The 2018/19 Derby ARONA ONE LOFT RACEcampaign begins on the island of Tenerife

It’s the 4th of Dec and for many fanciers around the world all their focus is now directed on the small canarian  island of Tenerife just a few hundred klm off the African coast for the start of the 2018 derby arona Tenerife one loft race

With 3,632 pigeons now settled and exercising daily around the loft after coming through the initial isolation and settling period training was now underway, basketing took place that morning not to stress the pigeons overnight being the first time in baskets and driven a few klm`s from the loft under the watchful eye of the loft management team headed by abel Ledesma who again in his roll as convoyer once again

ABEL LEDESMA once again in control of the liberations and loft management at the derby arona

Once on site and with the livestream up and running which was again attracting many fancier ,who on race days enjoy the moment to chat and banter whilst awaiting any  news  of the liberation etc

And as a result of so many new fanciers on board this year it was pleasing to see some had logged in and introduced themselves and welcomed by everyone, present ,with a clear blue sky clearly shown on the live cam which again was directed on the trapping system and the approach to the loft ,we received information that the pigeon would be away at 12 noon as jose and Gladys prepared themselves to welcome them home from their first of many outings

Over the coming weeks we will as always concentrate on the leading top 10 pigeons in each of the races and as the series progresses we will also start to include the various averages challenges as they unfold highlighting pigeons which are starting to return consistently in the top ace pigeon averages and   the Arona Grand Average Ace International “King of the Atlantic” once it commences

It was just a few minutes later that the first arrivals could be seen circling above the area and after a short while and be joined bay a few more the first arrivals landed on the trapping board and loft roof adjacent and without hesitation swiftly made their way in to record their arrival

so with racing underway we start with race day 1 and Taking pole position with 1st uk 1st international we go to team England as team lincs syn  namely paul and tracey Stacey competing as new participants in their first race in the derby arona  claim top spot with their entry holtham recording the time of 12.12.19.85,

team Hagerman & van acker from the Netherlands 2nd international race 1

team Hagerman & van acker from the Netherlands takes 2nd international with pigeon named triple blue white on 12.12.26.90 as you could imagine with so many pigeons coming from such a short distance at the same time it was going to be decimals separating the times as in 3rd we go to Poland as Tomasz wiczling and pigeon times in at 12.13.01.20,for 4th its  second arrivals for team Netherlands as team mega and lowlands pigeon mega Nancy on 12.13.06.45,just ahead of team Germanys in 5th with their first arrival for team  Hendrik welpers pigeon  vanbeele timed in on 12.13.12.15 ,team Switzerland take the 6th spot as pigeon ester for team alpen jager came in at 12.13.27.70, resulting in team walter agler from Germany with pigeon benny claiming the 7th position on 12.13.32.70, Super Team Quix Jos & Sandra claim the 8th place as Belgium record their first arrival with pigeon tarzan coming home on 12.13.33.30, for 9th international it’s a third arrival for team Netherlands with team hagerman and van acker claiming a second of their entries  in the top ten positions with pigeon desire on 12.13.36.70,and finaly in 10th we see fransisco Gutierrez from Sevilla ,completes the leading pigeons today as his entry nice zorro on a time of 12.13.38.10

Tomasz wiczling Poland 3rd international race 1 & 1st international race 3

the derby arona race is now underway for 2018 and everyone on  livestream witnessed it was a pleasure to see the masses of pigeons arriving and going straight into the loft ,something the team have been working on over the past few weeks to enable them to control such large numbers, so well done to them for their patience it clearly seemed to pay off today

over the following minutes and hours ,the skies over the small village of guazza were engulfed with pigeons in various size batches on their return home and too the delight of the derby arona team after speaking to jose is a very stressful time for all concerned when the pigeons go away from the loft for the first time  they were pleased to see such great returns as 98.78 %  homing safely and no doubt a few more will appear on the result the second day once they have realised there mistakes

over the forthcoming days the pigeon will be move further away from the loft to various distances so its back in the basket in 48 hours for training race 2 when once again we hope to see you all logged in to witness the arona experience

race day 2 and the 3590 pigeons which overcome training race 1 today they have gone a few extra kilometres further approx. 5klm from the loft, with  the pigeons  basketed the night before liberation this will provide additional experience and settle them to a routine before each flight

race day 2

the weather today showed a little cloud with temperatures reaching a moderate 25 degrees with  a light easterly wind ,with the birds on site earlier than the previous race the team were able to settle them and get them away at 10.30 am ,as  again we were experiencing a lot of activity on the chat and live stream page as we awaited the first sightings of pigeons returning

it was just a few  minutes after liberation that the first arrivals landed on the loft and again without hesitation  the leading pigeons crossed the line taking  1st international and making their first  impact on the race was  pigeon named dona for team bbl  representing  the USA at 10.43.18.05 ,for the second race running once again team Netherlands had to settle for 2nd place  again as Team Pouw & Willems  witH pigeon named bolero was just pipped at 10.43.18.40,in 3rd we go to team Poland again maintaining their recent performance on this occasion it was team Wioletta i Zbigniew Mitrega with their pigeon pondidzie with a time of 10.43.18.85,  team usa record their second country arrival for 4th on 11.43.21.10 as  team usa 1 record their  pigeon twin sisters

team Wioletta i Zbigniew Mitrega POLAND 3rd international race 2

Team Doldersum from the Netherlands claims the 5th spot with their entry libertys ride 10.43.21.70 narrowly holding off the challenge from team Germany who take the 6th place as pigeon rock steady for Team Maria & Hubert Bramkamp comes in on  10.43.23.85,just ahead of fellow countryman rolf berger in  7th with his pigeon mausie10.43.23.86, local fancier Eduardo Cristo Santiesteban Luna from the neighbouring islands of Fuerteventura takes the 8th position with his entry blue wave recording an arrival time of 10.43.23.90 whilst team Czech republic make their 1st team appearance in the top ten today as pigeon anna for team rehak times in at 10.43.23.95,whilst taking the 10th position it’s a third arrival for team Netherlands with pigeon welkon uden 5 coming home for team welkon uden

Once again as the times show the pigeons came fast and furious has many pigeons landed in large batches but in these early stages this is what we look for ,and pleasing to see ,as once on the landing board they again made a swift entry into the loft ,by 11am most of the pigeons had returned as over 3,000 were showing on the clock, and whilst a small number were enjoying the fly around the loft on their return which is understandable due to the short distance they had just covered , this on these early occasions will do them no harm

As night fell 3,553 (98.96%) of the pigeons were safely perched leaving just a small number unaccounted for, but like experience tells there will always be a few who on liberation head off in the wrong direction, but no doubt once again there will be returning to the loft on the second day

So were moving on swiftly with the pre training programme with the third training race in less than a week as we reach the halfway point in the first qualification stage on sat  dec 8th from a distance of 10 klm ,

with the 3,563 pigeons that returned from the previous adventure again re basketed a time consuming job I expect to say the least ,Able and co were again on the road   for an anticipated  10 .30 am liberation

With a clear blue sky, temperatures around 22 degrees and a light 11klm north easterly breeze the strings were cut and the birds away at 10.35

As the pigeons orientated at the liberation site , At the loft we see visitors had arrived to  sit it out with the arona team waiting for the pigeons return,