BICC FALAISE 1

Report by www.elimarpigeons.com

"J. W." wins BICC Falaise for Geoff & Catherine Cooper

The BICC kicked off their 2008 programme from Falaise last Saturday when approximately 4,500 birds were liberated at 7am in an east wind turning to south south-east en route. A fast race ensued and the honour of winning 1st Open went to Geoff and Catherine Cooper of Peasedown who timed a 5y widowhood cock called "J.W.".

‘J. W.’, winner of 1st Open.

This is the second time this partnership has won Falaise with a distance pigeon, as two years ago they also won this race with "Wriggler". This was "J.W."s second race of the season, the first being the previous Saturday from Minstead, 44 miles. "J.W." had four training tosses of about 20 miles prior to racing, normally the birds only have two, but because of the new loft all the cocks had four.

Geoff and Catherine were quite apprehensive about this season’s racing with old birds as in the autumn they pulled down all their old lofts and replaced them with a single block and rendered loft 85' long. They were unsure if the old birds would bond to the loft the same. They need not have worried, they won the first race from the loft, a sprint from Minstead and the second race was Falaise. When he returned "J.W." showed no urgency to trap, he came very high and flew what Catherine calls a "helter skelter", just drifting down in circle, then as he reached the level of the loft he went clapping off for another lap of honour.

This was a good race for Geoff and Catherine, their birds returned in good condition and they had 19 out of 20 home.

All the race birds are fed twice a day on a mixture that Geoff makes himself based on Versele Laga and Willsbridge mixtures.

Geoff & Catherine Cooper’s new widowhood loft.

Geoff and Catherine's ambition is to stay at the top of National racing as long as they can. They used to say they would like to win a long distance National but they have had so many second and thirds they are beginning to think they never will!

In the BBC Nationals they have won second from every racepoint and they have won second, third and fourth from every racepoint in the National Flying Club many times.

‘Titch’, sire of 1st Open.

The family of birds raced are mainly Deweerdts. Geoff has had this family since the early 1980s. In 1984 he had a superb year breeding from these birds. Nearly every bird bred scored top national prizes. This was the year he bred "John", "August" and "Bulldog". He also bred a chequer cock called "53" which won many top National and Classic prizes from Rennes 222 miles through to Pau 560 miles. This pigeon was put in the stock loft as he was breeding good birds as well as racing well (Geoff will often retire a good pigeon early if he is breeding well). When "53" was ten years old he bred a chequer cock called "Titch" who also won many top National and Classic prizes from 100 miles through to 650 miles. "Titch" was also retired early to the stock loft where he is still fertile and breeding good pigeons. In 2003 "Titch" when paired to a daughter of Deweerdt's "Boris", 36th International Perpignan, and bred a chequer cock which Geoff called "J.W." who besides winning Falaise 194 miles, has also won 26th NFC Saintes, 9th NFC Dax, 1st Wetherby Midsomer Norton HS (flying north), 32nd Central Southern Classic Fougeres plus many other prizes.

The pedigree of ‘J. W.’, 1st Open.

The results of breeding and racing over the last twenty-five years show the versatility of this family; they can win from all distances, either in a head wind or a tail wind. To win Falaise in a tail wind against a majority of sprint pigeons is a remarkable achievement for a family that is famous for its results at 500 miles and over. This family has crossed brilliantly into many other families, too, resulting in many National and Classic winners for other fanciers. The racing team are mainly pure Deweerdts but some have a quarter cross of other good pigeons. Geoff will always try a cross from another good pigeon but he likes to line breed to the Deweerdts. Geoff has often been asked about "J.W."'s name, how and why "J.W."? When he was racing this cock he had the number written down wrong in his loft book. Whenever he sent him to a race the number was wrong on the race sheet, and one of the markers, top local fancier Janet Wilcox, used to get so exasperated with him that he called the pigeon "J.W." after her. He did eventually correct it in his loft book!

2nd West Section, 2nd Open falls to Mr & Mrs Dave Bradshaw of South Wales. Dave said: ‘My wife Brenda helps out when she can but our 8 year old grandson Lewis has become very keen with the birds over the last six or so months and accompanies me to the club to help with general marking of the birds and never misses a clock opening. So there is a conscript in the making.

