NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Joe Murphy's 2007 Sporting Challenge

This will be my fifth year co-ordinating the Sporting Challenge and it seems we expand every year with new ideas from the members installed to help promote the sport of pigeon racing. The purpose of the sporting challenge was to have a one bird nomination competition were fanciers could compete against one another with these nominated birds within the SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon. The highest placed bird on the open result would become our outright winner. The selection for entry into my sporting challenge is by asking the first 2 pigeons in each region from the previous year’s race if they wished to take up the challenge. Not all of these winners wanted to take part which is their choice, while others have failed to have their information to me on time so they have also missed out. The winner is always asked to come back to participate and the 2 other fanciers who made the open result were also invited to partake again this year and I am happy to say they took up this offer.

Awards

 The most important aspect of the sporting challenge is that it is a non profit making exercise and fanciers do not compete for any monetary gain it is all about the sportsmanship and the pride in winning the trophies and diplomas on offer. I honestly deem that this is one of the reasons the sporting challenge has addicted readers to the contest 

Our main trophy is to the winner of the Sporting Challenge with another beautiful trophy for the runner up to our main award. We also have a Bird of the Year trophy with nominations from fanciers within the sporting challenge. I have also introduced a Team Award within the competition and was privileged to be donated a trophy by the late Dave Harrison from Worcester who was a great follower of my sporting challenge and this trophy is named after this kind gentleman and will be competed for on an annual basis. I also have diplomas and a special souvenir prizes for the winning members taking part and a diploma for all the sporting challenge team members as a memento of the occasion.

This year 2007 there are 15 fancier competing which results in 3 teams of 5 which are as follows;

Team One: John Bird, Pete Drummond, Tom & Mary Paterson, J Coutts & Son and Derek & Linda Hay.

Team Two: Mr & Mrs Guenther, Jim & Gary Peggie, Mike Main, John O’Donnell and Richard Combe.

Team Three: Jackie Blackhurst, Crombie & Mechan, Jackie Mathieson, Jimmy Dickie and Doran Brothers

We also have the Joe Murphy Scottish Pigeon Fancier of the Year award, which is worked out on the co- efficient system over the 3 main old bird races from France. As a matter of interest this trophy is OPEN to all SNFC members and the fancier with the best co – efficient will be judged as the outright winner with another trophy for the runner up to this top award.

Annie Bowes Memorial Trophy

Last year for the first time I organised the running of the Scotland’s Fancier’s Fancier of the Year award and the winner was Bob McDonald of Fraserburgh who was presented with this wonderful Annie Bowes Memorial trophy. This trophy is awarded to fanciers not for racing their pigeons on the contrary it is awarded to one of our unsung workers within our sport. Someone who has committed years and years of tireless work to our sport and in many instances been out of pocket; this could be a president of a club: federation or combine; it could also be a secretary or a fancier who cleans out the race baskets, a clock setter ANYONE who has helped promote the SPORT of pigeon racing within any organization in fact better known as one of our Unsung Heroes. This trophy will be eligible to EVERY FANCIER WITHIN SCOTLAND and it does not matter if they fly their pigeon’s with the SHU or the RPRA and more importantly will be judged regardless of the fancier’s political beliefs.  Again I cannot emphasis enough that the sporting challenge is about Sportsmanship and the Annie Bowes trophy is judged on precisely the same format. So if you know of someone that you think would be a worthy candidate then drop me a letter with their details and I will also require your name and address. I intend to send all nominations along with the bird of the year nominees to our 3 guest of honour at our International Quiz held in November.

SHU Centenary Presentation

This year 2007 is a very special occasion for Scottish pigeon fanciers as it is the Scottish Homing World centenary year. This gala occasion will be celebrated by an opening International Quiz on the Saturday afternoon which I’m organising then at 5pm we have the SHU main event which starts with our evening meal, followed by the presentation of SHU centenary medals to the Federation winners: subsequently the SHU trophy winners i.e. Dewar Trophy (for best performances by an old bird), the Ogilvie Trophy (for the best individual performance) the Chris Catterall trophy (best performances by young bird) plus all the other wonderful trophies the SHU have for competition. This will be followed by drawing the first 12 tickets for our major Festival Raffle (tickets will go on sale soon so don’t miss out). We have so many prizes that it will take all night to draw this raffle so it has been decided only to draw the 12 main prizes and the remainder the following day. Finally we have our Sporting Challenge presentation, the Bird of the Year award, Team of the Year award and the above mentioned Fancier of the Year trophies and the Annie Bowes trophy winner. All competitors within the sporting challenge will be invited to attend this very special night in conjunction with the SHU Centenary production held in the Hillcroft Hotel in Whitburn on 17th November 2007. Anyone who has followed my sporting challenge over the past years cannot fail to admire the development each year and more importantly how we have enhanced the image of our sport up here in Scotland and it is a fitting tribute to the Sporting Challenge and all my hard work that we have been invited to join the SHU Centenary Celebrations.

SNFC

As most of you will already know the SPORTING CHALLENGE is held in conjunction with the Scottish National Flying Club in the fact that the fanciers taking part MUST be members of this great club and participate in the Gold Cup race. The fanciers who have accepted the challenge have sent me the details of their entries which I will highlight below. As you will observe this has been done prior to the new season taking place and we have to admire these fanciers who have selected a pigeon months ahead of the Gold Cup race and this takes a very special person to do this. Some people refused my invitation to join the challenge because they felt under pressure and could not select a pigeon so far ahead of the race. Whereas these 15 fanciers are willing to contribute towards the interest within the challenge and it is a privilege to have them involved. One more significant fact in the whole context of the Sporting Challenge is that these fanciers enjoy taking part and look on it as a pleasure; going by the emails and letters I have received the majority deem it a honour to take part which is a wonderful accolade to myself and the sporting challenge; may I wish every fancier taking part every success with their entry in the SNFC Gold Cup race.

Update prior to the race

I would appreciate if all the fanciers taking part could contact me by the 1st June 2007 to allow me to do an update on each individual pigeon’s progress before the main event of the Alencon Gold Cup race. I also require them to contact me after the race regardless if they time in their bird or not as it will allow me to compile an inform readers how the race transpired. Once more may I wish the very best to each individual member of the SNFC taking part in the Gold Cup race and I hope the race turns out to be a first-rate. Before I highlight each individual bird within the challenge I also asked every fancier taking part for some details on their management; lofts as well as details on their candidate. I am indeed very grateful to each and every one of these fanciers for their support and their contribution to allow me to highlight the profile of the sport of pigeon racing up hear in Bonny SCOTLAND.

