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Back to Basics Part 2

 

 

 

BACK TO BASICS

Part 2

by John Ghent

I sit here this morning in somewhat of a quandary, a welcome one I might add, similar to having the option of either picking Messi or Ronaldo for a forthcoming fixture, now that would be some decision! The reason for this deliberation focuses back on the recent article "Back to Basics", in which I described in some very basic detail the benefits of making pigeon racing simple again.

We all know the commercial side of the sport is here to say and I advocate that, I really do, professionalism will go a long way to improving any hobby, sport or pastime. The challenge with pigeon racing is that the novice competes alongside the seasoned campaigner, whether that be at club level, Federation level or indeed in National and International competitions. In no other sport which has the variety of quality and competition do we compete as one. The amateurs and novices have their own competitions, the mid-range competitiors have their own and the elite compete against each other for the sports biggest prizes. You can progress through the ranks and ultimately work your way to the top of the sport. In pigeon racing however, it is a case of sink or swim, good luck, and by the way look through the Homing World or on the Internet and see what you're up against! For the non-fancier considering giving the hobby a go it is easy why many could be put off. You will notice I have just called it a hobby and it technically is, it is unlikely pigeon racing will ever get "sport" status as to be classed as a sport it needs to offer the opportunity for competitors to compete on an even keel, not in terms of money or location but by the amount of birds sent. As we know you can send one and your neighbour could send 100 but there is no separate competition, or is there........? I will elaborate on this shortly.

So, back to my original challenge and quandary. The feedback from the article was such that I was asked on numerous occasions whether there will be a follow up. I was more than happy to facilitate this, sat down with my iPad and then for probably the first time ever, thought....."where do I go with it now?" There are so many different options when looking at bringing the sport/hobby back to basics, the confusing part was what to investigate next! So, I think this subject requires some specialisation, which is why I will be putting together several small pieces aimed at the novice fancier, the small team man, the disillusioned pigeon fancier, with the intention of re-kindling some old flames to get people thinking about what this great pastime of ours is really about, enjoyment of the birds and a break from the modern world! Sit back and enjoy!

PART ONE - LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD

This is something very close to my heart, something which I have dwelled upon for many, many hours in the last couple of years. The truth is that the playing field will never be entirely equal, due to pigeon racing's geographical challenges. We can however swing things back in our favour with a few simple decisions.

The key to this is a focus of concentration on a small number of targets. As a "Back to Basics" fancier you will struggle to compete on all fronts, club, Fed, National, Amalgamation, International etc etc. However, with a few select choices your chances of success can greatly improve, your enjoyment levels increase, and the simplicity of your pigeon racing year will be second to none. As we go through these pieces, I am going to build up a picture of what I see as the typical "Back to Basics" set-up and these decisions that we make in this article will therefore dictate everything from feeding and training through to time spent at the loft and the cost of our season.

So, looking at National results only, you will generally see that the further in distance we go the birdage will continue to decrease. That is very close to being a fact so shouldn't be too controversial. If we consider the 2014 NFC Tarbes race for a moment and look at the top 50 birds clocked in the Open, we will see that 16 of those 50 were clocked to fanciers sending 5 birds or less, and a staggering 30 out of 50 were clocked by members sending 10 or less pigeons. If we go one step further and look at the BICC Barcelona result from 2014, we will see that only 14 out of 57 birds clocked went to fanciers sending more than 5 birds to the race, so 33 were in the clock of fanciers sending 5 or less pigeons. Instantly you will see that the further we send the more likely we are to be competing on a more level playing field, and also we don't need to keep a lot of pigeons to be able to compete. Just to put all that into context, in the NFC Carentan race of 2014, only 13 out of the first 50 were clocked by members sending less than 10 pigeons, less than half the amount compared to when we reach Tarbes.

So, if as fanciers we decide to concentrate on long distance events we can see that we are able to keep less birds and still compete in races in a more even competition with our fellow fanciers, simply by the fact that people send less birds to these prestigious event.

Taking the premise of levelling the competition even further, we have some excellent opportunities to do just this with various Nominations within each National race, but take it to the ultimate with The Greater Distance Single Bird National Flying Club. This superb club not only focuses on the key National races in the calendar but also asks it's members to select their bird to compete in this club for each race. This really is the dream for any Back to Basics fancier, concentrating on a select number of races with just a few birds needed to really show your worth against the country's best fanciers, in the best races this country has to offer. For more information relating to this club please email John Clements on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We have now established that by being very precise and focused on our main goals each year instead of just wading through the Winter months, waiting for April to come along and then wondering what to send, we can indeed level the playing field somewhat. This is the first step on our Back To Basics journey. I wanted to show the end goal in this first part as we can now work back from there and in the next instalment we shall take a look at what a Back To Basics loft set up could look like for you!

For anybody interested in the Back To Basics journey, please get in touch via one if the methods below. I would love to hear from people already embracing this philosophy and photographs of your lofts and successful birds would be warmly received and would have the chance of being used in future articles for this series which ties in nicely with the Backyard Marathon Challenge.

Speak soon

John Ghent

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

83, Newport Street

Leicester

LE3 9FU

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Elimar - December 2014