MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

MIKE LAKIN

The Midland National Flying Club’s Double Header 

Another Tough Weekend’s Racing

The Midlands National had two more excellent entries for their latest two races. From Vire the entry was 5072 pigeons and for the ‘Blue Riband’ race from Bordeaux the send was 1,486 birds. When you consider that the last few weeks has been very ‘testing’ to say the least the Club has done exceptionally well to attain these figures. The Club’s new 64 crate trailer was in use for the first time to take the overspill from the large transporter to Vire, proving the wisdom in its purchase as it saved the need to take a third transporter to the weekend’s races therefore saving considerably on transport expenses.

Due to the heat and the predominating Northerly winds it was hoped that the birds would be liberated bright and early to avoid as much of the midday heat as possible. So the Vire birds were released at 6.30am into sunny conditions and a light Northerly wind which was to strengthen on the coast and channel crossing. Unfortunately due to the mist that was down to 200 yards visibility at Bordeaux Ian French had to wait until 7.50 to affect a liberation in broken cloud and no wind conditions. With this in mind and the forecast of North winds pretty much all the way home it was considered to be a doubt for any first day arrivals and this was to prove to be the case.

As the early times on the MNFC Vire Leaderboard came trickling through it was very clear that the race was a good but tough one. Once again we see no less than seven of the sections in the first twenty one Open places. Proving once more that the hardest races are normally the fairest ones.

The Provisional winner is a South West section member Tony Whitehouse from Hateley Heath in Birmingham whose bird a yearling blue widowhood cock covered the 260 mile trip in a little over 6 hours to record a likely velocity of 1258 ypm. During a brief chat with a delighted Tony he told me that his bird is a crossing of Syndicate Lofts x blood containg Mr & Mrs Armsrong’s ‘Hillcroft Bomber’. Obviously I shall cover the pigeon in greater detail after the result is finalised along with highlights of all of the other section winners which include some fine performances. Over all the race was a good one with returns that were reported to me being of a high percentage.

Tony Whitehouse with his probable 1st MNFC National Vire winner

It was no great surprise to see as night time fell that no Bordeaux birds had been timed but it was quite an eye opener to see how far up into the Club’s radius the leading birds had got next morning with four of the first five birds flying in excess of 550 miles and two clocking at a distance of 600 miles plus. True testimony to the quality of these members pigeons. The likely race winners are Frank & George Bristow of Horbling which is situated in the East section. Over the last few years the Bristow lofts have won pretty much all there is to win as everything that they touch seemingly turning to gold! The pigeon is a yearling widowhood hen which had been repaired for the race and was sent sitting. The bird is 50% Bristow blood and 50% Dave Impett’s long distance lines. The full report will appear in a couple of weeks time.

Frank & George Bristow

1st Open MNFC Bordeaux 2014

Frank & George Bristow's Provisional Bordeaux winner back home with her mate

The race itself was a really tough one with many fanciers failing to clock an arrival. People are wondering why was it such a hard one? Personally I feel it was a mixture of several things including northerly winds throughout France and on the channel. Add to this the high temperatures which weren’t helped by the fact that I am informed by someone that there were localised downpours in mid France. Then if you add to that early morning fog and mist at the racepoint which held up the liberation until 7.50 am, this obviously wasn’t the ideal scenario for an easy race.  I do think though that many underestimate the distance which, as explained previously, was between 500 and 650 miles to the longest flyers. The simple truth is that to compete successfully from these marathon distances then you need the ‘right tools’ i.e. pigeons bred from stock that has flown these sort of distances in the past. The Vire race flown on the same day was no ‘walk in the park’. This made many of us realise on the Saturday evening that the 2014 Bordeaux was going to be a herculean task the following day and boy were we right.

The Leaderboard is well worth looking at and all credit to the owners of these fine birds.

The outstretched flags on the Caen seafront say it all. A brisk North wind on the channel awaits the birds.

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