team  Maria & Hubert Bramkamp Germany 1st international race day 4  with pigeon rock steady

Taking pole position we have the german entry rock steady taking the honours for team  Maria & Hubert Bramkamp timing in at 10.45.49.70,with such masses arriving as previous training races have indicated and today was no different as by the narrowest of margins Team Gavryukov, Shatalov & Shebanin pigeon Kris from Russia was pipped at the post into 2nd timing in on 10.45 50.40,team Germany recorded their second country arrival as rolf berger and pigeon mausie came home on 10.45.50.70 for 3rd ,local fanciers Team Yahvé, Oliveiro, Fredy, Miguel from the neighbouring island of gran canaria and past final race winners recorded their entry cher armi 10.45.51.40 for 4th place closely challenged by three pigeons for team Poland in 5th,6th and 7th ,team Andrzej jankowski`s entry gametime lead the polish flurry on 10.45.51.65 in 5th ,narrowly ahead of pigeon kepell meister for tomasa wiczling who has upto know had an outstanding qualification period with many top ten positions today timing in on 10.45.52.15in 6th,team master and pigeon stiwi complete the trio in 7th with a time of 10.45.52.15,for 8th we remain in eastern Europe as team Austria came in on 10.45.52.45 with  pigeon ferenc 88 entered by team  ferenc butyka  ,

Team Gavryukov, Shatalov & Shebanin Russia 2nd international race 4

team Netherlands record their first arrival as  Team Gebr. Vieberink entry new sensation II times in on 10.45.52.60 resulting in Team Devos E. from Belgium taking the 10th position on 10.45.53.05

As for the uk participation in todays event  we see a new team in the derby arona for Team uk and Ireland and tony davies and colin asher representing tea England that take 19th open with their entry aye spy under the syn name of kellys irish heroes on 10.45.56.15

Pigeon aye spy

As the seconds and minutes went on the loft was again a mass of feathers as pigeons made thereway in showing that within the first five minutes over 2,100 of the pigeons which were liberated were showing on the clock ,and as such by nightfall with 3432 pigeons recorded, followed by a few on day two which had obviously made a mistake and rectified themselves the arona team were happy and contented as they registered  a 97.95% returns rate

Team Yahvé, Oliveiro, Fredy, Miguel  gran canaria 4th international race 4

with such numbers returning to the loft from such distances, its always going to be the trapping that makes the difference to date the loft team  seems to be spot on with their feeding method as on arrival the pigeons were  swiftly making their way in though the trap to the satisfaction of those watching ,however with activation just around the corner getting them home safe and sound is no doubt the priority for both participants and the derby arona team

race day 5 and were at the 25klm stage and the final qualification race prior to the Christmas break with the 3455 pigeons from race day 4  once again within the crates for a planned 10.30 liberation on this occation myself and Gaynor were fortunate to be in Tenerife and as such at 10am we made our way to the lofts to be met at the door and welcomed by jose and Gladys ,who were carrying out their final preparations prior to the liberation, with abel confirming the liberation at 10.30 In a light n.ne wind and temperatures of 21 degrees at such time  we sat patiently to see what jose described as an unbelievable sight once the pigeons were returning,

team Ferenc from Austria 1st international race 5 with pigeon Ferenc 27

as the clock ticked away and with whistles at hand the loft team took up their positions indicating that the arrival of pigeons was imminent  , and although everyone was looking  seeking the first sighting ,the first we knew of pigeons on approach was a loud wooshing sound of wings beating above us as hundreds of pigeons passed over us racing and circling above ,with more and more joining the batch it was once again a trapping race to decide the top flight and whilst no doubt each of us have experienced liberations and other one loft race returns, both myself and Gaynor we were pleased to have witnessed such a sight against the clear blue canarian skyline