2007 Contestants

Now for the update on the birds taking part in the SNFC this years Sporting Challenge and we start off with TEAM ONE and last years winner John Bird;

Henry

 Raced by John Bird Prestonpans

I kept pigeons as a boy and then returned to the sport in 1991 and have slowly improved my performances over the years and like everyone else Joe I hope that my birds continue to improve. I do not spend large amounts of money on pigeons, but do try to purchase birds to improve my performances. I’m very competitive and I try to win every race with my team of pigeons and also try to keep them 100 % fit and motivated, but due to work commitments I’m becoming more national minded as the years go by.

I winter about 80 birds of which up to 20 are stock and I send around 30 birds per race at the start of old bird races to see how they fair. I breed around 60 youngsters every year and they are raced purely natural. I find they just cannot compete against darkness pigeons in our club and they win very few tickets, however, it is essential training for the future that’s what I have in mind, every youngster will have the first four races and then I select and stop some every week. They are trained very lightly during the racing season and as long as they are flying with zest around the loft for 40 to 50 minutes each time they are out that suits me. Being a SNFC man I always find two or three for the young bird national.

I keep a number of strains and birds are multi purpose it’s the basket that tells they don’t know if they are short middle or long distance. I send my best to the SNFC races and the ones that come back are paired together, for example my 11th open Alencon in 2005 was a Staff Van Reet and this season I will be sending Soontjen to the longest races to see if they can compete like the rest of them.

I use a number of selected Ultimate products and have done for a number of years and I use it in the drinking water all the year round, once or twice a week in off-season and every day during breeding and racing season. Feeding I am not particular I buy any good all round natural breeding and racing mixtures and as the racing gets to the longer races I add beans to my mixture.

My lofts are sited in a horseshoe formation at the bottom of my garden as follows. My main racing loft faces south and is 21 feet long and is L shaped and has 3 sections. 16 x 6 it has 12 nest boxes in each section and 5 x 9 feet loft again with 12 boxes. The young bird loft faces west and is 17 x 7 with two sections and has box perches only and facing north I have and 8 x 6 corn store and then an 8 x 6 stock loft with an 8 x 6 aviary attached.

I have improved over the past 2 years with these being by far my best national season as far as results go and it is now up to me to continue trying to improve my on my open positions.

My 2007 Sporting Challenge entry Henry so called after the Arsenal Footballer Thierry Henry; This dark chequer cock and is a half brother to Bits & Pieces my Sporting Challenge winner in 2006. Sire is the same sire of Bits & Pieces while the dam is a different hen another Kuyper Van Geel from Louella Pigeon World.

As a young bird Henry was raced the full programme and as a yearling he raced out to Maidstone. Unfortunately in 2006 he returned from the first race with a broken leg so was not raced again and left to recover. This season he will be raced widowhood for 4 or 5 races before being paired up to go to Alencon.

In closing I would like to again thank you for the invite to participate in the Sporting Challenge this year and may I wish all the other entrants all the very best during the 2007 season and I hope the winner enjoys the experience as much as I did. It gave me great pleasure and it was indeed an honour to win your sporting challenge competition Joe. Everyone who was in our bus last year said that it was one of the best nights they had experienced for a long time. Your organisation skills and the professional way in which you presented the evening was an enormous advert for the sport of pigeon racing up here in Scotland, well done and keep up the good work.

Miss Reliable

Raced by Pete Drummond of Cowdenbeath

My entry into your sporting challenge Joe is called Miss Reliable a 5 year old blue bar hen named so because she has always been in the clock racing from 50miles to 600miles. She was not raced as a youngster but well trained out then as a yearling she was never out the clock and was stopped after Leicester she had previously won 2 x 2nd and 1 x 3rd clubs. She was raced twice as a two year old then sent to the Scottish National Flying Club Newbury race winning 46th open 11th section her nest mate was 48th open 12th section. When a 3 year old she again had only 2 training races and was entered into the Fife Sartilly race winning 53rd open 15th section. Last year she received the same format as previously prior to going to Alencon however she was just out the open positions being clocked in a hard race the next morning.
The Sire was the Pencil Cock known throughout as one of the best middle to distance flyers to come out of Fife. He topped the fed in the Leicester amalgamation race over (11,000) birds competing. The week after he flew Hastings winning 1st club and being well up in the SNFC winning 10th section 47th open; the following week he was back in the basket to the Fife federation open race from Maidstone winning 8th section 28th open fling over 1200 miles in this short period of time. He was a pure Janssen gifted to me by the late Davy King from Glencraig. The Dam was none other than the dam of my 46th open 3rd section Alencon winner from last year. She was bred from the lofts of Joe Mullen from his St Finnan Lass. She was bought and put to stock from the late Kenny Paris who won 27th open 6th section Newbury and 23rd section 87th open Rennes.

I race my pigeons on the natural system and I normally pair up my 12 stock birds the second week in February. The racing team get paired up the third week in March and my distance birds around the end of March early April. I normally breed about 30 youngster who are left with their parents until the fly around the loft then put to the youngster loft. I have 50 birds in 4 lofts on a plot with no electricity and I have to carry water every day too the loft, many a time in winter I have had to dig my way into the plot and chip away the ice to get into the lofts. I used to share this plot with the late Willie White who was a great distance flyer and my mentor for over 20 years, what he taught me about racing distance pigeons could never be bought and he was a proper gentleman. I started racing pigeons at age of 10 years of age winning 1st and 2nd club in my first race that was 38 years ago.

Miss Reliable in 2007 will get the same two toss races and at least 10 x 50mile
single training tosses prior to the Blue Riband race from Alencon. Good luck to all the other fanciers taking part Joe and keep up the good work.

Maisy

Raced by Tom & Mary Paterson of Plean

Mary and I would like to thank you Joe for inviting us into your Sporting Challenge race for 2007. I first became interested in pigeons as a boy in 1964 and I joined the Plean Premier flying club with my friend and flew as Taylor & Paterson for about 5 years managing to fly Rennes on 2 or 3 occasions. I moved to Camelon near Falkirk in 1976 until 1991 returning back to Plean still flying the birds I managed to have one or two birds on the results from France up until 1998 when I left the sport.

I met Mary in 1998 and we were married in 2000 and moved to our present address in 2001 and we restarted in the sport joining the Plean club and the SNFC. For the 2002 season we bred a chequer hen that we named Jean and she won 38th open Tours SNFC flying 632 miles in 2005 and the following year she won 58th open Tours SNFC. She is the dam of our blue cock who won 20th open Tours in 2006. In 2003 we bred ‘Kate’ who won 11th open Chichester federation open race 385 miles in 2004 (this was a hard race) and she also won 13th open Alencon 552 miles in 2005 and 38th open Alencon in 2006 timed on the day of liberation. She has a half brother that has won 3rd open Scottish Central Combine derby and another half sister won 4th open Salisbury federation open race.