Dave Bradshaw (right).

‘I have been around pigeons all my life starting from when we were growing up in Southampton. My father Charlie Bradshaw Snr was a well-known and respected long distance flyer with many awards under his belt, and my brother Charlie Jnr is no stranger to success with pigeons along withhis daughter Nataliewho flies a good bird. So I suppose you could call us a pigeon family.My son Richard has also just joined the ranks and will be flying young birds this season.

‘In this race from Falaise we had two birds arrive together and the first that we managed to clock is a 2y cheq hen sent sitting chipping eggs. This hen won Lyndhurst the previous week and gained 22nd Welsh South Road Fed with 1,980 birds competing. The breeding is down from the lines of our old champ Crockett's Rocket, twice winner of the BICC and winner of too many overseas races to mention. The breeding on one side is out of my father's Steele of Uttoxeter x Van Bruaene and on the other side is out of M/M Alan Maull's Janssen line. The second bird that we clocked 1 minute later is a gift bird from our good friend and top flyer Wilf Mort of Skewen. After many years flying, Wilf has decided to call it a day and he bred me some gift birds, which we had too late to race as young birds. This particular bird is a cheq yearling cock sent driving his hen to the nest. He had no racing as a young bird and only one five-mile training toss.The breeding is a Busschaert.

‘We race the natural system with a team of 24 pigeons.All are trained in as direct a southerly route as possible and they have a training toss of between 40 to 60 miles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We use a widowhood mix mixed with Irish mix and also give our birds molasses, cider vinegar and honey every two weeks.To the Falaise race we sent 17 entries, clocked 6 in 32 minutes and had 16 home on the day and the last one was sitting on the trap Sunday morning. The condition of the birds arriving home was a credit to all involved at the BICC and the 17 birds that we sent to Falaise, barring any mishaps, will be in the next BICC from Falaise.

‘We are past winners of only bird home on the day from Lerwick, Welsh South Road National Averages, we have topped the Fed from many overseas racepoints and have won many 2Bird Championships northand south.Our proudest moment was when Crockett's Rocket won the BICC for a second time and all in all up to date we havewon the BICC 4 times.

‘Once again we are having a good season. In the Trallwn South Road Club we have had four races and won them all. In the Four Seasons we have had four races, won three of them and come 3rd in the other. We won the Welsh South Road Fed from Lyndhurst two weeks ago with a 2y which as a young bird was the only bird home in race time from Kelso on the North Road in the Swansea Valley Fed and up to now have accumulated quite a few Fed cards. My ambition is to win the International from Pau.

‘We would like to congratulate M/M Cooper on their success and wish them well for the future.I would also like to thank Brian Davies for all his help as we share the training tosses and, last but not least, Hayden Davies who helps out in the loft when I’m away. Also I would like to wish Jan Deacon, the Sec, a speedy recovery.’

3rd West Section, 3rd Open goes to Terry and Carol Gardner of Caldicot who work together with the birds and Carol is the secretary of Greater Distance Club in South Wales. They have only been at this address for 4yrs so are now getting re-established, however they first started back in 1972. They timed a 3y dark chequer pied hen raced on a basic roundabout system with the bowl turned over and straw added before basketing. They feedhalf barley and half widowhood mix with the addition of peanuts plus a few beans when they get to the longer races. Their timer is part Jan Aarden with thedam being a great great granddaughter of Invincible Spirit, whilst the sire is a Stichelbaut and comes from Ponderosa. She had two Lyndhurst races from 67mls and was trained to Bridgewater, about 30mls. Her previous wins include 10th Welsh South Road National Messac and 2 x 1sts and 1 x 2nd in the club. The partnership themselves have won 3 x 1sts Nationals and been 2nd on five occasions, although their greatest pleasure from the sport was having the longest bird on the winning day from Palamosflying 725mls. Terry’s hen is being prepared for Pau and with this being a fast race she will have another 300mls race and then into the big one. Terry’s ultimate ambition is win an International!

