LEICESTERSHIRE NOTES

by John Ghent

June 2013

Well it's been a while since a fully updated Leicestershire Notes so welcome to a real bumper edition which is going to recap on the last 8 weeks or so! I must apologise for rather delay, the property market has bounced back a little in Leicester so work has been very busy and the wedding is about 2 months away now so planning that has had to become a priority! Add to the equation the birds and getting them ready for the first race I have undertaken in 15 years and time has been at a premium, but anyway, here we go.

I am going to pass over to Country Lad for the first part of this bumper edition to go truth what has happened in the North of the county on the South Road in the Loughborough Premier, take it away Sir!!

"We had a poor showing for the first race of the season with only four sending due to the bad weather for training. All went smoothly at marking until R.J Smiths clock refused to accept any of his yearlings, of which he had 20 odd, so he decided to just rubber them and send them as trainers. However, he still managed to take the first three places so things did turn a bit better for him! At Salisbury the following week 7 members sent 98 birds so the turn out was a bit better and R.J Smith decided to just send the birds that the clock would accept, 22 in all. Our "Magic Man" John Carol got the birds away at 1.00pm in a very strong South West wind and in first place for the first time it's "The Trotter", alias "The Heinz Man" with Tommy riding shotgun. They take the first three places with all hens on his new system which is a great start, closely followed by R.J Smith in 4th and 5th. The following week David Grant had words with Tommo the Whizz Kid regarding Tauris and between them they sorted the clock out for R.J Smth, many thanks to David for helping out on that matter! At the new race point, Blandford Forum, John got them away at 7.40am in a strong South West once again resulting in a very fast race. "The Trotter" again with Tammy riding shotgun took first place, "The Leveller" with our Brenda helping out again was less than a minute from the top spot, in 4th is "The Alamo Man" with John and David in 5th, great to see four different members in the top 5. All are on ETS so a fair and good result for the club all round. Many thanks once again to "The Magic Man" as returns were once again excellent." - Country Lad.

Thanks very much pal, sorry it has taken me a while to get your words into print! So onwards and upwards and onto what has been happening around the County and slightly beyond.

The Leicestershire South Road Federation has seen an excellent start to the season with fantastic returns so whatever the race organisers are doing they are doing it very well as far as the members are concerned. Although the send has dipped below 1,000 birds in recent weeks, this is more down to members planning and preparing for the National races as oppose to birds being lost. The front runners in the race for the Fed Championship come from the South Leicester Club with last years champion's Underwood and Son battling with the new kid on the South Road, Lee Allen. Meanwhile round the corner in the Eyres Monsell, Mick O'Rourke has been in his usual form in both the club and the fed and it is only in the last 2 or 3 weeks that the Dalby Bros have halted the O'Rourke juggernaut, it is going to be a big battle for the rest of the season between these two sprint heavyweights, how interesting would it be to see the four members, Underwood, Dalby, Allen and O'Rourke all racing against each other on a weekly basis, I for one would join that club just to be part of the fun and games!

We are now in the thick of the National season and Leicestershire has never had so much choice, with the BBC now complimenting the MNFC in the area. The first National race was BBC Carentan on May 11th with Mick Lovell securing the best bird into Leicester in what turned out to be a steady race into the area, with velocities around the 1200 YPM mark, this wasn't to be Mick's last outing with the BBC this season. About 50 birds in all went to the Carentan race which was to be expected with it being fairly early in the season, it is hoped that Fougeres on the Barcelona weekend will attract a better send for the club from the Louella marking station. The other Leicestershire fanciers to clock from Carentan with the BBC were Wayne and Luke Jarvis, Dawkins and Allen, Malc Slater, Gary Marsh, Ken Chapman, Pat McGonigle and yours truly.

Mick Lovell standing in front of his WHOLE SET-UP! Whole loft including old, young and any stock, 9x6! Mick has stand in his bathroom to see the birds come!

Another shot of Mick Lovell's one and only loft - an inspiration to all backyard fanciers

Mick Lovell with 9th Section D, 62nd Open BBC Niort, a yearling hen flying 435 miles.

