St Philbert OB National Race Report 2026

St Philbert OB National Race Report 2026

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April Update

<pre>&lt;pre&gt;President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert APRIL UPDATE I would like to start by thanking everyone who very kindly donated some outstanding pigeons to our Annual Young Bird Sale at Salisbury on Sunday April 6 th .…

April Update

<pre>&lt;pre&gt;President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert APRIL UPDATE I would like to start by thanking everyone who very kindly donated some outstanding pigeons to our Annual Young Bird Sale at Salisbury on Sunday April 6 th .…

Prize Winners of 2025

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Fougeres YB & OB National Race Report 2025

Fougeres YB & OB National Race Report 2025

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Bordeaux 2015 Race Report

<pre>&lt;pre&gt;President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert Bordeaux National 1 st OPEN 1 st SECTION E Mal Hope from Telford With “Piaf” After a one day holdover due to inclement weather conditions in France on Saturday, the BBC’s…

Barcelona National Race Report 2025

<pre>&lt;pre&gt;Barcelona International Provisional Race Result 4 th July 2025 1st Open BICC, Ross Olive of Wickford 1 st OPEN BBC, CLIVE &amp;amp; JILL ROGERS &amp;amp; NEIL SALES OF Radstock Barcelona is the capital and largest city in Catalonia, it is…
<pre>&lt;pre&gt;Bordeaux National 1 st

OPEN 1

st

SECTION D

Alan McIlquham from Enfield

At 6.15am on the Saturday and with a light West/ South Westerly wind at Bordeaux, Nigel released the 833 birds up and away on their final old bird journey of the season with the BBC. Thankfully the temperatures up through France were not as high as previous days before liberation. The direction of the wind on route was West/ South Westerly becoming stronger as the birds made their way north to the channel.

This race saw all Sections supported with Gerry O’Reilly from Ireland entering 5 brave birds attempting to make the 645 mile journey to Dublin. We also had two members from Section E enter,

Mr &amp;amp; Mrs B Hicks and John Rumney flying 686 miles and 689 miles respectively with Brian Hicks

timing in on the Sunday morning at 6.50am to record a velocity of 1202. I think if conditions had of been better on Saturday evening that pigeon would have been on the day.

Thank you to the markers and helpers at all the marking stations for your support during the old bird season.

Congratulations to our Bordeaux winner Alan McIlquham of Enfield 1 st

OPEN 1

st

SECTION D TIMING

a yearling cock bird at 16.21hrs flying almost 469 miles.

Just four yards behind the winner we have Mark Bulled from Harlow 1 st

SECTION J 2

nd

OPEN.

Congratulations to all winners and the BBC on giving us a decent race. Liberations in the other organisations have been very poor the last few weeks and losses, particularly of good pigeons for myself and others have been high. So I was pleasantly surprised to time an early pigeon this week and keep up my good record in recent Bordeaux races of 2 nd

, 5 th and 6

th , 4 th 7

th and 8 th and now 2

nd

again in the last 5 years. And this is now my fifth 2

nd National. My timer was bred by local arch rival and LNRC Legend Vic Shaw. She is of predominately

Soontjens breeding. The Sire is a son of Charlie Simmons double National winner (Bordeaux and

Agen) and the dam a daughter of my Fougeres BBC National winner Eastbourne, who has been a prolific breeder for me.

My timer, her first real performance of note, came close to my predicted time, and was sent feeding a small baby. She homed from the west and had been through quite a bit of rain, and her wings were

bent upright where she had tried so hard. I sent 5 and had 3 on the day.

Mark Bulled with Abbie and Charlotte

Garry Inkley from Hillingdon 3 rd , 6

th , 10 th &amp;amp; 11

th

OPEN 2

nd , 3 rd , 4

th &amp;amp; 5 th

SECTION D. MUST

congratulate Mr McIlquham on winning the race and also the transport team on the condition of the pigeons after travelling to Bordeaux in the very high temperatures, a contributing factor must be the crates used and the transporter, I have never seen a poultry transporter loaded with metal crates!

always plastic. My first arrival at 2 nd

SECTION IS A YEARLING HEN SENT ON HER FIRST EGGS OF HER LIFE THAT WERE CHIPPING ON

basketing day, having previously raced all season celibate, never paired. Her sire is a son of Janus (sire of Enigma) when paired to a daughter of KO Van Dommelen’s Narbonne National winner.