Janet Wilcoxof Radstock takes 4th West Section, 4th Open on 1861ypm and followed up with two more on 1840 & 1830. Janet flies in partnership with husband Ken these days due to immobility (dual hip replacement and chronic back problems). Janet and Ken are both now over 70. Ken has been a lifetime in the sport with great success winning his first race in 1949. He flew with his stepfather for 30 years till 1980 taking many positions in the Classic and the National including 8th Open Pau 1968. Janet has raced in her own right since 1968, winning many positions in the West of England Combine, the Classic and NFC. They sent 16 hens on the roundabout system, which had previously flown 3 races to East Prawle, timing 3 in 3 minutes and getting 12 in an hour, and at mid-day Sunday 2 were missing. The first bird is 4y cheq hen from their Busschaert family, the sire being bred by Dave Vowles of Street from his Danny Challis bloodlines. Nestmate to this hen was 84th open NFC Cholet 2007, a sister was 18th Open BBC Poitiers 2007 and she herself has taken positions both north and south but is not the most reliable of birds. The 2nd and 3rd hens timed 2 minutes after the first were from Geoff Kirkland’s Desmet/Bauwen/Van der Pol bloodlines (they have had many birds from Geoff over the last 25 years) and these were followed closely afterwards by 3 sisters of the first bird. Feeding is Gem’s Super Diet, with Gem breeding mix added a couple days before basketing. This was Janet and Ken’s first race with the BICC and they commented on the excellent condition in which their birds arrived home.

Ken & Janet Wilcox.

Bartlett & Jones take 1st Centre Section and here is what Rob Jones had to say: ‘I am 35 and have been racing since I was 12. F. Bartlett was my uncle who passed away a couple of years ago. The bird that I gotwas a yearling hen that has scored in the fed andwas 5th Section, 34th OpenBBC Lamballe last year. She has come to win the fed with loft mates when I had 25 to win the fed last year but had only 15 read off to break my own record of first 10 in the fed.She is a lovely henthat isJanssen based with a bit of Brian Bolton Van Loon in her. She is slightly long cast with a lovely violet eye and haswon in the show pen. She was bred in the race loft and her mum won 2 x 1stclub, 1st & 4th fed last year. All birds are raced onmy own system called Natural-hood, which is nearly identical to my apprentice Ritchie Thomas from Portsmouth who on this similar system has won 2 Classics, many fed wins and the yearling derby in the Classic. I must also mention that I let himtrain my birds for me when I am very busy with work and I sometimes pay him back the same favour.

Rob Jones.

All birds are fed on my own mixtures bought from Brian & Viv Wall of Gem at Chichester, Versa Laga direct and Willsbridge from Tim Jones or Nigel Langstaf from Fontwell. The only additives given are the Aviform products that have helped me win hundreds of first prizes averaging 20-30 first club, fed,national, classic and sections each year including 1st Open NFC Nantes 10,000 birds, winning a car with a hen and the following year winning the car nom in the Classic with the same hen. Other wins include 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Open BICC Falaise, 1st Open old hens Classic Guernsey, 1st Open SMT combine 8,100 birds with a hen, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Open Wessex Combine 1000ypm, first 3, first 4, first 5, first 10,and first 15 in feds, 3rd and 5th Open BBC national winning a motorbike, and a good hen last year won 2nd Open Cholet Classic and 1st open Yearling Derby. This same hen won the Champion of 2006 in the Classic, also winning the Gold ring, a T3 and also in the Cholet Classic a Unikon system. I must thank Ray Knight for his help with my ETS as I missed the arrival of my Falaise bird. The story goes like this… I was indoors on the Throne and went outside to get ready for the race. After a while I got up to check the time and the chequer hen was already home. To my amazement as I didn’t expect them to do 1800s let alone nearly 1900s!’

