1st Open Welsh National F.C
Bergerac
Scammell, peploe & Bromley (Pontypool)
The welsh national flying club recently held its blue ribbon race of the year from the southern France race point of Bergerac a distance of 500 miles
With basketing taking place over two days with the welsh north road federation basketing Monday evening to meet the liaison point with the central southern classic at Frome, whilst the wsrn and cscfc members eligible for duplication into the wnfc basketed on Tuesday morning they all came together at Southampton prior to boarding for the evening crossing over the English channel. officials from all the welsh organisations came together at the house with their duplication entries discussing the prospects of the weekends event
John Humphry’s, Howard Owen (sec & chairman wnrf) Kevin smith (wsrn/wsrf)
During the days leading up to the liberation the weather indicated that on the scheduled Friday liberation day the uk and central France were to continue with the high pressure coming up from the south and a good forecast and light winds were expected on the day
On the Thursday evening the day before liberation ,I had a conversation with Claire Norman secretary of the cscfc who informed me that she estimated around 2,000 pigeons were on board and that the pigeons arrived safe and well on site at midday that day after stopping at various locations to feed and water them at such time on arriving at the site in Bergerac there was a presence of thick cloud cover over the region however they were fairly confident a good early lib was possible the following morning
Friday morning and with a welcoming site of a broken blue sky and little or no wind reported back on site the race control committee and convoyers released the 2,000 or so pigeons that they had transported from various federations at 0600 and the birds cleared well with calm conditions in southern France the team indicated that as the pigeons made their way north the wind would increase slightly to a light north westerly and temperatures expecting to reach 27-30 degrees as the they made their way north towards the channel and across onto uk soil ,with such predictions I think we were all quietly confident pigeons could be expected on the day
Convoyers /race advisory committee report shortly after liberation
Friday 12th July: Liberation was at 6am into blue sky with no wind on site. Convoyer reports a perfect liberation with an immediate clearance from the site. The visibility over the whole route is given as very good. There is a weakening weather front across the flight path through France which is producing mainly light and broken cloud but with no rain on it. Winds in France are given as light from the West to North West. Temperatures range from 18C at the start to a maximum of 27C early afternoon in France. The breeze increases as the channel nears in the afternoon. The channel is forecast to be clear with a West or North West wind force 3 or 4 (10 -15mph)
During late afternoon everyone seemed to keeping a watchful eye on arrivals on the south coast which then give us an early indication as to such time we could expect arrivals however as the night wore on only six pigeons could be seen to have been verified in the cscfc according to their website updates with the furthest north being in melksham flying just 40 miles shorter therefore we still expected the odd one or two to beat the close of race deadline of 21.51 hours of darkness, sadly thou a little disappointingly we were unfortunate in the reality no day birds were recorded into wales on day one ,so it was early to bed early to rise for those fanciers competing in the welsh national as the honour of first open remained within their grasp
The 2019 Bergerac winner
Saturday morning and as we awaited our first arrival it wasn’t until shortly before mid-day that we received our first verification ,to none other than the Pontypool partnership of scammell peploe and Bromley who over the years have dominated this race with several firsts nationals ,again claiming the top honours of 1st welsh national Bergerac 2019, the winning pigeon with an arrival time 10.43.20 and velocity of 680 is a yearling cheq hen which comes down through the m&d evans vandenabelle stock on the sires side from the bandit and reflection lines crossed with a cheq hen from the rpra one loft race which of the peter veestra pigeons ,the winning pigeon has many previous performances during the earlier races prior to today’s race including 10th sec 10th fed Salisbury 7th fed 2nd club 45th fed bedhampton 1st sec 5th fed ,44th sec 53rd fed Littlehampton 2nd club 8th fed 9th national fougeres 85th fed Eastbourne and now to its credit 1st welsh national Bergerac ,the partnership would like to pass on their thanks to john sparry of Newport the breeder of the pigeon, who each year gift the trio a kit of young birds to trial for him as he has retired from the sport his enjoyment is to see how the offspring he produces performs in various locations under different management conditions , in addition to the prizemoney and pools etc ,For this event we arranged an open £ 5 single bird nomination for a little extra interest ,this went down well and accumulated an additional £90 prize money to be won this was claimed by the winning pigeon