Dam is a grandaughter of Roger Vereecke’s Tarbes National winner and Etiene De Vos’s

Carcasonne International winner and also Bullen and son IRDB. 3 rd

SECTION IS ANOTHER YEARLING HEN IN THE SAME NEST CONDITION, HER SIRE IS AGAIN A SON OF JANUS WHEN

he was mated to a daughter of KO Van Dommelen’s De Mand. Dam was bred by Alwyn Hill and is from Wing Downs sire and Menne 2.

4 th

SECTION IS A YEARLING BLUE COCK THAT WAS PAIRED TO THE 3

rd

SECTION. HIS SIRE IS FROM THE VEREECKE

cock when mated to a daughter of Peter Foxes WAARLE. Dam is another half sister to Alwyn’s

Wing Down. 5 th

SECTION WAS A 2 YEAR OLD HEN SITTING 14 DAYS THAT SHOULD OF GONE TO TARBES BUT SLIPPED THE NET!!

Her sire bred by KO van Dommelen from Zwarte Pau and a daughter of De Cas.

Dam is nestmate of Alwyn’s hen that bred 4 th

SECTION ABOVE.

David Coward-Talbot from Chelmsford 4 th

OPEN 2

nd

SECTION J. DAVID WITH ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE

hens “Miss Bond” GB 15A 21007. She has been a very consistent performer for David. Just two of her performances in 2017 were 4 th

SECTION P FOUGERES NFC AND 17

th

OPEN BICC ALENCON. SHE WAS

prepared this year for the Tarbes National and arrived on the 3 rd day. Her sire is a Vandenabeele cock, that was a top stock cock for Max Cooper. He was a son from two of Alun Jones top race and stock pigeons, namely, “As Bliksem” when paired to “Blue Diamond” these two pigeons had multiple firsts between them, down from all the best of the Vandenabeeles. Dam of “Miss Bond” is

“Lu Lu Elizabeth” Winner of the Queens Diamond Jubilee South Road Race 2012, Vel. 1167.4 on a very hard east wind day from Messac. She was also one of David’s top race hens, her sire was “The

Maker” a direct Van De Flaes, owned originally by Paul Russell of Harold Hill, he was sire of 1 st

NFC Messac for Les Jones, and he also bred many top race birds for David including 12 th

OPEN

NFC Messac 2011. Dam of “Lu Lu Elizabeth was David’s fantastic stock hen “Paula” a gift from

David’s good late friend Brian Long. She was a grand daughter of “Emperor”, “Pauline”, “Zarina”, with “Sars” “Poco” “Sumo” and “Eva” in her pedigree.

Garry Inkley David Cowa rd-Talbot

Our Bordeaux winner from last year Neil Jones of Sandwich 1 st

SECTION G 5

th

OPEN WITH ANOTHER

pigeon closely following. Firstly, congratulations to A McIlquham and to everyone that took part. My first bird to the loft is of

John Puddephatt origins, a very reliable and consistent hen, trained this year with the East of

England CC, and has taken a few good positions. My second bird ( probable 13th Open) is the nest sister to last years Bordeaux Open winner. This hen is of Cecil Bulled and Son origins (say no more). Flew Bordeaux as a yearling in 2016, 11 th

SECTION, 115

th

OPEN, 2017 SHE TOOK ONE WEEK TO GET HOME, MINUS HER TAIL AND FIVE PRIMARY&amp;#039;S FROM ONE

wing. Five out of five home on the weekend, many thanks to the British Barcelona Club for a well organised and successful race.

Neil Jones with Rowan and Finlay Simon Knowles

7 th

OPEN 2

nd

SECTION G IS SIMON KNOWLES (F KNOWLES &amp;amp; SON) FROM CANTERBURY. TWO YEAR OLD

cock was sent sitting 14 day eggs and was prepared with 4 x Bedhampton’s with the Wingham

Flying Club and 2 x 200 mile East of Englands. It is Jan Aarden Bloodlines and is fed on Bucktons

Irish with added peanuts and sunflower hearts.

Don Harvey of Dover 8 th , 9

th &amp;amp; 12 th

OPEN. FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE THE WINNER OF

the race and thank our brilliant secretary Clare for all the work she puts in. I was watching her at the

Salisbury marking dressing the crates and lifting them up to stack them - She is amazing. Also thanks to Nigel Rigiani for looking after the birds – they were in great shape on arrival.