Jim Derbyshire of Whitchurch in Hampshire, a fancier for 45 years, wins 2nd Centre Section with a 2y natural cock of Louella Dordin lines.He’s a previous winner of a 1st and 2 x 5th club and he had one prep race. The plan now is to send him to the next BICC Falaise event. Jim has a wooden loft with two sections, one for 40 young birds and one for 30 old birds. The team are fed Gem corn and given Gem products. In addition to the Dordins, he also has the Louella Marjn Van Geels. Locally Jim flies with Andover Pigeon Club, which is based at The Railway Inn, Whitchurch. It has a membership of at least 30 and is affiliated to the Wiltshire Fed, and Jim wanted to acknowledge its secretary Fred Burton and Cardin Garrod who operates the ETS clocks. He also wanted to mention his good mate Tom Kenyon who feeds and waters the birds when he is working away. Jim’s past successes include 6th Open BBC Palamos678 miles, 2nd Open BBC Barcelona700 miles, 9th Open BBC Palamos, 13th Open BBC Palamos, 1st Open CSCFC Bergerac 449 miles, 24th Open CSCFC Pau 546 miles on the day, 29th Open CSCFC Pau, 30th Open CSCFC Pau and 1st Wiltshire Fed Bergerac. Jim says he has no specific ambitions, he just enjoys the sport.

Raymond Murray of Southampton takes 3rd Centre Section. Raymond is assisted by his wife Pauline and they do all the jobs together including training and the cleaning of the lofts. They have been racing for the last 6yrs and Raymond tells them down the local club that he is still a novice. He timed a 3y chequer Van Loon cock flown natural, a system he will probably stick with for the rest of the campaign. The birds are all fed on Gem Best All Round mixed with Gerry Plus but he does lean towards the Gem mixture. This was his timer’s first race of the season because of the cold weather in April, though he had been trained, and he had not won anything prior to this win. Raymond said he went straight through the open door on arrival and was in great condition. He will now go to the next BICC race and Raymond added that the great thing about the BICC is that you can just turn up with your birds at marking without having to book them in days beforehand. Raymond, who has been knocking on the door on a regular basis with the BICC, is a past winner of the NFC from Messac (in 2005) and was 2nd Bergerac with the BBC. He would now like to win one of the longer BICC races.

Ray & Pauline Murray with their granddaughter Ellouise.

1st North Section goes to Geoff & Paula Bebbington of Northwich in Cheshire who clocked a 5y Jan Aarden cock flown on widowhood and fed on the Versele Laga Gerry Plus system. He had two Cheltenhams, which is about 96 miles, and five training tosses, three at ten miles and two at twenty, and he only got them because the hawks have been attacking the pigeons around the loft this year. They have had two from theloft and two from trainingand that's just from Geoff’s main race team of 22 cocks. Of the 25 young birds he had flying out at the time, 5 showed signs of hawk attacks and one was eaten alive. Geoff’s timer arrived in top condition though a bit dazed, and overall the loft had good returns. Indeed Geoff had a £5 bet with John Brooker at the club house that he would get all his birds back from the channel before the club strike at six o'clock, or at least as many as John got back from the club race at Mangotsfield, which is 120 odd miles. They both sent 18 and they both had 16 out of the 18 at the strike so they called it a draw. Thereafter Geoff got one more back on the day and the other one is still out. On Sunday morning he put a bath out for them but they weren't interested, they just wanted to fly. They will be going to the next BICC race in two weeks’ time. Incidentally, the section winner is the same bird that was 2nd Open Alencon last year, and in his two races with the BICC prior to this Geoff has won from Falaise 2, 7th West Section, 198th Open, and from Alencon 2nd, 3rd, 6th & 8th West Section and 2nd, 5th, 16th & 41st Open.

Geoff Bebbington’s Section winner.

Chris Davenport & Darren Roberts of Chirk, up near Wrexham, take 2nd Northern Section and continue their fabulous run of high open positions in Nationals since going into partnership in 2005. This time they clocked a yearling blue w/f Dutch-rung Bertus Timmus hen from the Van der Flaes family. As prep she flew Chepstow and, the week before this, raced on the south-east route. She won as a youngster and several times arrived with the leading bunch. Chris and Darren race on roundabout and put all the hens in their boxes on their own the night before the race and then put one cock in a basket on the loft floor. The birds arehopper fed barley, then for three days before the race they have maize and Energy Plus, as much as they want. The hens have to race every week otherwise they pair together. And how about this for flying? They clocked two more within a minute of their first and 12 within 30 minutes of their first and all 20 of their entries were home within the hour! Darren said they all looked perfect on arrival. Their ambition is to win a national, particularly NFC Tarbes. Recent performances include 7 x 1st sections in the nationals and 5 x 2nd sections, 1st & 2nd Chester 2B plus many more wins at fed level. They would like to thank Budgie Crathorne for is help with the marking station and for taking the birds down to meet the transporter. Darren feels that with the new north section the club are moving forward and this will encourage new members to join.