The main sources of our birds are Dale Newcombe, Richard Combe Dennis Dall Wilf Flockhart and Van Wanroys from Ponderosa stud which are all being blended together. Our main racing loft is 8 x 8 feet and our young bird loft is 7 x 5 feet and we also have a small 6 x 4 foot stock loft the two smaller lofts both have aviaries fitted to them. Our old birds are fed 24/7 beans in a hopper plus a couple of mixtures mixed together and we feed them this in pots in their nest boxes in the morning and evening. When it comes to the SNFC races we give them some peanuts at night in their boxes this is the only time of year they receive these. All the birds are flown natural and this is the only system I have ever flown the other systems do not interest me at all. We get a lot of pleasure watching the birds going about their natural business in and around our back garden.

The bird we are entering Joe is a 2 year old blue hen named Maisy she received 2 Lockerbie races a distance of 70 miles as a youngster. Then as a yearling she flew from Appleby 120 miles, Leyland 170 miles, then into the SNFC Newbury race a distance of 340 miles and she won 2nd section D 22nd open sitting on 10 days on eggs. She was then stopped for the year and we hope to give her 3 races this year prior to going to the Gold Cup race from Alencon and it is anticipated she will be sitting the same nest condition as when she won from Newbury.

Sire is a 3 year old cock bred by Richard Combe of Elphinstone and he is a direct son of his Gold Award winner and Dewar Trophy winner Midnightson who scored in 7 SNFC races when he was paired to his own grand daughter ‘35’ who won 2nd open Chenoise, 10th open Chenoise and 31st open Tours.

Dam of Maisy is a 3 year old chequer hen bred by Dennis Dall and is a direct daughter of Rebecca 2 Dennis’s SNFC Gold Award winner who also scored 7 times from the channel plus twice from the inland national her best position was 2nd open Tours she was paired to a son of the late Jock Trail’s Spark who won 1st open Niort to breed the dam of Maisy.

I will finish off Joe by wishing all my fellow competitors the best of luck in your sporting challenge race. We are certainly looking forward to it and also reading about the other competitors keep up the good work Joe you are a talent that many good fanciers appreciate very much.

JIMBO

Raced by Jim Coutts & Son Kintore

Thank you for allowing us to take part in your sporting challenge for 2007 and we consider it a great honour to participate in this one bird competition. The name of our entry is known as Jimbo and he had 6 races as a young bird before being reported in Middlesbrough from our Whitley Bay race. As he had been a very steady bird in the other races he was sent for and left to moult out. As a yearling he had 5 races out to Doncaster 260 miles when we stopped all our birds as we thought there was something wrong with them. As a 2 year old he again had 5 races with the last one being the inland national from Newbury a distance of 405 miles. This turned out to be a hard race into the North section and he was our 2nd bird getting home at 8am the next morning. As a 3year old it was always our intention to send him to the Gold Cup race but from his first training flight of the new season he returned 2 days later he was again left to recuperate for a few weeks and them we started to give him some short toss to see how he had progressed. He was then entered into our Hexham race 155 miles, which turned out to be a disaster with the whole federation having very bad returns, he arrived home at 7am next day, his next race was Newark 293 miles and he took around 11 hours to home and after this he was trained in all directions North as well as South his last being from Gourdon 30 mile on the Sunday before marking for Alencon 616 miles and he did us proud winning by winning 3rd north sect 94th open SNFC.

His Breeding is Van Bruane crossed with Bob McDonald of Fraserburgh his sire was a blue cock loaned to us by Bernie Woffinden who lived in Hatton beside Peterhead but now lives in Lesmahagow. Bernie had bought the bird from a Mr G Moss of Stratford on Avon being from the 045 lines of Van Bruane. Dam is blue chequer pied hen bred by Bob McDonald out of his best Ko Nipus birds she has also bred a bird to fly all the races in the Sun City Million Dollar race.

This year 2007 he was paired the week after Blackpool and will be left to rear a pair of youngsters and then put onto the roundabout system. He will get 3 or 4 races before being paired up so he is sitting due to hatch on the day of basketting for the Gold Cup race from Alencon.

I race in partnership with my dad as J Coutts & Son and we started with birds in 1968 when I found a race bird and kept it in a rabbit hutch thus caught the bug. A loft was built and my granda got some birds from local fanciers and we started racing young birds in 1969, our best performance was 1st federation Longtown with a velocity of 700 ypm. We now have 4 lofts one is 27 x 10 feet with 3 sections and a 3 feet corridor for old birds racers it has 36 boxes but this year we only have 23 pairs as the other section is kept for the roundabout hens. We have 2 lofts for young birds one is 10 x 5 feet with 2 sections for around 36 darkness youngsters and an 8 x 8 foot for natural youngsters of which there is about 24. The other loft is for stock birds and is 8 x 6 and has 9 nest boxes but only 8 are filled this year.

The birds we keep are Janssen from our good friend Derek Cook at Tumley Lofts in Devon, Van Bruane's and Bob McDonald which we feel are crossing well for the distance races. We have just introduced some Gaby Vandenabeeles last year and they are all grand children of M & D Evans’s top breeders and so far have showed up well in the young bird races last year, we think that if crossed into the birds from Bob McDonald will get the distance races in future years.

We joined the SNFC in 1972 and sent one bird to Rennes and not being very clued up with channel racing didn’t expect anything to make it into the North on the day, however when my Dad went to the loft about 7pm he was already sitting on his perch, after a mad dash to get the clock he was timed to win 5th North section. We were also 2nd North Section Rennes in 1981 however our best open position came in 2003 when we were 4th Sect 24th Open from Newbury and then 3rd Sect 94th Open Alencon last year. We would love to win 1st Section with a good open position in the near future but we have to beat one of the best distance men in Britain in Jamie Donaldson whose performances over the last few years have been nothing short of fantastic.

I would like to again thank you Joe for inviting us to compete in the Sporting Challenge it has been great reading about all these marvellous pigeons over the years and now to be part gives me butterflies in my tummy at the very thought. I do hope Jimbo puts up a good performance when the Gold cup race arrives in June and I wish all the other competitors all the very best for the race.

The Jinx  

Raced by Derek & Linda Hay of Kirkintilloch

Thanks for inviting I & Linda into your 2007 Sporting Challenge we have competed in it before, although our entry did not score we thoroughly enjoyed the experience of the event and the professional manner it was organised. Incidentally, our entry went on to score in the SNFC Tours race the year after being in the challenge.