My first bird is a three year old dark Ko Nipius / Jan Aarden cock bred from two direct Bert

Shepherd pigeons that I bought in 2012. The sire being a grandson of the great “SEVEN UP” which was first open Barcelona and many other top positions at the distance. My second bird is a two year old chequer cock the sire was bred by Heath Archibald being a direct son of “PETES DREAM” 1 st

OPEN BARCELONA AND MANY OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES FROM THE DISTANCE. THE DAM IS ANOTHER BERT

Shepherd Ko Nipius / Jan Aarden pigeon. My third bird a blue cock has been my most consistent pigeon all season in the East of England Continental Club being my first bird from Canappeville where he was 41 st

OPEN OUT OF 678 BIRDS. HE WAS MY FIRST BIRD FROM FONTENAY-SUR-EURE (2) WHERE HE

was 54 th

OPEN OUT OF 517 BIRDS. HE WAS MY FIRST BIRD FROM FONTENAY-SUR-EURE (3) WHERE HE WAS 1

st

OPEN OUT OF 457 BIRDS, AND NOW PROBABLE 12

th

OPEN BORDEAUX. HIS SIRE IS A DUTCH COCK WHICH I HAD

from my good friend in Holland in 2008 when I had the pick of two babies from his loft. The dam is a Menne &amp;amp; daughter pigeon that is breeding some promising pigeons for me.

At the time of writing this report I have timed 19 of my 28 entries. All my pigeons are prepared with

the East of England Continental Club. On closing I would like to thank Bert Shepherd for letting me have pigeons from his very best and also Jeff Lyden for all the work he puts in for the lads down this end.

Don and Elaine Harvey

Hungerford Marking Stations I/C Nev Charlton of Andover tops Section C. This was my very last

RACE, SO I FEEL A RANGE OF EMOTIONS. HOWEVER, IT&amp;#039;S AS ALWAYS THE PIGEON THAT MUST GET THE CREDIT.

My grizzle 2 year old has always caught my eye, and I was gutted when his preparation for Bergerac didn&amp;#039;t go to plan. One thing that I have learnt over the years is patience, so this race became his target.

He is bred from a Robert O Jones cock when paired to a Grizzle hen from friends and clubmates

Peter and James Parker. First Section by a 100ypm. What a way to bow out!!

Nev Charltons cock bird What an outstanding performance this next pigeon has put up, flying 686 miles coping with the strong winds and thunderstorms on Saturday arriving home at 6.50am Sunday morning to take 1

st

SECTION E FOR MR &amp;amp; MRS BRIAN HICKS OF SEAHAM, DURHAM. THIS 3 YEAR OLD BLUE COCK NOW NAMED

“Elsie’s Boy”. He was paired on 1 st April and flown natural being sent to Bordeaux on a 5 day

youngster. The Sire &amp;amp; Dam are from stock from the late Ken Hine with the sire already having bred a previous Bordeaux winner with the North East Greater Distance Club when liberated with the

MNFC.

Brian has had a cracking couple of weekends, timing a good pigeon from Le Mans BICC 473 miles and then 2

nd

SECTION NFC SIGOGNE 631 MILES.

Brian Hicks

1 st

SECTION A IS TONY LEGGATT FROM HAVANT. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER MR MCLLQUHAM AND ALL

the section winners, along with all the brave day birds. My pigeon came while I was playing &amp;quot;Llamas in Pyjamas&amp;quot; with my youngest granddaughter

Savannah. It was so windy the cards were flying all over the garden, so I will call him &amp;#039;Pyjamas&amp;#039;.

He is bred from Calum Edmiston stock, crossed with my own Southwell, in fact my first four birds were crossed in the same manner.

I would like to thank all my friends for their help this year, but mostly my wife Sue, last but not least the officials of the BBC for doing an excellent job.

Tony Leggatt Freddy Smith

2 nd

SECTION A IS FREDDY SMITH OF HAVANT. MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO TONY LEGGATT FOR COMING FIRST!

Also, I wanted to say huge thanks to the transport team for taking such good care of the birds. They came back after the race, albeit a little tired and hungry! in immaculate condition which shows how well they’d been looked after in the blistering heat since last Wednesday.

The dark chequer hen is of Southwell blood lines and is happily back on her nest box.

