The Derby Arona Tenerife One Loft Race
RACES 6,7, AND 8 REPORTS
Since the start of December and the completion of the five initial training races and the two weeks break over the Christmas and new year, its early January and as such the recommencement of the Derby Arona Tenerife one loft race programme on Tuesday 9th Jan,
As a result of the third party activation period you will now see even more competitors on the competitors list who have now joined the race from around the world, we can also take this opportunity to welcome on board team U.S.A. & Canada, who after the unfortunate timing of delayed issues regarding deporting their entries to this years race, which as a result sadly missed the deadline for their entries to enter the loft, we can confirm that the complications featured have since been overcome and everything is arranged for next years race.. on a good note its pleasing to see that the troubles they incurred didn’t put them off as they have since come into this year’s race and competing along with the rest of the world after activating the unpaid pigeons during the third-party activation period so welcome to the race and we hope you enjoy the experience as it unfolds
Team Klein Falckenborg Netherlands
1st International race 6 & 2nd International race 7th race day 6... and with the team welcoming everyone back online we were again poised and ready to restart the campaign, on live stream with the pigeons being conveyed the 25 klm distance to the race point and in the warm canarian climate they were duly liberated at 10 am into broken blue skies a light 14klm north easterly breeze and temperatures rising to an average of 22 degrees.
Taking top honours from the 2,254 birds liberate were Team Netherlands with Team Klein Falckenborg and pigeon named Canary 2 crossing the line first on a time of 10.28.56.20 just decimals in front of the 2nd place pigeon Alpha 3 representing Austria for team Alois Wiefler 10.28.56.95, in 3rd we have pigeon Claude Green Grass making its second appearance in the top ten already in this year campaign with a time of 10.28.57.00, taking 4th we have a new syndicate representing Team GB through third party activation as syndicate Amigos in Paradise made up from fanciers from England and Wales pigeon Leroy came in on 10.28.57.65,
Alois Wiefler from Austria 2nd international race 6
for 5th we go to team Bulgaria and pigeon Trilko for Team Valya & Rosen Dobrevi recorded its arrival home on 10.28.57.85, in 6th team Netherlands recorded their second entry with Team Comb. van den Berg and pigeon biliksem smurf on 10.28.57.90 narrowly edging in front of another arrival for team Austria as Erwin Brandner entry der schotte followed in on 10.28.58.60, team Switzerland and pigeon Top Blue for team Alp Race Syn came in for the 8th spot on a time of 10.28.58.60, whilst in 9th it’s the familiar face with the results over the years of Francisco Gutiérrez from Sevilla as pigeon rollins arrived at 10.29.00.45 finally finishing off the top ten for today team Netherlands and Marcel Visser recorded pigeon 10.29.07.10
Team Columbacanaria (Tenerife) 3rd international race 6
with so many pigeons coming together there was once again a time lapse as the clock caught up and after a few minutes of the first arrival over 500 pigeons were on the clock on first checking and as the minutes went on over 2,000 pigeons were safely perched, added to this as the day went on more pigeons returned and as a result there was only a small number of pigeons adrift by nightfall, this was followed up with a few more turning in the following morning which resulted in a pleasing returns rate of 98.53 % of entries there to fight another day
so were up and running once again, and over the next few days throughout January the Arona team will steadily increase the distance between loft and liberations as they move north towards the northern point of the island to Santa Cruz a distance of approx. 60klm it’s also from now on in that the training will become more intense as we make our way through the volcanic terrain and obstacles that the island provides, which of course makes this race so thrilling and attractive to so many fanciers, towards the hotspot races where it will of course get more interesting, as major prizes are up for grabs, after completing the 60 klm training race the programme will start to stretch out over the open waters of the Atlantic ocean for a number of mid seas liberations prior to the first hotspot race from Gran Canaria
Kenny Burns and the new amigos in paradise syn 1st UK 4th international race day 6
Thursday 11th Jan and once again the 2221 pigeons that completed training race 6 were re-basketed and back on the road for race 7 a distance of approx. 33 klm, with once again bright blue skies over the island clearly seen on the livestream and a light north easterly breeze we all sat waiting for the news and confirmation of the liberation which was planned for around 11 am and with the chat page once again entertaining everyone we awaited the spotting of the first arrivals at the lofts,
Team Family. Flonta Germany 1st international race 7
as we watched on its shortly before the half hour mark that the first birds were seen approaching and whilst two leading birds hit the loft straight away in their moment of hesitation this gave the remainder of the batch time to turn and bombarded the trap with pigeons, taking top honours today is the Netherlands entry krayna for Team Fam. Flonta which was declared the winner with a time of 11.29. 28.90, a clear three seconds clear of second place ,which may not sound much but when you see so many pigeons come together seconds and decimals between arrivals valuate winners and other positions, in 2nd we have our race day 6 winning syndicate of Team Klein Falckenborg with another of their entries canary 9 coming in on 11.29.33.60, team Hungary take 3rd as Bacskai Sandor &Kellner Andrea entry stelli made its arrival on 11.29.33.70, closely followed by Alois Wiefler from Austria for 4th, another entrant who is making a regular appearance in the top flight with his team on this occasion it was pigeon alpha 3 which timed in on 11.29.33.80
Team Bacskai Sandor &Kellner Andrea (Hungary) 3rd international race 7
team UK take 5th today with new participant in the race for team England as John Murray flying as syn Murray and Mills recorded one of their team named Bettys no1 timing in on 11.29.33.95, team Italia take the next two positions of 6th and 7th places with pigeon Brian having its second mention in the results for team Renato Cantu on 11.29.34.25 just ahead of his fellow countrymen Team Ghiacci & Celli and their entry bucks bid on 11.29.35.25, Team Klein Falckenborg from the Netherlands timed in his and his countries 2nd arrival for team Netherlands with canary 3 recording 11.29.37.55 which rounds off today's top ten positions
