National Flying Club Results & Information Database

Report 2005/05

The Langstone Gold Cup Averages Trophy

Outside of the Grand National race perhaps the most prestigious award competed for annually by NFC members is The Langstone Gold Cup. This trophy is a awarded to the Member who achieves the highest average velocity when combining his/her first timer from the ‘short’ OB race, the Grand National, and the YB race. Structured thus the winning Member must score well from a range of distances with pigeons of all ages making it an extremely competitive and unpredictable competition.

The trophy itself is named after J W Langstone himself a winner of the 1954 Nantes and 1956 Pau races.

The top 25 members in last year’s result were as follows …

Of the above I found four instances where the same pigeon was the first arrival from both Nantes and Pau …

Averages for a specific year are great, insofar as they go. However in accounting terms they are an annual Profit and Loss account for the financial year rather than a Balance Sheet reflecting the ongoing state of the business. By this I mean we are analysing one year in isolation from all others, rather than analysing extended trends.

Can we calculate the leading averages based on the last two years’ sets of results? Perhaps even three or four years? This will unmask the fanciers scoring consistently from race to race over a longer period with old and young birds. Well as you might expect by now I’ve done just that!

First we’ll look at the 2003 Langstone Gold Cup result and then I’ll reveal the combined average for 2003/2004 …

No instances where the same pigeon being the first arrival from both Nantes and Pau were found. Remember that in 2003 the pigeons were brought back from Pau to Saintes so we are not entirely comparing apples with apples on a year-to-year basis.

Had enough? No? You want more? OK … let’s look at the result of the 2002 Langstone Gold Cup and then recalculate a three-year average over nine races.

Of the above I found one instances where the same pigeon was the first arrival from both Nantes and Pau …

And now here is the list of just 22 fanciers who qualify for an average over the three year period …

Now what does all this mean? Draw your own conclusions but please don’t kid yourselves that these fanciers are anything but from the top drawer. I have to say that being a student of NFC form I’m not in the least bit surprised to see Chris Gordon at the top of these stats, nor Ron Ball and Alan Mark as runners-up. Come rain or shine they’re always in the top segment of any result. And who’d have thought before reading this article that a member from Section K would have topped these stats? Absolutely remarkable given the over-fly involved!

Two other news items … 1) Nantes is not available this year and we await an announcement on the replacement race point. 2) Also please note that the HORNDEAN marking station will not be used this year and is to be replaced by the BELL INN at BRACKLESHAM BAY i/c John Tyerman as before. To all those who helped the Horndean operation run successfully over the past two years John and I offer our sincerest thanks … the markers had to work in exceptionally cramped conditions yet gave 200% commitment at all times. John will undoubtedly be looking for additional markers and basket handlers this year so please don’t be shy … if you find yourself with half a day spare why not come and do some marking with us? I know that marking is not everyone’s cup of tea but the more hands we have manning the pumps the shorter any queues will be.

I’ll leave you all with a poser. Who is the only member to appear in the top 100 of the Nantes National in 2002, 2003, and 2004? Perhaps it was you? Of course I’ll reveal the answer in a forthcoming article.

More next week!
Paul O’Leary O014A

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