2 nd

SECTION C IS BRUCE MILLER FROM WANSTROW. GB16E17172. A 2 YEAR OLD BLUE COCK WHO ARRIVED

in perfect condition even though at the time the weather was heavy rain and gales. He is of Drapa strain and is a grandson of four Olympiade pigeons. The sire is Champ x Cassandra and the dam

Rocky – van der Wouer x 829 Roper. Kevin &amp;amp; Chris White from Weymouth 1

st &amp;amp; 3 rd

SECTION B. GB 17 N 66297 DCH HEN.

Firstly Congratulations to A Mcllguham on winning the race and all the other section winners.

Our first pigeon was bred by Max Gollop of Lyme Regis, it was one of several young birds he gave us in 2017. The blood lines on the Sire side were from Patrick Bros Barcelona lines which he purchased direct and the Dam is a Norbet Sirens from Brian Hovell being the lines of a pigeon which had the best average from Barcelona over 5 year period. The pigeon had one race from Yelverton as a young bird and this year went to Exeter where she came back injured so we rested her for a couple weeks, then raced her to Carentan, Yelverton, Messac where she was our 1

st bird to the loft and 5 th

CLUB AND FINALLY BACK TO CARENTAN AGAIN WITH THE DORSET FEDERATION. SHE WAS REPAIRED AFTER BEING ON

roundabout and sent oversitting eggs and had 4 training tosses leading up to the race. We feed the birds the usual long distance feed Countrywide Superwidowhood, Fat Mix and GerryPlus, peanuts and oils on the corn. We would like to Thank Max for breeding the pigeon, Lawrence &amp;amp; Marg

Cowley for taking the birds to the marking station. Nigel and Bill for looking after the birds, the 3 we had on the day were in excellent condition, It’s just a shame the weather closed in on Sunday.

Clare for all her hard work for the club, we are very lucky to have a secretary like her. Finally we are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Presentation Dinner in November.

Bruce Miller and Chris Coles

Kevin and Chris White

2 nd

SECTION B RAY DIBBEN FROM POOLE. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY WELL DONE TO THE RACE WINNER AND ALL THE

other fanciers who clocked pigeons on the day.The pigeon that came for me was a Busschaert cross

Ray Strawbridge bird, he was raced on the widowhood system and has been a very consistent racing pigeon for me.

I have enclosed a picture of me and my partner Jess the GSD, keeping a look out for our race birds.

I would also like to thank Clare Norman and all the people who work along side with her for the smooth running of the BBC.

Ray Dibben and Jess

Battling against the strong west wind to make it on to the Island the winner of Section H is Alan

Phillips from Guernsey. My Section Winner from Bordeaux has been very consistent in his training this year. I set my stall out for Bordeaux as my main race of the year and in recent years have had the only bird home on the day and only 2 bird’s home on the day in to Guernsey.

I’m now 80 and have had pigeons since I was 8 and this is the third time I’ve won the section from

Bordeaux. The sire is the very best of Terry Marshalls inbred George (Brockamp) and the dam is an

Andy Gregson de Weerdt.

Keith Duffin from Jersey is 2 nd

SECTION H. I HAVE BEEN RACING PIGEONS FOR ABOUT 60 YEARS, 50 YEARS

in Nottinghamshire and for the past 10 years in Jersey and this will be my last old bird race.

This pigeon is a chequer white flight cock and is one of three brothers winning five out of six young

bird races in 2016. All three birds came together to win the 171 mile Langeais race in 2017 with the

French Federation. The bird is from Tom Roden of Cheshire, a friend of many years and is one of his Van Loons which I crossed with a Jan Aarden.

Alan Phillips

Keith Duffin

2 nd , 3

rd &amp;amp; 4 th

SECTION E IS PETER WHITELEGG FROM AUDLEM. ALL THREE BIRDS TIMED (3 YEAR OLD CHEQUER

cock, 3 year old dark pied hen and a 5 year old chequer cock) are descendants of Jimmy Shepherd’s

Southwell pigeons, having flown with Jimmy in the same Club from 1980 until moving back up north in 2000. They contain the lines of Mori, Rio, Boomerang, Lady Di and Mecca, all winners

over 500 miles plus a touch of Derek Monnery’s 2

nd

OPEN PAU NFC WHEN THERE WERE ONLY TWO BIRDS

on the day. Before being sent to Bordeaux all three birds have had only one channel race this season which was

Messac with the Shropshire Fed 4 weeks ago. I would like to congratulate Mr &amp;amp; Mrs Brian Hicks on their performance winning Section E.