Darren Roberts & Chris Davenport. Photo by Heather Rogers.

3rd North Section was won by Bobby Brandon, Barney Culshaw, and Bobby's son Johnny. They are based in Rochdale and between them have over 100 years’ experience with the pigeons. They timed a yearling Soontjen widowhood cock from their good friend Gary Leigh of Hyde bloodlines. This pigeon, now named Kojak 2, had figured well as a youngster and as prep for this had 3 races before being jumped from 120 miles straight into 360 miles. This cock was bouncing on arrival, as were most of their 14 out of 15 returnees, and they would thus like to give credit to the convoyer. Their main feed is Gerry Plus and a good quality widowhood mixture, the mix becoming slightly heavier towards the end of the week. Their main ambition is to win 1st Open NFC and indeed this cock will be going to the first NFC race. They were in fact 1st Section L NFCGuernsey young bird last year in the partnership’s first outing in the NFC.

Bobby Brandon (left), Johnny Brandon (holding Kojak 2) & Barney Culshaw.

Brothers John and Pete Donovan of South Croydon win 1st East Section. Pete normally spends around 2 hours each morning doing what’s necessary with the birds and John does the evening stint, which, he says, works out really well for Pete has he himself has started driving to nest! John’s wife Sue lets the birds out at various times if John is struggling to get home and, all in all, is a great help. John has been involved in pigeons since the seventies and says he has enjoyed almost every minute of it. The winning hen is a yearling bred in May from a Jos Thone cock via Ian Stafford and a Van Loon hen down from stock via Keith Duckering. She was raced on an adapted roundabout system. The hens are fed on Versele Laga Gerry Plus and Super Widowhood mixes. She had had 5 races to Portland and Poole, the last one being 10 days earlier followed by a couple of spins from the coast. She had been around the prizewinners before but not timed in. She arrived in good condition and was around 45 minutes in front of their next pigeon. They sent 16 and had 15 home on what was a good flying day. They extend their congratulations to G & C Cooper for winning the open and to the Bullen partnership, Wicky, Kirk & Sue, 2nd East Section, another top position again in the BICC.

John & Peter Donovan. Photo by Terry Peart.

D. Bullen & Son of New Addington are 2nd East Section. They had 7 out of 8 home on the day and first in the clock was a yearling Kees Bosua widowhood cock, a grandson of Chatue Divfen. He had 3 inland races prior to this being near the rear on each occasion and they said he looked shocked on arrival, never having flown so fast before! He will now go to the next BICC race. They say the have no specific ambitions in the sport, only to do the best they can, but they will have to go some to top their wonderful 1st Dax National, 5th International of a few years back.

Wicky and Sue Bullen. Photo by Terry Peart.

2nd East Section for D. Bullen & Son.

3rd East Section goes to Alan Mark of South Croydon, a fancier of 60 years’ standing. Alan timed a yearling natural cock. The dam is a Jan Aarden, which has flown Pau and the sire is direct from Herman Brinkman of Holland. He was fed on a generous mix of Versele Laga and Vanrobaeyes, had a prep race from Poole, and returned in very good condition. It is Alan’s ambition to win another national having already won the most coveted prize of all, NFC Pau in 1974. His other wins include 10th open Pau 3 times, 1st Section Barcelona BBC, 2nd Section Palamos BBC, 3 times 1st Surrey Federation longest old bird race (only person to do this), 1st SMT Combine Bergerac only bird on the day, 1st amal Bergerac only 3 birds on the day, 1st fed Bergerac, 1st & 2nd Open San Sebastian 561 miles on the day only 2 birds sent and 1st Thurso, 7th LNRC 521 miles on the day. Top class!

Alan Mark.

That wraps up the report on the first race. Remember, the result, a full report plus photos for each race appears on www.elimarpigeons.com as soon as the information is to hand.

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