My entry for the 2007 Joe Murphy Challenge is a late bred 4 yr old blue cock we call The Jinx. As a young bird he was lightly trained and as a yearling raced well to 261 miles. At2 years he returned badly injured from Salisbury 350 miles. The following year we prepared him for the Gold Cup race and his last race before this event was Newbury where he took over 11 hours and returned as if he hadn’t been away. He came into brilliant condition and was sent to the Gold Cup Race, Alencon. The Jinx was timed at 9.12pm and was fresh as paint on arrival. He ended up being 2nd West Region, 40th Open. He is named The Jinx because that was the name I called my father, who passed away in November 05. Any time my father appeared on race days, we had a disaster.He could not even telephone me on a Saturday, as it resulted in a dodgy race for us.This may sound ridiculous but I even proved my dad was an omen when I sent him to visit my sceptical friend on a particular race day. Needless to say my mate failed to time.

Breeding of The Jinx is as follows; his sire is a red chequer cock bred by Tom McEwen he was my number one stock cock up until he became infertile 2 years ago. He is the breeder of 8 individual 1st prize winners from 69 miles to 550 miles; he is a son of Tam McEwen Niort cock 1st east section 4th open Niort. Dam is a blue chequer hen known as Waterside Peggy and she is our number one stock hen she was also a champion racer, Peggy won 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th in Open races, and in her first and in her only National race achieved 2 x S.H.U awards and the A.R.Bowes trophy in the SNFC for being 1st Region F, 1st West section, 1st Hen timed, 5th Open SNFCLiege 2001 a distance of 541 miles flying into the extreme west in a west by south west wind. Peggy is also responsible for 8 individual winners including 1st west section young bird national. She was bred from a son of my 7th Open SNFC Sartilly hen Lady Linda when mated to a Louella Jan Aarden. Lady Linda is also the grand dam of my 12th Open Tours hen Beauty.

I plan to prepare The Jinx in the exact same way as in 2006, sending him to the Inland National before the Challenge race. He likes a small young bird so we hope to send him in that nest condition.

A brief history of my time in the pigeon sport; I started in 1973, flying with my grandfather, Wull McCrae, as McCrae & Hay. I was fortunate to have a good induction into the sport as my grandfather was a very well-respected and knowledgeable pigeon fancier. The 70s saw us have great success at all levels. I was out the sport in most of the 80s but returned in 1989 and raced only 6 young birds and won the pool money in the Kirkintilloch club every week and then went on to win 2nd Region F in the young bird national. We started the 90s with a bang winning 16 trophies in club and federation sadly in 1991 my grandfather passed away. Since then my wife Linda came into partnership with me and we have tried to cultivate a distance family of pigeons. Our best positions in the SNFC since my grandfather died have been 5 x 1st Regions F wins, countless positions in top 6 region F, 3 x 1st West Section, 2 x 2nd West Section, 1 x 3rd West Section, 3 x 5th West Section, 2 x 6th etc our best open positions are 5th, 7th, 12th, 30th, 40th open.

Joe, it is a great pleasure taking part in your Challenge race again and I hope we do better than our last attempt at it although our entry that time went on to win 30th Open SNFC. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the participants in the Challenge the very best of luck and we hope all their preparations go to plan. Keep up the good work Joe as you are doing a wonderful job in promoting the SNFC and the sport in general up here in Scotland, more power to your pen. Yours in sport Derek and Linda Hay could I just say at this point Joe that although the partnership reads D & L Hay, I get a great deal of help from my oldest son Craig, whose name will definitely be in the partnership next year.

Team Two

Captain Morgan

Raced by Liz & Karl Guenther of Dumfries

Firstly Joe we want to say thanks for inviting us to take part in the sporting challenge in 2007. Out nominated pigeon is a nice grizzle cock named Captain Morgan after my good friend Jimmy Morgan whom I have known for 30 years and who looks after some stock birds for us. He was a late bred in 2005 but has a 2004 ring on and he only had 5 races out to 200 miles as a yearling. We have confidence in this pigeon as his brothers and sisters have all won out to the Europa Classic race. He has nice balance and a strong thick neck (I like to see this in pigeons especially cocks) and he has a nice yellow racing eye sign. His sire is a son out of Thorsten’s ace pigeon EVITA and his grandsire scored out of Barcelona & Limoges lines. His dam’s side the bloodlines are from Joe Thone (son of Napoleon & Singapora) so you will see good distance blood.

There is no good going over old ground regarding my set up and management as this is been well documented in the 2007 Stud Books which fanciers will be familiar with. May we wish all our fellow competitors all the very best for the 2007 and good luck in the sporting challenge which is without doubt one of the best things to happen to the sport in Scotland. I don’t know where you find the time to do all this writing and promoting the sport Joe but there is one thing for certain you are a great ambassador for the SNFC and the SHU. 

UNIQUE

Raced by Jim & Gary Peggie of Methilhill Fife

Gary starts off; ‘We would like to thank yourself Joe for inviting us to take part in your sporting challenge and it is indeed an honour as we have followed this every year with great interest. It also encouraged us to try harder at the Gold Cup race and to be in the first two in the section gave us the opportunity to compete. At this point I we would like to send our best wishes to all the other successful fanciers who have taken up the challenge.

Our sporting challenge entry is a 5 year old blue pied hen named ‘Unique’ we selected this name as this hen has been the star of our loft in recent years, already having won 5 SNFC diplomas along with top club and 5 federation open positions. As a young bird she was donated to the Methilhaven club young bird sale and bought back by us. She flew the full federation young bird program out to Wakefield a distance of 185 miles winning 4th club 39th open federation from an entry of 1869 birds. She was also first in the breeder / buyer competition and won 2nd Gold ring beaten by a decimal for an ETS clocking system. As a yearling she was then raced to Huntingdon 289 miles where she took 9 days to return. As a 2 year old this hen really started to show her potential by winning 1st club 2nd open federation 4th Region C 18th open SNFC Falaise (2) 522 miles after 11 hours 19mins on the wing. As a 3 year old she was very consistent winning 3rd club Tow Law a distance of 109 miles when our loft took the 1st x 6 positions in the Methilhaven club, she then won 67th open federation Leicester 259 miles, 206th open SNFC Newbury 338 miles, 1st club 183rd open SNFC Alencon a distance of 551 miles from a midday liberation and then 1st club 12th open federation 16th Section C 49th open SNFC Falaise flying 522 miles. For this last race she was only selected to go 15 minutes before we basketting as we basketed our entries she was looking so well that she had to go, in total she flew 1978 miles in the 2005 season. Then as a 4 year old in 2006 she won 1st club 2nd Section C 14th open SNFC Alencon 551 miles being timed in at 19.54 hours after being 13 hours 24mins on the wing. She was then entered back into the Falaise race with the SNFC but homed at 17.30 on the second day injured, she was shaved and bruised but thankfully she was home.