Peter Whitelegg 2 nd

SECTION

Peter Whitelegg 3 rd

SECTION

Peter Whitelegg 4 th

SECTION

Palamos Trophy Winners W Healy (J164) – The Harkers Challenge Trophy, Ron Michieson Challenge Trophy, Spanish

Challenge Trophy, The Woodsider Trophy, The Doug Horwood Memorial Salver, The Eileen Bunn

Memorial Challenge Trophy, The Arthur Bartlett Memorial Trophy, The Albert Padfield “ Blue

Riband” Memorial Trophy, The Peter Rigiani Memorial Trophy, The Cyril Medway Memorial

Trophy, The Mr &amp;amp; Mrs Ken Hine Memorial Trophy, The Ron Youde Memorial Trophy, Spanish

Trophy (Ladies Nom), Frederico G Vaccaro Cup and The Peter Bennett Special Presentation Plate.

M/M S Rhodes (G67) - The Bert Bryant Challenge Cup, The A H Woodward &amp;amp; Son Challenge

Cup, The G H Hall Rose Bowl The Gazette Challenge Trophy and The Cyril Medway Trophy.

Corey &amp;amp; Roger Owers (B576) – The Bert Wiffen Memorial Shield, The W Gale Challenge Cup,

The Tony Hodges Memorial Trophy and The Roy Hanney Memorial Trophy. Mullen &amp;amp; Son (G451) - The Gladys Stephenson Memorial Trophy, The Barcelona Olympic

Challenge Cup, The Gazette Trophy and The Frank Lloyd Memorial Trophy.

Mr &amp;amp; Mrs D J Newman (D678) – The Willcox Trophy, The BBC Appreciation Trophy and The

Hands &amp;amp; Castree Trophy. F Knowles &amp;amp; Son (G842) – The Jack Edwards Memorial Trophy.

M Gilbert (D1102) – The Ron Bisset Memorial Trophy. Wyatt &amp;amp; Gray (C309) – The Gordon Hare Cup, The Horace Baker Memorial Trophy, The A G

Mullholland &amp;amp; Son Avon Trophy, The Reg &amp;amp; Myrtle Venner Memorial Rose Bowl and The Allan

Follows Memorial Trophy. Mr &amp;amp; Mrs T Joy (A740) – The Strugglers Open Cup and The G Stubbs Memorial Trophy.

D Harvey (G753) – The L A Bartlett Trophy (Patrons Nom) and The Ron Michieson Memorial

Rose Bowl (Charity Nom). A E Shepherd (A620) –Mr &amp;amp; Mrs G S Maskell Cup and The Ken Otton Memorial Trophy.

L Kidd (A25) – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs A Brant Cup

SECTION WINNERS ARE:

Each Section Winner will receive a Medal and a Glass Decanter kindly donated by Mark Gilbert.

A – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs T Joy (A740), B – Corey &amp;amp; Roger Owers (B576), C – Wyatt &amp;amp; Gray (C309),

D – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs D J Newman (D678), G – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs S Rhodes (G67), H – W Healy (H361).

Fougeres 2 OB Winners Each Section Winner will receive a Medal.

SECTION WINNERS ARE:

A – Berry &amp;amp; Matthews (A82), B – S Laws (B1015), C – S Dickinson &amp;amp; P Newton (C66),

D – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs P Kenny &amp;amp; Family (D375), E – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs A Horton (E60), G – Mr &amp;amp; Mrs T &amp;amp; C Welch (G37), H – W Healy (H361), J – Gosling &amp;amp; Jarvis (J767).

Dinner and Prize Presentation For members wishing to attend the dinner on Saturday 17 th

November, please book or reserve your tickets with me. Ticket prices are £35 per person. Those wishing to stop over can book their accommodation direct with The Marsham Court Hotel, Bournemouth on 01202 552111. Please mention the Club when booking to ensure special rates. For more details on the dinner please see your Club Handbook.

Return of 2017 Trophies. Please could all 2017 trophy winners make sure any trophies are returned to me by September 10 th at the latest. If you wish to take them to the young bird marking, the I/C will make sure I receive them. Thank you.

Clare Norman. Tel: 023 8057 3919 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.&lt;/pre&gt;</pre>

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