with all the commotion that followed on the trap we had a short wait until it was finally declared  that taking top spot was eventually awarded to tea  Austria as team ferenc improved on their 8th position on race 4 with another of their entries Ferenc 27 crossing the line as champion with a time of 10.50.25.35,in 2nd place we got to the Belgium as the father and son syndicate of  jacky and jelle cremmers pigeon named timothy timed in on 10.50.25.60,team Slovakia take the 3rd and 4th places as pigeon Nancy came in at 10.50.25.95 for team milan husir .just holding off any challenge from his fellow country competitor team m& m mosko with pigeon michaelko 10.50.26.50 ,team viglidan & kavacs from hungary settles for 5th with pigeon Hungarian girl on 10.50.26.40,closely followed by a second Belgium arrival as the 2017 final race winning syndicates team paloas-leyen-& dirkx in 6th with pigeon strong beauty with a time of 10.50.26.70,

team creemers & son 2nd international race day 5

The trapping of arrivals on race day 5

its team hrab.marius & lesan jonut from Rumania that take 7th as pigeon gina timed in on 10.50.26.71 ,just a fraction ahead of the third arrival for team Slovakia in 8th with  team kusnirak and pigeon artic on 10.50.26.72,team eeuu and team gt family lofts takes the 9th place on 10.50.27.00 with their pigeon amazing blue ,todays top ten concludes with team italia making an appearance in the leading batches as team tsna and pigeon princess rounds it off with a time of 10.50.27.20

team uk wernt to far off the pace today as glenn Zimmerman and pigeon tom claims the top uk honours in 12th with a time of 10.50 .27.85

Pigeon tom for glen Zimmerman

as we sat and admired the show of pigeons returning and recording their arrival it turned out once again to be an outstanding day for the team and the race in general as we go into the break and owners activation with minimal losses today as 3341 pigeons have secured their place in the second phase of the race when the training gets a little more intense as the distances between liberations increases rapidly to the north of the island prior to adventuring out onto the open waters of the atlantic ocean

with jose working to  get the individual photos of each of the pigeons and eyes published, which itself along with other office duties meant matching over 7,000+ individual photos of eyes and pigeons together ,he did however for the next few  hours along with Gladys take a break from the workload and following a short drive to a local canarain bar where over a drink or two  they kindly shared their thoughts with us as too the  future plans for the derby Arona one loft race ,based on its  growth over the past years ,a project  we could clearly see jose`s enthusiasm ,excitement  and ambition for, which on hearing  felt privileged to be informed of.

with five pre-qualification races completed its now time to put faith in your team selection now as owners and 3rd party activation gets underway,its at this time of year  we urge all participants to consider their teams for the forthcoming money races including the final race with the pot of gold (120,000) euro to the final race winner as outside interested parties are keen to become part of 2018/19 race through third party activation ..so your loss could be someone else`s gain at this point

Pigeon twin sisters current average leader for team usa

the averages are again changing in formation as different pigeons are starting to come to the top currently in top spot we have the usa as team usa and pigeon twn sister 1 top the leader board with 17,269,local fanciers from Fuerteventura Eduardo cristo santiesteban luna with pigeon blue wave on 17,239 are currently in the runner up position whilst team castermans and maes from Belgium come in 3rd place with pigeon cindy on 17.037

so as the new year approaches and with the recommencement of training the race plan is set to  move northwards liberating at various distances until such time that the pigeons reach the  port of  santa cruz ,its from there on we  prepare for the sea liberations at exceeding distance out in the mid Atlantic prior to the first of three hotspot races commencing in early February, the  days for these will  be announced based on the weather at the time

over the past weeks and months we have had numerous enquiries as to which is the best dates to be in Tenerife to experience the whole finals week ,our advice if going for the seven nights would be to arrive  on the island on  Tuesday 26th march this will leave options open then to experience the whole derby arona experience of live basketing on wed 27th at the loft  ,the welcome meal thurs 28th , the final race fri 29th and gala night on sat 3oth march leaving a few days prior to the return flight

Tom Harris