We then moved onto the Midlands National Carentan race on the 25th May, over 8,000 birds liberated at Carentan all gunning for the UK, more specifically the West of the UK as the East wind pushed the birds right across the country and the West dominating the Open result. That didn't stop Leicestershire replicating it's success from last year with some great performances in the Section once again. 1st and 3rd Section was Bill Marbrow who I know really puts in a lot of work with both the pigeons and the Midland National so a worthy winner. Bill clocked a yearling cock being raced celibate to win the section. Following close behind were Summers Brothers, so close to repeating their Section winning success from Tours last year, they were just pipped by the man from North West Leicestershire. The pigeon for Scott, Lance and Uncle Pete is a yearling grizzle that did nothing special as a young bird, it was in fact it's nestmate, a grizzle hen, which was one of the best young birds into the Braunstone Town loft. The 2nd Section pigeon is known as "Heinz 57" as he has all sorts of different stuff in him, too much to name, he's just a good quality racing pigeon. He had 3 club races before taking on Carentan as his first time over the water and is raced on a conventional roundabout system. The boys have had a lot of bad luck with injuries this season so they may not be able to throw a full team at as many nationals as they would like in 2013 but this first class performance shows they are a force to be reckoned with despite only starting at their current address around 4 years ago.

Lance & Pete Summers (head scraper boy)

1st section MNFC Tours 2012

2nd section MNFC Carentan 2013

After a couple more club races the Leicestershire fanciers had the opportunity of Niort with the BBC and this is where things really got interesting! This is real unchartered territory for many of the flyers in this area and 2 brave souls, Gary Marsh and Mick Lovell, basketed 16 birds between them for the arduous 437 mile journey. As is now known it was a very difficult race to say the least and I know a few people in the area did not expect Gaz or Mick to see a pigeon! I am so pleased to say that Gaz has finished 6th Section D, 41st Open and Mick has claimed 9th Section, 64th Open. The birds were liberated at 8.10am on the Monday after a 2 day holdover and there were very few birds into the mainland on the day, when the time finally came that Gaz sent me a text message simply saying, "call me, I've got one," it was then 3.20pm on the Tuesday! Having followed the race fairly closely I knew that the pigeon would be well up in the result and so it proved as due to it being a slow race and flying between 60-90 miles further than most of the section, the bird dropped straight in at provisional 6th Section and was never moved! The pigeon has been on open hole for the majority of the season, Gaz does not run a strict regime, and had 1 club race before going to BBC Carentan and then onto Niort. The hen in question is a yearling and has now been over the channel 4 times, once to Guernsey, twice to Carentan and now the Niort race, she is some pigeon and Gaz informs me that a cock has now managed to get back from Niort as well so he aims to pair them together to produce the next line of distance candidates for the Fosse Road outfit. Mick clocked around 2 hours later for 9th Section and although he is a little disappointed to not see more pigeons home, he is delighted with the result and the performance of the bird, the dam of the bird, scored in the top 90 in the Section of Tours MNFC in 2012, again as a yearling. Mick lives for channel racing so to get results like this from his 9 foot loft, yes you heard right, 9 foot loft, is a fantastic feat and gives hope to all backyard fanciers such as myself.

Gary Marsh with 6th Section D, 39th Open BBC Niort, a yearling hen flying 437 miles.

Finally the BICC were at Falaise on the same weekend as the BBC were at Niort and an excellent result was achieved by Pete Oliver of Lutterworth, a big supporter of the South Road Nationals, and he achieved 1st and 3rd North Section it what was again a difficult race.

The races are coming think and fast now, young bird training for some is in full swing, and we have just basketed for the latest BBC National at Louella Pigeon World. W have also just received confirmation that we will be basketing for Barcelona at Louella Pigeon World, something that I am ecstatic about, and we will be at Louella from 8.30am-9.30am to mark the birds. All I ask is that people are prompt as I have to be at wedding in Leicester for 11.00am, not my own I hasten to add, that is a month later, but my other half will string me up if I am late!

I would like to just round off by saying thank you to everyone that has asked about my Grandad, Alan Farmer, he is doing great and is still very interested in what is happening in the pigeon world around Leicester, giving me plenty of advice on a daily basis, and is always asking how everyone is getting on. I am off to Barcelona on July 4th for my stag party and to watch the liberation, so will have a full report on all the race scene when I return!

Thanks again

"Mush"

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Leicester

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