Breeding of Unique is as follows; her sire is a Camphius Janssen bred by Angel Bros Plymouth, he is a grand son of a sister to James Bond and has been a goldmine for us at stock breeding winners with every hen he has been paired with. Dam is a Roland De Keyser bred by F Sheader of Scarborough from the De Keyser line and is a past international winner and brother in law to the Williquet Bros where the base of his family come from. Unique was paired up a week after the Blackpool Show and is planned to go to the Gold Cup race on the roundabout system. In the past she has scored on both roundabout and natural but we feel her best positions have been won on the roundabout system.

We are a father and son partnership and have been involved in racing pigeons since the 1986 young bird season when we started with gift birds from several fanciers but mainly from my uncle George Duthie from Fraserburgh and his fellow club mates including Bob McDonald, Ritchie & White, Jackie Ritchie and a few more. Our birds are raced from my father’s garden where we have an old bird race team of around 36 birds and we start training about 50 youngsters, we also have a stock loft which houses 12 pairs. When racing our birds we want to win every race we enter regardless if it is from 50 to 600 miles and our best birds are tried at the SNFC races. Our family of birds are a mixture of middle and long distance birds, which include birds from Angel Bros, Louella, Ponderosa, the late Jock Traill and our old mealy hen who scored 4 times at the channel for us between 1992 and 1995 her best positions were 26th Nantes, 31st Niort and 6th open federation from Sartilly. This old hen was bred from a bird gifted to us from J McNiesh of Kirkfieldbank in 1986 the year we started. In the last few years we have had our fair share of wins having had 13 x 1st in our local club over the last 2 seasons, and more importantly 5 top 20 positions in the last 5 seasons with the SNFC these being 5th open Tours, 7th open Chenoise, 14th open Alencon, 14th open Clermont and 18th open Falaise.

We would like to again thank you for this opportunity to compete against the best birds and fanciers in the SNFC Gold Cup race which the sporting challenge is coupled with and wish everyone success for the 2007 season.

Mike’s Mealy

Raced by Mike Main from Aberdeen

Firstly may I say what an honour it is to be asked to compete in this year’s Sporting Challenge. My bird has more than proved herself to be a great pigeon and is a very smart looking mealy hen which I purchased as a youngster from Louella Pigeon World as a batch of six for racing at £99 for the six breeding is from Starview Busschaerts, hence her name is Mike’s Star.

As a youngster she flew in every race including the SNFC Young Bird National a distance of 355 miles which she did successfully although a very good racer she was very nervous on arrival home. As a yearling she had one race at 60 miles, one at 200 miles then the SNFC Inland National a distance of 393 miles from Newbury being my second bird. She was then selected for the SNFC Falaise race taking a federation position and winning 12th North Section in the national.

I had it in my mind that as a two year old to set her up for the big one the Gold Cup race from Alencon a distance of 604 miles. I gave her three races to Hexham then paired her up she had no other training before or after these three races and I had her set up on a three day old youngster. As mentioned she received no training flights but with her past endeavours and performances I felt she certainly didn’t need to learn the road home and with being of a nervous disposition I felt it better to leave her to enjoy her nest.   She was always the bird that flew by herself taking off at a great rate disappeared then coming back and straight in the  loft she gained 1st federation 2nd North Section and 84th open SNFC.

I have never believed that you should burn the candle at both ends so to date have only taken 4 youngsters from her in the past 2 years. Like a lot of others up here I ask a lot of my birds when racing the extra miles and the fact that more often than not they have to fly the latter part on their own. The love of home has to be greater as it must take a lot of courage to keep going when others are dropping off and you have a further 200 miles still to go. That is why I cherish my 500 to 680 mile birds and acknowledge the achievements of those pigeons and the fanciers who fly similar distances under very difficult circumstances, as you have often reported in your articles Joe they are few and far between.

Regarding the bit about myself and my background in pigeons: I am 58 years old and have kept pigeons since the age of 8, starting with a pair of fantails that my father brought home when he was working as a stone mason on the Hydro Dams at Candacraig in the north of Scotland (which is now part of the estate owned by Billy Connolly).   Both my father and I became interested in racing pigeons and I used to watch a neighbour’s pigeons coming home, his name was Tommy Keenan and he was very successful in the late l950s. He in turn got my father to join the Granite City Pigeon Club and we flew under the name of W Main and Son. At that time I used to run with the bird’s race rubber to Tommy’s clock to time in, nevertheless even with a team of only eight birds we had two 1st clubs and other tickets. Looking back it was a great performance since the club had quality fanciers and quite a number within the club however we won the Novice Cup worked on the principle that you were a novice until you had won your first race.

My father and I joined the SNFC in 1967 and in that year we only entered one race the big one from Rennes flying 625 miles to Aberdeen and at that time we only had a small team of birds 9 pairs if my memory serves me right. We sent the two best birds we owned a blue bar cock and a blue bar hen which both performed well the year before as 2 year olds  from Christchurch a distance of 444 miles. At that time we had to send our birds to Edinburgh by train to be picked up for the race marking the clock was set at Aberdeen Station and run off at Edinburgh Market. I started my apprenticeship as a joiner and decided to make a box lined with cork so that we could send our clock to Edinburgh without being damaged such was my anticipation of getting a bird.  From our first attempt we timed in the blue bar cock on the day to win 2nd North Section Scottish National Flying Club. There were only 3 birds on the day in the North Section and this was my introduction to this very special club and I am as enthusiastic now about the SNFC as I was then, especially the Gold Cup race. There is no other race which comes close to it and I hold all previous winners in great esteem, as well as all other great performances achieved in the SNFC. Sadly, my father passed away in 1978 and I have flown on my own since then.

My best performances over the last few years have been 1st North Section 8th Open, young bird national, 6th Open 1st North Section 1st Club, 1st Fed, 1st Grampian Combine from Falaise, 573 miles, 12th North Section Falaise in 2005, 2nd North Section, 84th Open Alencon in 2006 plus other a number of good performances over the years.

he basis of my birds still goes back to the early 1960’s with the base being the Osman’s and the introduction of the Starview Busschaerts whom I bought from Louella at this point I must say that these were quality birds at very reasonable prices and I would have not hesitation in recommending them to anyone. I find it a challenge knowing that the blood is right and that it is up to me the fancier to get the best out of them, so here’s hoping that I do my bit and prepare Mike’s Star properly for the big race.  I intend using the same procedure as last year but if it does not go to plan I will not throw her away.  In order to send her, I will have to be as confident as I was with her last year.  Being my only entry she was also my pooled pigeon and she came up trumps being 2nd North Section 84th Open. I hope we all get a good racing season and all the best to all of the other fanciers in your Sporting Challenge Joe.    