Just minutes behind the winner we had our second arrival across the mountain ridge in the Rhymney valley at the loft of our 2018 Bergerac winning partnership of Williams bros ,son & burgham from Tredegar flying 507 miles with an arrival time of 11.56.48 vel 652 , the partnership later that day recorded their second arrival and as such also claim 4th open at 14.42.41 with a vel of 607 the first pigeon clocked is a 4 year old cheq hen flown on roundabout winning many prizes in her racing career such as 13th national Bergerac 2018 ,11th national saintes 2017 33rd national messac 2019 in preparation for the race she was reintroduced to her mate to motivate her the bloodlines of this game little hen comes down through the rutz x brockamp the partnership second arrival is a 2yr old widowhood cheq cock was again prior to basketing day motivated by the reintroduction of his hen the sire of which is bred down from Geoff and Catherine cooper x rutz the dam via Darren McFadden crossed with the partnerships 1st national winner from Eastbourne somewhere on the return to the loft this pigeon sadly overcome some difficulties as the picture shows no doubt a bird of prey attack
2nd open Bergerac winner 4th open winner from Bergerac
These were split by an arrival for the abertillery partnership of Frampton and price who firstly wish to congratulate Scammel, Peploe and Bromley on another outstanding Bergerac performance. The Frampton & price partners timed a two year old hen which was raced on the roundabout system in the beginning of the season. She was repaired and sent sitting 12/13 days, on the build up to the race the hen was allowed an open hole and was very keen carrying to nest. They were quietly confident as her preparation had been good, Bergerac would be her fifth channel race of the year. The dam of the hen was purchased from Andy Gregson and is a deweerdt, the sire was purchased from Graham Clift and is a cross of Brian Dennehy and Mark Gilbert distance bloodlines.
3rd open winner for Frampton & price
For 5th open we go once again to the abertwssg loft of theophulis and Richards with a vel of 605.6 who have prior to this race experienced such a good season within the wnfc throughout the old bird programme on this occasion timing in a 3yr old blue cock flown on the roundabout he originates from the Williams bros son and burgham partnership of Tredegar as an egg just prior to hatching he has been flown on the roundabout system and in preparation to the Bergerac race he was sent to duffel on the south east route of which he was timed in on the night in a difficult race so plenty of hours on the wing prior to basketing
5TH OPEN WINNER
In 6th we head to one of the longest flyers in the wnfc William Holpin & son from Abergavenny ,with a 4year old blue cock recording a vel of 602.3 which comes down from the well-known preece bros & son partnership of cwmtillery on the sires side crossed with a gift pigeon from a family member jimmy Davies of vandenbelle bloodlines this cock was basketed with an 18 day old youngster in the nest whilst sitting eggs of four days for motivation
W HOLPIN&SON and their arrival in 6th open position
This week’s fancier of recognition for a performance that deserves a mention outside the top six goes to the Newport partnership of t Hawkins family who after flying 490 miles over two days timed in two of their four entries on the same minute to record velocities of 578.6 & 578.3 in 7th and 8th open positions
Hawkins Family 7th & 8th Open
As the days went on we realised the difficulties the weather imposed on the race in regards to the north westerly wind and of course the increasing temperatures all this we believe paid a part in the outcome of the race resulting in the pigeons were well spread out as the close of race on Tuesday came just seventeen pigeons were verified home whilst fifteen made the result a few others which were confirmed home as a second arrival for w holpin & son and theophulis & Richards but with members clocks being closed on the day of timing in their first pigeon these sadly didn’t qualify for the result so the rest of the result appears as such 9th open a kidd v578 10th & 12th g&m clayton & lovell bros v544&508 , 11th a loveday 532v t jones& son 13th408v k smith 282v and a second arrival for the winning loft of scammell peploe & Bromley in 15th on 252v ,additionally to this a few more have completed the journey and turned in after the 220 ypm close of race deadline for Robert hydeof Merthyr and Andy kidd so its pleasing to see and hear of pigeons still coming
Our final race is all confirmed to be from Carentan as a late alteration due to issues at the planned location in Cholet ,under the logistics of the wnrf who have come together with the north west organisations directed by Dianna bonny this will not only put closure on the old bird programme but will also confirm the winner of the new old bird average trophy being present in the memory of one of our members dougie rooke of sedbury who sadly past away earlier in the year .
Before we leave this report we also have the recipients of the new ipigeon clock winning partnership of Theophilus & Richards which they recently won courteous of top pigeon and john murray sponsorship from Carentan 1 old birds
Tom Harris