Reports by Tom Harris

Tarbes 2013

The longest event on the 2013 calendar for the Welsh National Flying Club was from Tarbes, an average distance of 600 miles to most lofts within the Welsh principality. Basketing took place a day earlier than previously advertised on Monday 17th, after which the pigeons were transported by the Welsh North Road Federation across the Severn Estuary to liaise with the Central Southern Classic Flying Club who had agreed to convoy our Welsh entries to Tarbes in southern France. Also on board for the journey alongside us were the L&SECC, which I calculated via different websites would bring the convoy to just under a thousand entries.

With the advanced forecast revealing a low pressure over France on Friday the advertised day of liberation, it was no surprise to hear that an early decision had been made to holdover due to rain and thunderstorms at the liberation site which were spreading from the westerly from the Bay of Biscay across into Bordeaux and further north.

Saturday morning and with very little improvement on the weather front once again the decision was made to hold off the liberation for yet another day, and with an improvement scheduled from the south for the Sunday, which indicated a band of clear weather, it was seemed to be the better option and highly probable that a liberation would take place the following day.

Sunday morning and whilst here in the UK we were experiencing fine dry weather, the forecast overseas was gradually improving throughout France during Sunday morning both on site and throughout the line of flight. There were high expectations that the strings would be cut by mid afternoon and the convoy would hopefully be away for the long journey home.

Sunday afternoon and after continued consultations between various parties the news that we were all waiting for became available on the CSCFC website that after six days in the basket the birds were up and away at 2pm into a light south westerly wind across the continent turning a more north westerly on the English channel and the home fronts.

With the time of liberation and the distance involved it was obvious the intentions of the convoying team and race advisors to allow the birds ample flying time to reach the French coast by dusk, which would allow them a rest overnight and hopefully get an early start the following morning to cross over the channel for the final leg of this adventure. With the two holdovers taking place and the expected arrivals continuing into the working week, the committee of the WNFC made a decision to assist their members by relaxing the current one hour phone in verification rule to allow any arrivals throughout the day to be phoned in by 6pm on the day of clocking. This forward planning was well praised and appreciated by our members.

Monday midday, and with hopes still high and the fine weather dominating, we heard that the first pigeons had been recorded on the south coast indicating that the decision and time to liberate was the best we could have hoped for, by which time the usual estimated time of arrivals onto Welsh soil were once again doing the rounds and expectations of 4pm were appearing to be the fanciers’ preferred hour of hearing some news of any Welsh arrivals.

It was a further one and half hours at 5.30 pm that we received the news that we had all patiently been waiting for as regards to the first pigeon being recorded this side of the Severn Estuary at the home and loft of one of our newest members Padfield Family of Cwmtillery to register 1st centre section 1st open Welsh National FC Tarbes 2013, winning the Welsh North Road Federation sponsored winner’s trophy.

Dave and Vince Padfield

The winning pigeon timed in at 5.24pm with a velocity of 831.87 is 2yr old cheq pied Wim Muller Aarden hen, the sire of which is from 80 who is a son of old 89, a fantastic racer and breeder when paired back to a daughter of First Class, 1st International Perpignan for Wim Muller when paired to his famous Crazy Boy. Two of the partnership’s previous Tarbes 1st National winners have also been bred in the same way. The dam is from a daughter of Albert when paired to an inbred hen going back to the original Super Koppel of Wim Muller. Albert was 9TH OPEN WSR NAT NANTES CENTENERY RACE 1997 & IN THE FIRST 200 OVERALL 65,000 BIRDS, 2nd WSR NAT PAU 2000 BEATEN BY LOFT MATE BEATING NEXT BIRD BY 1.5 HOURS, 31st WSRN SAINTES 1999, 2002 13th OPEN NFC PAU WINNING £3180. THE WEEK PRIOR HIS SON WAS 3rd CSCFC San Sebastian. He also bred national section winners for Brian Leadbeater and Frampton & Price of Abertillery.

1st open Tarbes

With everyone relieved to hear of a Welsh arrival, it was a further forty five minutes when confirmation was received of a second and this was also at the same loft of the Padfield Family recording their second arrival at 18.14.08 recording a vel of 800.76.for 2nd open 2nd section. It is a 2yr old chequer cock, the sire of which is a full brother to the dam of their first bird, a grandson of Albert which relates to the partnership’s first arrival. The dam came from their good friend and one of the best distance flyers in the UK, Ken Hine who has sadly passed away. The origin of this pigeon came about after Ken made a visit to the partnership’s set up six years ago after which a mutual exchange of pigeons took place resulting in both parties acquiring the bloodlines of the best each had to offer. Ken’s hen was bred from Herons Pride the Peter Titmus Golden Cock when paired back to Charville Kayleigh the BBC Palamos Merit winner 4 times over 700 miles. The brothers also acknowledge that when this game pigeon arrived he was in also a fantastic condition and clearly had a few more miles in him.

