DAVE IMPETT

OF BLACKPOOL

 1st Section L

NFC Tarbes, 747 miles

by Cameron Stansfield

For those in the north-west of England who are NFC-minded, nothing compares with winning Section L in the Grand National. This year the race was held from Tarbes, which is to the east of Pau, and it proved to be a resounding success, with no member's UK loft location being a barrier to success. Basically, if your pigeon was good enough you were in with a shout - there could be no excuses.

KATIE'S STAR's PEDIGREE

SIRE: NL.00.1764239 - Bred by the World Famous "Brugeman Brothers" Holland.

1764239 is a half brother to Sutra

56th Nat 82nd Inter Barcelona

170th Nat Barcelona

284th Nat Barcelona

Sutra is bred down from Oude 62

11th Nat Marseille

18th Nat Perpignan

25th Nat Perpignan

30th Nat Barcelona

DAM OF KATIE'S STAR - Full sister to 1st Sec. 6th open N.W.C.C. 20th Sec L 268th open N.F.C. Saintes on the day 571 miles

in a north west wind as a yearling. This hen is bred down from the famous DE16 of Albert Simmons,

For those who don't know, Section L begins in Cheshire and runs up through Lancashire and beyond. This year it witnessed a fantastic performance when Dave Impett of Blackpool clocked his 3y hen of Bruggemann Bros lines at 7.21am on the second morning of the race, having flown 747 miles at nearly 1200ypm to record 12th Open. A late-bred, Katie's Star had a couple of races as a yearling, and at two flew Saintes, 570 miles, with the NFC, being on the loft early on the second morning. This year as a 3y she went to Wincanton, 200 miles, and then NFC St Nazaire, 468 miles, at the beginning of June, arriving at tea-time on the winning day, a very good performance given the fresh westerly wind. On return she sat out her eggs, then went down again and was sitting 12 days for Tarbes. After St Nazaire she was left alone before having a 20-mile toss the week before basketing. Dave likes to send a good team to St Nazaire because he believes that you have to make pigeons think, and if they come on the day, having avoided being dragged all over, he feels he has got a pigeon he can work with.

Dave's mentor in his early days was Roy Mundy (a mentor he shared with Roy Gough, last year's winner of Section L from Pau) but Dave then took a break from the sport for 20 years, only returning 5 years ago. Prior to this re-start he did his homework, gathering information on the top long-distance lofts in Europe, looking for good pigeons which no-one else in the UK had. He went back through ten years' worth of International results and, as far as Barcelona was concerned, one name stood out, that of Bruggemann Bros, and what's more they were flying under similar conditions to Dave, having to compete into the north-west corner of Holland. A visit was made, he liked the type and so they were introduced.

Dave describes them as a henny family, on the small side with very silky feather, and lightly-made, so much so that you don't know you've got them in your hand. He says they tend towards being a bit short in the keel, which knocks on the head the idea that you need long-cast pigeons for the distance. When he bought these birds from Bruggemann Bros they told him they were 800-900ypm pigeons and not to expect them to win faster races - yet Dave's hen recorded close to 1200ypm from Tarbes. A friend witnessed her arrival and could not believe she had flown so far.

Dave believes that happiness is a big factor in long distance racing and to that end he tends to leave his pigeons alone to get on with things, with them having a semi-open loft and so on. He also said that he has read that you can't win at 700 miles without putting things in the water, yet he says that that's all his pigeons get - corn and plain water.