Wee Maggie

Raced by John O'Donnell from Paisley

I first took an interest in pigeons at the age of 9 in 1952 when I was taken by my father to look after my Uncle Paddy's birds while he was away on holiday. In 1956 my father bought me a loft and we flew in the Barrhead & District club as J O'Donnell & Son. Then in 1964 I got married and by that time my father was in poor health and unable to look after the birds so we left the sport. In 1970 I was able to put a loft into my back garden and have been racing in the Paisley 500 and the Paisley District & d Barrhead Fereneze club since 1992.

My entry into your challenge Joe is called Wee Maggie named after my wife Margaret, she is the best pigeon I have ever owned and Margaret is the best wife I have ever had. She has been a tower of strength to me lately and looked after the birds when I was ill; believe me Joe she is a ‘Gem’. Wee Maggie is a dark hen bred in 2003 by J W Foster of St Helen's in Lancashire. As a young bird she flew the programme from Arniston to Wetherby flying steadily and winning this race in the Paisley & District club. As a yearling she flew as far as Ripon where she came home with no tail and therefore did not fly again that year. As a 2 year old she only flew Tow Law, Otterburn and Lille flying consistently but never in the prize list. As a 3 year old her first race was Scotch Corner were she won 1st club Barrhead Fereneze 92, she then flew Wakefield returning half an hour behind the winners, then into her first national race from   Alencon winning 2nd section F and entry into your sporting challenge Joe.

I would like to wish all the other fanciers and their birds every success in this sporting challenge during 2007 and may the best pigeon win

Setonpark Caelan

Raced by Richard Combe of Elphinstone

We're looking forward to our 3rd attempt at your sporting challenge Joe, I think we were 2nd or 3rd in the Le Ferte Bernard year but our last entry sadly never got home from Alencon in 2005. Hopefully we will have better luck in 2007 and I look forward to reading about the competition over the next few months.

There is a slight change of policy this year because so far we have always picked a 2 year old first timer for the challenge as we think that is the time when we get the best performance from them. However for 2007 my dad doesn’t have many 2 year olds because he gave me virtually all of his 2005 young birds to start up myself. I had no great desire to start on my own but my dad was planning to move house after the 2005 season so I decided I better put a loft up and get his youngster down into my garden. In the event he decided not to move but by then the birds were broken with me so he has a very small 2 year old team for this season. Having considered the channel team for 2007 we both agreed that the most obvious candidate for the challenge is a 3 year old blue hen, her details are as follows;

Setonpark Caelan - she is named after my dad's first (18 month old) grand-daughter who lives in South Africa. She is due to arrive in Scotland for the first time on the weekend of the Gold Cup so it seems fitting to name the blue hen after her.

This hen is already a proven high class performer; she has bags of experience, plenty of ability and tries hard so with a bit of luck she will not be far from the top of the result come the Alencon race. Her career to date is as follows as a young bird she flew the full 8 race programme to the young bird national from Cheltenham being 1st bird to the loft from the Selby race. As a yearling she flew 4 races to Newark (215 miles) before being prepared for the inland national SNFC race from Newbury. She performed very well winning 91st open flying to overdue eggs. Within a day or two of coming home she left the nest and began pairing up again which left her on target for a 7 day youngster at the SNFC Falaise basketting night. She was looking in great condition and despite just being a yearling she was included in training for the channel race. In the build up to the race we had several older hens strongly fancied for this race, but the blue hen was a match for them and was very keen on her baby so we decided to let her take her chance.

The Falaise race turned out to be a pretty hard national with few day pigeons but we had a good race timing 4 in the space of 30 minutes early the 2nd morning to win positions from 35th to 65th open. The blue hen was our 2nd arrival winning 41st open and justifying the decision to send her. She was none the worse for the experience of the race and we looked forward to her 2 year old career with great anticipation. She was on target for the SNFC Alencon race and having had a quiet season in build up to the Gold Cup race by having just a couple of short races before her final preparation race from Peterborough a distance of 240 miles, this also happened to be the federation open race. She went to that race having had her eggs lifted for the Alencon race so was therefore flying to an empty nest and caused a little surprise by winning 4th club 6th fed, narrowly being beating by a red hen that was in the same nest condition. With this resultand the hard training still to come we were very hopeful that these 2 hens would accomplish themselves in the Alencon SNFC Gold Cup with Caelan being just a slight favourite. It was all going to plan when the red hen that had been 2nd to the loft at Peterborough was timed in on the night to win 12th open Alencon. We were sure that wherever the first one was the other was sure to be close behind so were expecting Caelan to be just behind her. It was with some surprise and disappointment that we controlled the clock with no further arrivals. Caelan arrived the 2nd morning being our 3rd bird home just missing out on the result. However, she had a very good excuse as she had been sliced open by a wire and had a deep cut on her breast and crop. From the condition of the injury it was clear that this had happened on the first day and was certainly severe enough to force her to stop. We are pretty sure she would have been a day pigeon but for this injury and we consider her to be very much the equal of the 12th open red hen. Hopefully she will avoid such bad luck in 2007 and can prove herself a top class hen time will tell Joe.

Caelans's breeding:- Neither her sire or dam were successful racers but were well bred. Her sire was a very well raised cock, a direct son of our 4th open Rennes hen (1996) when paired to a stock cock (grandson of Howden Gold 1st open Rennes and our own Sapphire who won 5th , 29th  and 31st open SNFC) he has already produced a 47th open Messac among others.

Dam of Caelan was the result of a cross with the cock (4975) bred from our usual family and the dam (5344) anincomer.4975 is steeped in the best of our distance family being  a nephew of Midnight Son and is related to many winners and won 176th open SNFC Newbury. 5344 was purchased by myself (Jamie) for £10 at an SNFC squeaker sale. She was a small blue hen with no pedigree other than that she was a Van Loon bred by past SNFC winner George Harris from Denny. She turned out to be an absolute bargain when she topped the federation and was 21st open SNFC Hastings a distance of 370 miles.

The majority of your readers will have details of the loft and history etc as you have highlighted this in previous articles. Main results over the years are 8 times in the first 5 in the open results in SNFC for example 2nd Tours, 2nd Chenoise, 3rd Sartilly, 4th Rennes, 5th Rennes and 3 times 5th open Sartilly We have twice won the Fancier of the year award in 1998 with Jim Renwick and in 2004 with yourself Joe and we were runner up in 2006. We have also won the SNFC overall and section averages plus a Gold Award winner and also past SHU Dewar trophy winner.

May we wish the other competitors all the very best within the sporting challenge and we both look forward to reading about these other birds in your excellent article on the sporting challenge keep up the good work yours Jamie Combe.