2nd open Tarbes

There was to be one more bit of good news before nightfall and that was to indicate that the partnership of John and Rosemary Humphreys & Son, the hard working secretaries of the WNRF from Beaufort near Ebbw Vale had also timed in their solo entry at 19.02 to record a velocity of 778.87 to claim 3rd centre section 3rd open. Their arrival was 3yr old Jan Aarden cheq pied hen which is a grand daughter of the partnership’s Earls Palace national winner, which still remains a foundation for this loft at the grand old age of seventeen and now enjoys her days out and about with the youngsters. The grandparents originated from Louella Lofts and Anuerin Williams of Maerdy. Prior to this event she had been raced weekly through to Ramsgate 200 miles this year and then trained single up from every direction which John’s work pattern allowed. For this race she was then sent sitting overdue eggs then prior to basketing a youngster was placed under her the day before basketing. As you could imagine, the news of these three gallant pigeons by nightfall on the winning day alongside other organisations was the best news that we as an organisation could have hoped for on our first experience from this distance on this southerly route, and it raised all our expectations of even more arrivals the following morning.

Mr & Mrs Humphrys & Son

3rd open Tarbes

Tuesday: the first download on our lib line service at midday indicated a further three more arrivals, the first and second of which were at 06.04 and 08.19 with velocities of 634 and 587. Both these were a third and fourth arrival for the winnng loft of the Dave and Vince Padfield of Cwmtillery, the first in the clock being a 2yr old cheq pied hen the sire of which is a son of Old 89 and the dam is the T ring hen the Mother of FFion their last year’s Barcelona winner, which is full of national winning bloodlines. The next was yet another 2yr old cheq cock which incidentally was thought to have been the partnership’s fancy from Tours 350 miles (approx) just a few weeks ago when the brothers thought they had him pooled all the way through to £10 only to find they had written the numbers down wrong order on their entry sheet resulting in their loss and someone else’s financial gain. His sire and dam were Dale Newcombe bloodlines that they obtained from Andrew Loveday of Pontypool when he decided to pack in the birds a few years ago. With the partnership timing in their fifth arrival out of their original eight entries just after midday this rounded off an amazing overall performance for both fanciers and their family of pigeons from such an extreme distances with the following positions of 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th centre secton and open WNFC.

Dividing the Padfields’ 2nd day arrivals was an entry by one of our workers Jeff Davies and Haines, who oversee the marking procedures at the Pontlainfraith club near Blackwood. This partnership timed in their arrival at 08.09, with a vel of 586.65. Jeff informs me that this pigeon is bred through the Lefebre Dhaneans that he has blended together over many years in the sport. In preparation for this event he was re-paired and sent standing over his hen’s first egg on basketing night and ironically upon his return he was to find out that his hen had since re-paired to a yearling cock, who not only stole his box and his hen but was also sitting his eggs; not the best way to return after a 600 mile trek.

Davies & Haines

The final arrival for this day, taking our current tally to eight was recorded at our highly profiled father and son partnership of Mathew and Joseph Hughes of Treharris timing in at 15.07 33 v.477.27. Their arrival is a 2yr old Jan Aarden cheq hen which is bred down from pigeons obtained from Lance Boswell of Merthyr crossed Roy Harding of Tarporley in Cheshire. In preparation to this race this hen was sent to Tours 350 miles where she was also 19th open WNFC.

M & J Hughes

With eight arrivals confirmed, we moved onto our third day and with all the arrivals being recorded in the centre section, the honour of winning the south section was still outstanding and any prospects of this being fulfilled were slowly drifting away as the day went on, until yet another new member Hadden and Sons from Newport verified their old faithful eight year old blue cock at 14 56 51 to not only record a velocity of 317.17 but to also claim the honour of 1st south section 9th open in their first race since joining.

Hadden & Sons, 1st south section

With continuous warm weather and after three days in the air it was thought that dehydration would now dampen any more hopes of verifying any more arrivals, as the gaps between each pigeon widened but there was to be one more twist in the race when we had confirmation of our tenth and final gallant entrant, to yet another new member Martin Burridge & Sons from Tredegar who verified their old Lefebre dheanen direct from "Superstud" from Graham Cooper’s Lerwick cock via John "the body" Watkins crossed with John Dethie pigeons from Dundee, Scotland. This 2yr old cheq cock was one of four entries and timed in at 19.15 to claim 9th section 10th open with a velocity of 301. The partnership would like to thank their fellow club members for the phone calls congratulating them on timing in from such a great distance and for all their help since starting up in 2010.

M Burridge & Sons

Well that is it. Ten gallant entries had made a courageous effort in covering the 600 miles over the three days, and we as a committee pass on our congratulations to the members that not only timed in from this race but also to those who were courageous enough to come forward and have a go at this extreme distance event. With the formalities brought to a close, we can finally reflect on the past few days. Not only did these game pigeons give themselves and their owners recognition for their efforts but also highlighted the standards that our organisation is currently achieving, so where do we go from here?  After such an exciting experience and a week of fulfilled expectations we head back across the water to Bergerac, an average distance of 500 miles, where once again we aim to supply our members with yet another enjoyable experience. Just a reminder on finishing that once again the birds are to be race marked on Monday 8th July, a day earlier than advertised to liaise with our convoying organisation on the Tuesday. The cost for this event is £3 per entry.

On finishing we would like to pass on our thanks to our official photographer Chris Sutton for visiting the leading lofts in this week’s report and result. And thanks to everyone behind the scenes in the WNRF and CSCFC whose hard work paid off not only in getting the birds to the liberation site but which ensured their welfare and a safe passage home.

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