as we witnessed the pigeons now are really learning the procedure of the race by the way they trap on return and with so many coming at one time it is a bit of a trapping match at these early stages for the leading positions, but to the watchful eye of everyone on livestream, it’s an enjoyable experience to watch, as the continued praise for the loft management and complete race package offering such services and facilities to fanciers around the world,
John Murray from Murray & Mills syn 1st UK 5th international race 7
by night fall from the liberation of 2,211 pigeons, 2144 pigeons were safely locked away for the night and with a few more who have now learnt from their night out coming back during the following day the final number of 2155 pigeons and percentage rate of 97.02 % were again present to go into training race 8
Krzysztof Szkolny Poland 1st international derby Arona race day 8
race day 8 and with the 2155 pigeons that overcome the previous race basketed they were again off on their travels, going that little bit further than the previous liberation as we head along the eastern side of the island, and after the short journey they were again on site in the small village area of Fasnia preparing for the mid-morning liberation
being the weekend, it was pleasing to see so many fanciers logging onto the livestream as over 100 viewers and others viewing via social media sites also logged in from around the world, as again general conversation past the time away as we awaited confirmation of the liberation from the team,
with a 11.30 liberation into blue skies and a north easterly wind announced the team gave an estimated time of 12 noon for the first birds to appear at the lofts, however shortly before that the first arrivals hit the board followed by the first batch as each jumped and manoeuvre for positions in the trap to record their arrival
Team Osko & Chwarzynski Poland 2nd international race 8
taking top honours today in 1st and 2nd place were team Poland with team Krzysztof Szkolny sitting proudly in first position with their entry Bucky crossing the line at 11.53.57.90 just decimals ahead of fellow countrymen Team Osko & Chwarzynski in 2nd with pigeon squek on 11 53.58.75,in 3rd we have the first UK pigeon as team men of Gwent from Wales recorded one of their entry Roys Rocket on 11.53.59.05, in 4th we head to Galicia as pigeon jigsy for team Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodriguez timed in on 11.53.59.25, just a fraction behind it`s team Turkey that take the 5th spot as team Ahmet Cavdar and their pigeon pasa crossed the line on 11.53.59.26 ,whilst in 6th we head to Germany where Team Schnellin and pigeon Jameson recorded 11.54.00.15, Francisco Gutiérrez is again in amongst the leaders today as pigeon rollins timed in to reward itself with 7th position on 11.54.01.50 ,in 8th it just had to be one of our keenest competitors from Belgium no other than team "Belgium’s finest" Daniel Heymans with his pigeon Koninginnepage on 11.54.01.65 , we hope this result give you a bit of happiness Daniel as we are all aware at the derby Arona of the pressure that you and your family are currently under due to the health of your young son ,so please accept our best wishes to you all and we hope he has a quick recovery after his forthcoming treatment
roys rocket 1st UK 3rd international for team men of Gwent wales in race 8
, in 9th it’s another Belgium competitor Team Diamond Ladies coming in on 11.54.02.15 with pigeon Martha 4 just in front of the second arrival for team turkey in 10th position as Team Emrullah Oraloglu timed in akhisar on 11.54.02.40
with excess of 2,000 pigeons recorded within the first ten minutes of the first arrival ,for all that witnessed today's race it could clearly be seen via the advantage of close up cameras on the traps which shows the condition of the pigeons on their return ,everyone competing and watching on a daily basis are more than pleased with the health and condition of the pigeons and the progress which is being made once again this was endorsed by the tributes coming in via messages on livestream for the Arona team
current leaders in the king of sprint challenge
Belgium Team Leyen-Paloma-Segers Racing
with training recommencing and a further three races now added to the king of sprint averages at the end of the first week of phase two of training and eight training races completed leading the field are team Belgium and Leyen-Paloma-Segers Racing syndicate with pigeon lps-17-08 with an average points tally of 17.197 team Italy are in second position as pigeon Brian entered by Renato Cantu records 16632 just ahead of 3rd place and the Czech republic entrants Lubomir Kubacek with pigeon named touch me on 16617
with the week coming to a close after the break in training there’s still well in excess of 2,100 pigeons within the loft competing and as we move further north over the next few training races to such distances as 16 Jan Training Flight 9 40 km (Güimar) 18 Jan Training Flight 10 50 km (B.Hondp) and 20 Jan Training Flight 11 60 km from the port of (Santa Cruz) the final island liberation we will soon be heading out over the mighty Atlantic ocean from where we will experience a few mid sea liberations before we again touch land on the island of gran canaria and the first hotspot race
the Arona team have since announced that from sea race one, for your continued entertainment and to show the total transparency of the race etc, the team go all out to provide all participants with both liberation and arrival movies for you to view, so like everyone else we look forward to this exciting stage of the race programme
the derby Arona Tenerife one loft race and Fred Olsen ferries who provide transport for the forthcoming sea races and future island transport for the hotspot and final races
with sights firmly on the bigger prizes which will soon be up for the winners of hotspot 1,2,& 3 ,looking further ahead it's never too early to start looking to book flights and hotels for the final race week , which is set to be staged on or around Friday 23rd march subject to weather conditions , it’s an annual opportunity for the Arona team and the island of Tenerife to welcome fanciers from all around the world, who come together and enjoy both the build-up and of course the final race .
if any assistance is needed then please contact your country co Ordinator or the Arona team for hotel recommendations
as always there will no doubt again be a large congregation present at the loft on the day to witness the arrivals and congratulate the final race winner and recipient of the 120,000 euro THE BIGGEST ONE LOFT RACE PRIZE IN EUROPE. tom Harris