Team Three

Mollie

Raced by Jackie Blackhurst Easthouses

It will indeed be a great honour for me to again take part in your sporting challenge for 2007 and I have to say I have been impressed with the way you run this competition Joe. The presentation night was one I will never forget and it is a credit to both you and your wife for the work you do for the sport of pigeon racing in Scotland.

My entry this year is a 3 year old blue bar hen known a Mollie she was entered in the 2006 inland national and on return flew with my neighbour Kenny Bald young bird team for 35 minutes, she should have been timed at 13.25pm. I told some men at my loft this will not happen again and I set her up for the Gold Cup race and timed her in at 04.28am second morning to win 17th section B 69th open.

Her sire is Ma Man a 2001 bred cock that won 3 races on the trot and was in the Newbury national and Rennes results winning over £1000 for his efforts. The dam of Mollie is Alana my 2nd open SNFC Le Ferte Bernard winner who in turn was a daughter of my 2006 Sporting Challenge entry Zara who won runner up in the 2006 sporting challenge to Bit’s and Pieces. Zara won 14th section B 56th open SNFC Alencon in 2006, 25th open SNFC Tours in 2005, 11th open SNFC Tours in 2004 and she was on the SNFC Reims result in 2003.

Joe I have 6 pairs of stock birds this year and they all have youngsters at the moment. I have 20 racing cocks and 40 hens; I will pair up the yearling’s hens with these cocks on the 1st February. Later on I will pair the older hens with these same cocks and then separate and raced them to the nest box. Once it comes to the SNFC races I will re-pair the best up and set them up for the classic races.

May I wish everyone taking part in your challenge all the very best and may the best pigeon win the lovely trophy.

Shawhill Princess

Raced by Crombie and Mechan of Annan

First of all we would like to thank you Joe for inviting us to compete in the Sporting Challenge 2007. This is the third time we have taken part in this great event winning the inaugural event in 2002. The partnership of Crombie & Mechan was formed in late 1992 and consists of my uncle Jim Crombie and myself, John Mechan. Jim initially flew on his own before forming a partnership with local man George Hind to fly as Hind & Crombie. It was in partnership with George that Jim was to win his first SNFC race from Beauvais in 1965 with their red cock named Shawhill Triumph; followed the next year 1966 by being 1st south Sect, 2nd Open Rennes with their blue hen Shawhill Faithfull. After George got married and moved from the area Jim flew on his own once more, winning his second national in 1978 from Nantes with his black hen Shawhill Elizabeth this hen being timed in by myself as a 14 year old school boy.

As a partnership Crombie & Mechan have been 1st south Sect, 2nd Open SNFC Liege 2001 with Shawhill Prince. The following year 2002 Prince was 5th open SNFC Reims also winning the first Joe Murphy Sporting challenge. In 2003 we were to win Jim’s third and my first National with our hen Shawhill Lady from Chenoise and in 2006 we won 2nd open SNFC Alencon with our grizzle hen Shawhill Princess whom we are nominating for the BHW/Joe Murphy Challenge in 2007.

This hen has previously been 11th South section 45th open SNFC La Ferte Bernard 2004 and last year 2006, was 2nd South section, 2nd open SNFC Alencon ( the third time Jim has been 2nd open in the SNFC Gold Cup race).

She is bred from a full brother of Shawhill Prince when paired to a direct daughter of Shawhill Prince. So with the connection to Shawhill Prince and the Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge we thought of only the one name i.e. Shawhill Princess.

Incidentally a full sister of Shawhill Prince, which was our nominated pigeon in the Challenge in 2004 (being reported in Ireland the day after liberation) as a matter of interest this hen won 8th South section 9th open SNFC Alencon in 2006.

Shawhill Princess was paired up on the 3rd of February and will as in 2006, if all goes to plan rear her 1st round of young and be allowed to go to nest on her 2nd set of eggs for no more than 5 days before being parted and put on roundabout. After parting she will be exercised prior to having approx’ 6 tosses out to 30 miles prior to her first race. Like the rest of the team, she will be exercised twice daily for 50-60 minutes morning and night during inland racing and will be giving approx’ 4 or 5 races depending on how many hours she has on the wing. Her last race will be approx’ 3 weeks prior to basketting, when all being well she will be left with her mate to go down on eggs and will be sitting between 12-14 days on shipping to the race. Prior to basketting she will have maybe receive 4 training tosses from 25 miles and 2 tosses from 40 miles, she will also receive her daily exercised of 30 to 40 minutes and allowed an on open hole for 2 hours morning and night.

The birds are fed Gerry Plus only up to 220 miles; thereafter as well as Gerry Plus, maple peas are added to pots in their nest boxes. In the last week prior to basketting peanuts and a high fat mix are also fed to the birds.

We would like to finish Joe on wishing all the other competitors taking part in your challenge all the best of luck for the new season.

Rocco’s Girl

 Raced by John Mathieson of Mossblown Ayrshire

Joe here is the particulars of my pigeon that I would like to enter for your sporting challenge for the 2007 season. She is a blue pied 3 year old hen as a youngster she flew 6 races and the following year she flew 5 races out to Huntington where she took 1st club and was then stopped for the season. As a 2 year old she had 6 races to Maidstone where she won 1st club and was again stopped for the season.

I have named my pigeon Rocco’s Girl as my dogs name is Rocco and it has taken a likening to this blue pied pigeon. Her sire is bred from stock from Fountainhead lofts Kirkpatrick grand sire and grand dam Britannia crossed Olympus. Dam is bred from Kenyon stock from W Ishmael.

I started with the pigeons in 1980 with fantails then the following year I obtained a pair of racers and started to win with them in 1982 and have done well since then very often winning the old bird and young bird averages.

I have 2 lofts one is 18 x 8 feet which is my main racing loft and it has 20 nest boxes and a young bird section in which I put the 50 youngsters I breed for racing. The other loft is 12foot by 7 foot and it has 18 boxes and is used mostly for stock pigeons.

I mate my birds on 16th February and they are allowed to rear 2 youngsters in the first nest and then their next youngster will be when they are going to the national races.

One Kirkpatrick cock as been clocked 4 times from France and I have won 1st section Alencon 1st section Falaise and 1st section Newbury plus I have won 10 or more SNFC diplomas over the years. I’ve topped the federation 5 times from Sartilly and had the only bird on the day from the west coast combine but was disqualified through making a mistake on my race entry sheet. Let’s hope this does not happen again and John does well with is sporting challenge entry Rocco’s Girl. John finishes off by wishing all other competitors all the very best in the sporting challenge.

Broadsea Lass

Raced by Jimmy Dickie of Fraserburgh

Jimmy’s letter starts off with ‘Many thanks Joe for allowing me to again take part in your sporting challenge Joe it was a great honour to participate last year and to win your Bird of the Year Award in 2006 was indeed a great honour and I’m again nominating my chequer hen Broadsea Lass as my candidate for your one bird challenge’.

