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LOU'S NEWS RACE REPORT CHATEAUDUN 167 MILES Written by John Tyerman (01243 670351) BARCELONA CHALLENGE LOFT UPDATE Over the past few weeks training has commenced for all the two and three year olds in the Barcelona Challenge Lofts at Hernicourt in Northern France. For those that don't know, the lofts were set up some three years ago, primarily to offer fanciers the opportunity to compete in the Barcelona International, where annually some 26,000 plus pigeons are entered by fanciers from all over Europe. The lofts are managed by John and Lou McGee and the venture is similar to a one-loft race, the main event being Barcelona when the pigeons are two years old but there are many other in-between races all flown with the very large Nord Pas de Calais Federation, that covers an area from Calais on the coast to Lille some 90 miles inland. The lofts accept young birds and competitors pay an entry fee of £185 each and this covers all training and race fees over the two year period. Many top UK and Irish fanciers have already entered in the hope that their pigeons will excel in the renowned Barcelona International. Young bird entries are lightly trained but as yearlings they are expected to fly Angouleme or Limoges , both 300 mile plus events. They compete in the St Pol Club which is affiliated to the Nord Pas De Calais Federation, where birdages can often vary from 10/15 thousand pigeons each week. Over the past two years some very good positions have been won in stiff competition, and last year in a very difficult Barcelona race 8 birds were recorded at the lofts on the winning day at 625 miles, and a total of 17 were recorded on the Bricon ETS system at time of clock checking. For a first attempt the Lofts recorded some good positions in the 2009 Barcelona International result and even the eighth pigeon home on the winning day beat over 22, 000 birds. The winning pigeon to the loft was bred and entered by the top partnership of Crammond and Langstaff of Fontwell and was from their Wim Muller/Von Helmond family. Overall loft returns from Barcelona were 50% and a few weeks later yearling returns from Limoges were around 90%. Out of interest on the winning day at Barcelona a phone call was received from a Spanish fancier stating that one of the team entries was at this loft in San Sebastian, and many others has also entered lofts in that area. Clearly this shows that these birds had flown across Northern Spain on the south side of the Pyrenees , so once on the wrong side had little or no chance of rectifying their mistake. This year the Lofts have a good strong team of 2 and 3 year olds’s being primed for Barcelona and their first race was flown from Chateaudun on Sunday 10th May a distance of some 167 miles. The Birds were liberated along with the Nord Pas de Calais Colombophile at 9-40am into a fairly strong north east wind. The winning pigeon took just under four hours for the 167 miles and is owned by Karl Gunther and Thorsten Daum. It was clocked on the Bricon system at 13-34 and was a good 15 minutes clear of the 2nd pigeon. Karl Gunther is from Dumfries in Scotland and is a previous double SNFC winner with his family of pigeons originally coming from Thorsten Daum the German 'Ace' Second pigeon is owned by Ray Bullen and this was recorded at 13-49. Third place went to Kenny Abbott of Brighton and fourth to Les Parkinson, the well known BHW scribe. (1st and 2nd positions were taken in St Pol Club) Other birds times/owners were: Fred Hall, 13-59, John Donovan 14-03, Crammond/Langstaff 14-04, Phil Rawson, 14-07, Chris Neave 14-09, Gunther and Daum, 14-12. Carmmond & Langstaff 14-13.54, Brian Holland 14-13-56, Karen Newcombe,14-13 57, Wilson & Owen, 14-13 58, M Buret. 14-14, Ray Bullen, 14-17, Bernard Smyth, 14- 17. 29, Chris Williams 14.17.42, Bernard Smyth, 14,17.44 Joe & Kevin Murphy, 14.18, , Paul Vine, 14-19, John & Linda Tyerman, 14-20, Harrison & Hull, 14.20.39, M. Buret 14-21, Chris Williams, 14.24.09, Richard Withall, 14.24.13, Ron Dove, 14.24.13, Rose Yates, 14.26, John Gordon, 14.26.38, Callum Tyerman, 14.26.38. Ray Bullen, 14.27.46, Ron Dove, 14.27.52. Karen Newcombe, 14.28.59, Jeremy Wright, 14.29, Crammond/Langstaff, 14.30, Dave Stanway, 14.31.02, Ayling & Edwards, 14.32, John Puddephatt, 14.33.01,& 14.33.46, Ian Gill, 14.33.47. A total of 157 birds were recorded on the race day by the Bricon system and all this information is sent out by Lou via email to all competitors and posted on elimar and pigeon portal web sites. (See www.thebarcelonachallenge.com for more information.) Now the season has commenced in earnest John and Lou are kept very busy with John doing overall loft management and Lou travelling many miles training the pigeons. She is also a full time mum with a teenage son and three year old daughter, so with loft chores, paperwork and training she has very little time to herself. They have settled well in the farming community at Hernicourt and now have many French friends. The lofts are fortunate to have Francis Nolmans of Bricon ETS who regularly visits Hernicourt to ensure the system and electronic timing is working well. Another visitor is Patrick de Muylder of Beyers Feeds who also give 50% sponsorship to the lofts by supplying their best quality grains to ensure the pigeons maintain top form. It is hard to believe that the Barcelona race is now only some 7 weeks away, so it is all systems go at the Lofts, with several more training races to be flown, hopefully without mishaps. This week the main team are at Blois, and next week Tours, and then various selected events in the run up to Barcelona. John and Lou can be contacted on 0033 32 1049851 or email thebarcelonachallenge@googlemail.com To finish this week, here are a few pictures from Lou...
Lou's cheeky little princess
Sophie-Lou's French Papi (granddad) and her pigeon “London”
Pigeon mad
Daddy's girl
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