier.

It has always been a consistent performer, but had never won anything before. Its reward could be to be aimed at Lerwick, or Saxa Vord, next year.

The partnership sent 14, and had three on the day. They have had a good season, particularly from the distance.

John’s wife, Ruth, is a big asset to the partnership, taking the birds training so that John can get them in on return.

Section Five has been won by the loft of Miss M Judd, of Ramsey, who keeps reeling off success after success, and surely must be one of the most consistent lofts in the NRCC. Unfortunately, to try to contact anyone to talk about these outstanding performances is as difficult as trying to trace the Scarlet Pimpernel. It is a great shame that these pigeons are not receiving the credit they deserve.

It was really tough for the London fanciers, and only a small handful timed in.

Once again that distance ace, Pat O’Sullivan, timed in to win the section with another of his indomitable Braveheart-Limerick Lady family, which must be among the best distance pigeons in the country.

He already had the Lerwick section win under his belt, with Celtic Spirit, and here is a two-year-old chequer hen, daughter of Dreammaker and the Slatey Cock, homing on the second day to win Section Seven. She did not race as a young bird, and this year had her first race from Hexham before going on to Berwick and Fraserburgh prior to being sent to Thurso feeding a four-day-old baby.

Pat thought that the Thurso race, 500 miles to his loft, was even harder than the difficult Lerwick race (600 miles), and he thought the Thurso winner had lost more weight than his Lerwick pigeons.

He sent nine and had eight home, an impressive record in such a difficult race, from Lerwick, and now has had three out of six from Thurso.

He thinks that his birds excel on two-day races and, maybe, they are becoming even better as the years, and races, roll by.

He puts his success down to “pairing up on St Patrick’s Day, and praying”. The fact is that Pat not only knows how to prepare pigeons for the toughest of races, but also knows how best to use the incredible gene pool of distance birds he has developed in his loft.

He is, without doubt, one of the best distance flyers in the country, and this is the quality of fancier the NRCC is proud to have as a member.

If ever the Royal Pigeon Racing Association decides to produce a marketing film extolling the virtues of the sport as a family activity, there is a family all set to play a central role.

They are the Boyds, from Ipswich. Father James, his wife, Nicola, nine-year-old twins, and two more children aged six and four.

It would have been great to capture their joy unbounded when they realised they had won the formidable Section Eight.

Said 50-year-old James, who works in the caring profession with people who have learning disabilities: “It is very much a family affair for us. We all join in and enjoy it very much. The children were dancing round the kitchen when they heard the good news.”

The pigeon that made it such a great day for the Boyds was a two-year-old blue Staf Van Reet cock bird, sent feeding a 12-day-old baby, timed at 8-23pm after more than 14 hours on the wing.

They sent only three and had two home.

The Staf Van Reets originate from Bert Hession.

Because his father kept pigeons, the sport has been part of James’ life since he was 11 years old. He said his wife should take a lot of the credit for the success because she does much of the work with the birds, and the children can often be found in the loft playing with the young birds.

“In fact,” he said, “I think the only person the birds are shy of is me.”

The children take it in turns to go down to the club with their dad, and there they can meet other section winners, for Ipswich PRC has produced three of them this season.

So there you have it. The NRCC old bird season is over, three fast races, and two – the longest – as hard as you could imagine.