I will not bore fanciers with when I first started as I covered this last year I have 6 pairs of stock pigeons and 14 pair of racers and all these birds are mated on the 3rd week in February, the reason for pairing up all my team at the one time is to get all my youngsters weaned at the same time. I normally breed about 28 to 30 youngsters and train half and race the other half.  Broadsea Lass like the others in the race team will rear one youngster and then I separate them, they will get 3 or 4 training flights of 20 miles prior to going into their first race. My system never changes Joe and it is the same every year.

Broadsea Lass was bred in 2001 and had 4 races as a youngster, same amount as a yearling out to Hastings a distance of 490 miles. Then as a 2 year old she had 5 club races out to the 300 mile mark she was then re paired and given one training flight from 60 miles the week prior to the SNFC Gold Cup race and she was sent sitting 8 days on eggs and she won 3rd north section from Reims a distance of 636 miles. She was treated in the same method again in 2004 and then entered into the SNFC Gold Cup race from Le Ferte’ Bernard and she was clocked at 15.55 second day from this 667 miles race point. In 2005 she was entered into the Gold Cup race a distance of 646 miles and she won 5th north section 115th open Alencon then in 2006 she won 5th north section 151st open Alencon and then 4th north section 53rd open Falaise 615 miles. She has flown the channel 5 times and has only missed the prize list on one occasion which is remarkable when you consider the distances she has to cover. She will be going for a Gold Award in the SNFC in 2007 and hope she can pull it off as she is something very special.

Sire of Broadsea Lass is a son of Jackie Ritchie’s good mealy whose grand sire was Allochy Lad who won 2nd north section 48th open Niort 787 miles Grand dam was Allochy Lass who won 4th north section 59th open Rennes a distance of 661 miles. Dam of Jackie’s mealy cock won 3rd north section Sartilly 617 miles and her sire won 2nd north section Nantes a distance of 721 miles and 3rd north section Rennes 661 miles and the dam won 3rd north section Sartilly. So you can see Joe he is steeped in long distance north section winning bloodlines. 

Dam of Broadsea Lass came from the late Bill Innis of Cornhill near Banff, I never met Bill so therefore have no records of her breeding, however I have been told that Bill was a very good distance flier. In finishing up Joe I must congratulate you on such a wonderful competition as the Sporting Challenge it is quite unique in the respect that we in Scotland receive such wonderful publicity and this is down to you for all the hard work you and your wife does in promoting our sport up here in Scotland, keep up the good work it is very much appreciated. I would like to wish all the other fanciers taking part in the challenge all the very best of luck and I look forward to reading about their pigeons in your coverage of the sporting challenge.

Nan’s Boy

Raced by Doran Brothers of Broxburn in West Lothian

Firstly I would like to thank you Joe for the invitation to take part in the Joe Murphy / BHW sporting challenge. Our partnership consists of myself Mark and my brother James who is the sleeping partner so to speak. We started racing pigeons in 1967 at the age of 12 under the name Doran Bothers with most of our birds coming from local fanciers. In 1971 my brother James retired from racing the pigeons and I joined Ian McGregor and raced as McGregor and Doran up until 1975 when we ceased racing pigeons altogether. In the years between 1975 andmy return to pigeonracing in1987 I kept and raced Greyhounds.

When the ‘bug’ to start up the pigeons affected me again Ipurchased 6birds from Joe Ridley along with birds from various other sources. About the same time Iobtained birds from Alf Rothwell of Up North Combine fame and reasonable success followed. In 1997 I purchased pigeons from Lammond & Lamb from Winchburgh club at their dispersal sale and I bred a dark chequered cock from thesebirds, which proved to be a very successful pigeon. He in turn is the grandsire of 880, who should in 2007 be going for a Gold Award in the SNFC.

Now for my sporting challenge candidate named Nan’s Boy after my mother not very original Joe but it was either named after my mother or father. He was raced as a youngster to the open race however after a training toss from Stowe he returned with a hole in his head where a hawk had a go at him, in fact you can still see the bald patch on his head. As a yearling he went to Huntingdon a distance of 286 miles and he won 24th open he was then entered into the last SNFC race Falaise and he won 11th section D 150th open SNFC Falaise 3225 birds being my 3rd bird in the clock in 2005Falaise race he won 6th section D 48th open 2366 birds the same year he won 7th section59th open762birds in the SNRPC Alencon race. In 2006he had every race out to the SNFC inland race from Newbury winning 12th section D 132nd open SNFC Newbury from an entry of 2,838 birds he then received one training toss from St Boswells and was basketed for Alencon feeding a big youngster and his hen sitting 4 to 5 days he returned from the race with his 3rd flight fully grown and had a full wing for flying the 540 miles winning 2nd section D 32nd open  from an entry of 1,556 birds. In the final old bird race of the season he won 9th section D 104th open SNFC Falaise from an entry of 2,039 birds.  He has never let us down Joe and has won over £3000 during his racing career. Sire was a direct son of his good black cock who won us over £4000 his breeding is Jan Aarden crossed Busschaert. Dam was bred by Willie Kinnear & son Barry from Edinburgh from Iron Bru who won 12th section 49th open Rennes in 1999 the same year he won 23rd section Nantes. Iron Bru was paired to daughter of a dark cock who won 23rd section 51st open Rennes who in turn was bred from a hen who won 24th section 24th open Sartilly so you will see that he is bred for the job.

I look forward to reading your excellent report on the Sporting Challenge candidates and may I wish all my fellow competitors all the very best in the competition.

Conclusion

I hope you the readers have enjoyed my writings on the sporting challenge pigeons who are taking part in 2007 as you can see there are some outstanding specimens of true long distance pigeons within the 15 birds taking part. I know that many of you will be watching the result to find out how Broadsea Lass and Nan’s Boy progress and let us hope they can achieve their goal and become Gold Award Winners within the SNFC, thus joining the history of our great club. Nevertheless this is a hard task to achieve and when you think of all the other 4 times winners who have failed at the final hurdle it is a very daunting procedure. Then again we as true sportsmen would be more than happy to see these two birds accomplish this great accomplishment.

Again I would just like to request the fanciers taking part within the challenge if they could contact me by the 1st June 2007 to allow me time for the review on each individual pigeon prior to the main event. I also require them to contact me after the race regardless if they time in their bird or not as it will allow me to compile an update and allow readers the knowledge to perceive how the race transpired. Again all the very best to each individual member of the SNFC taking part in the Gold Cup race and I hope to be visiting some of you after the race for a report and to the winner the chance to become a film star in the SNFC DVD on this years SNFC winners tribute film.

Compiled and Copyright Joe Murphy, Sporting Challenge Co co-ordinator