O’Hare & Woodward - 1st Section L NFC St Malo
The partnership of O’Hare & Woodward has been successful from the start and both fanciers are in another phase of racing pigeons. Mike O’Hare first raced on his own before moving abroad to work and when he returned he rejoined the sport racing his pigeons in the Middlewich clubs. At this time Ron Woodward was racing his own team of pigeons and had a preference to the longer specialist races. Then they decided to join together in 1999 and race as the present partnership that is now probably one of the best all round racing teams in Cheshire. For several years they concentrated on club racing but once they had built a team of reliable racing pigeons they moved up a gear into National and specialist racing where their pigeons have proved to be most competitive. Their current team are mainly from the Vandenabeele and Staf Van Reet lines but they are always prepared to bring in a few pigeons to try against those already established. Both Mike & Ron are highly delighted with this latest performance at St Malo when they clocked 10 pigeons in what was not an easy race on a very hot day.
Their first entry will finish 1st section L and on first birds is 25th open but as they are aware that will change when the full result is published. On these excellent times they should have others in the first ten of section L. They told me:
'We joined the N.F.C. in 2005 having immediate success in our first race, the Y.B. National from Fougeres, when we finished 1st and 4th Sect L 4th and 11th Open. Since then our best positions have been 2nd and twice third Section. The section winner is a 2yo Gaby Vandenabeele hen flown on the roundabout system and prior to this result she has only won minor cards to date. She is a small bird but is beautifully proportioned. Her sire is an M&D Evans Gaby bought at their sale at Tipton in 2004. He is a son of Trade Secret when paired to Destiny. Trade Secret is from Jester and Belle and Destiny is bred from Jester and Carrie. The Dam of the Section winner is from a pair of Gaby Vandenabeeles bought at Blackpool in 2000 from the sale by Vandeghinste Romain and are from the lines of Bitjer and Rambo. The dam won several 1st prizes racing and was 4th Open Northwest Classic Club, Falaise 312 miles before being put to stock where she has been outstanding. Brothers to the section winner have won 1st Mid- Cheshire Fed, 2nd Mid Cheshire Fed for ourselves and 1st Wrekin Fed for Mr Roger Sutton.
We timed a 2nd pigeon one minute after the Section winner who will in all probability finish 2nd Section L. He is a 2yo cock flown on widowhood. This bird as a yearling was 5th North West Section, 2nd Elite yearling in the M.N.F.C. Fougeres Race, 3rd Taylors Choice Club, Kingsdown and 8th Cheshire 2 Bird Club, Fougeres. He is also one of our 2 birds nominated into Eccles 2 Bird Club from this N.F.C race. The breeding of this cock is from a 10 year old Meuleman cock that won 7 x 1st club and was 1st open North West Classic Club, Portsmouth when paired to an M & D Evans Gaby hen g.d. of Mclaren, National Fideel, Joe Jones and Hillcroft Fantasy. Another bird was timed 5 minutes later who could finish 4th Section L. and another bird 3 minutes later who could finish in the 1st 10 of the section. In all we timed 10 pigeons within 40 minutes of the Section winner (5 cocks and 5 hens) and recorded 23 of our 29 entries (15 Cocks and 14 hens) on the day. The cocks' last prep race was the N.W.C.C. race from Portland on 3rd May which was 182 miles into a strong North wind, since then they have been exercised around the loft with 3 short training tosses the weekend before basketing. The hens went to the same N.W.C.C. race and have also flown the two club races since then as we find that they are less likely to pair up if worked hard.
Our feeding system is traditional widowhood build up mix with fats added during the last 3 days before basketing. Our racing mixtures are bought from Roger Sutton at Astbury and this year on Rogers’s recommendation we have changed on to Vanrobaeys corn. Ron and I would like to thank Roger for the help and advice which he readily gives in spite of the fact that we are one of his great rivals in many of the pigeon clubs in the Midlands and the North West and also to those fanciers who have rung to congratulate us on the Section win. Also to Bill Glynn our technical advisor who handed his notice in 30 minutes before the arrival of the N.F.C. birds when he found out that we were behind in both of the local clubs that day, we accept your apology for your hasty decision and will allow withdrawal of the notice but with loss of your winning bonus!'
Les Parkinson
