MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
MIKE LAKIN
MNFC Vire & Bordeaux Double header
‘Results in Wins for the Tried & Tested’
The popularity of the Vire and Bordeaux races which have become known as the Doubleheader is truly underlined by the number of entries with Vire getting a superb entry of just under 7,000 birds which is a record send for this race. When you consider the testing circumstances of the year which has as each week went by seen heavy losses reported not only from the cross channel events but also many of the inland races have been blighted for one reason or another so the MNFC’s entry is nothing short of amazing.
Similarly the Bordeaux send of in excess of 1500 birds raised quite a few eyebrows as it was predicted that the 2016 entry would be one of the lowest on record but the members has mustered a good number once again for this event with many members competing from distances in excess of 600 miles.
Frank & George Bristow the likely lads for 1st Open Vire
Let’s have a look at the individual races. First of all the shorter race from Vire the pigeons were released at 8.45am into a North West breeze which was correctly forecasted to turn to more of a South Westerly airflow en route in England. So it wasn’t exactly ‘rocket science’ to predict that the Eastern sections would provide the Open winner and this proved to be the case with Frank & George Bristow of Horbling in the East section looking like being triumphant and a little bird tells me that they actually got two birds home together. This proves amply the folly in delving too deeply into the result until the clock details have been received. That said there are some great provisional times on the board from Western locations which will feature very prominently on the Open result. These birds deserve great credit for sticking to their line when so many of the competitors were quite understandably pushed out wide of their home lofts due to the wind direction.
Gary Daykin 'The Magician' up to his tricks again with probable 1st National Bordeaux
The Provisional winners of the Bordeaux race are Nottingham’s Gary & Stan Daykin & Son this is the reasoning behind the heading to this ‘flash report’ because the Daykins and the Bristows are definitely ‘the tried and tested’. In fact it could be argued that over the past fifteen seasons these two lofts have been possibly the most successful in the MNFC. In Gary Daykin’s case he has over the last few seasons turning his focus on to the Club’s Blue Ribbon race and after a few near misses he has achieved his aim with this latest performance when he clocked a roundabout hen just a few minutes under 14 ½ hours for a provisional velocity of 1135 for the 558 miles race. The difficulty of the race is underlined by the fact that there were only 9 birds recorded on the first day. So make no mistake Bordeaux is a massive task and all those that conquer the race deserve great credit.
I am looking forward to reporting on the latest crop of heroes. So if your name is in the first four placings in your section get in touch
via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Giving me details of the race that you had success in and also your section.