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The Buddles of Dover 2014 Europa Cup Winners With The BICC

 

 

THE BUDDLES OF DOVER

2014 EUROPA CUP WINNERS WITH THE BICC

by Gareth Watkins

Kevin & Lee Buddle

In order to win the Europa Cup in the BICC a fancier must not only clock in EVERY International race but also feature near the top of EVERY International race result!!! Lee and father Kevin Buddle of Dover, the 2014 Europa Cup winners, have enjoyed an absolutely outstanding season in long distance International races with the BICC. This success has come about by sending a handful of pigeons to each race and clocking in the top ten of the Open result on all but one occasion, with not just one, but on most occasions, two or more pigeons from their small entry high up in the result. As a result of this phenomenal level of success at the highest level in what is arguably the hardest competition there is within these Islands, I asked Lee Buddle to give brief details of their Europa Cup winning pigeons. So here goes.

'During the 2014 season we have be lucky enough to win the 2 following BICC Average trophies: the 'Europa Cup' for the best average ALL International races and the 'Jim Biss Points Trophy' which is for the most points in International races. 

In the 2014 season the BICC competed in the greatest ever number of Internationals in one season - 7 in total. These races were from Pau, Barcelona, Narbonne, Marseille, St Vincent, Perpignan & Agen. 

Other trophies we also won in the BICC in 2014 are:-

The 'Bewes Trophy' for best average from Pau & Barcelona. 

The 2 bird average from Barcelona. 

The 2 bird average from Narbonne. 

The 2 bird average from Marseille (winning the 2 bird average from 3 of the 7 races). 

In addition to these trophies three of our pigeons also won BICC Certificate of Merit Awards by accruing three top fifteen Open positions in International races with the BICC. Our Merit Award winning pigeons were "Mike", "Pipi" & "Spitfire".  

Some of the trophies won in the BICC

Here is how it happened race by race:-

Race 1 - Pau International 544 miles, 20th June. We clocked 5 of our 8 entries to win 7th, 15th, 17th, 107th 111th Open. 

First in the clock was a 2010 mealy hen Called "Saffron". She, as with all of our cocks and hens, was raced on 100% widowhood. Her daily exercise during the race season is 30 mins around the loft in the morning and 45 mins in the evening, but during this exercise time we are lucky if we can get our hens to fly much more than 10 minutes and we never force our birds to fly as we want them to have a 'Love for Home'. Her sire was bred by Jimmy Peters and is a g-son of both his Barcelona winners "Lacoste" & "Marathon Man". Her dam is a daughter of our "BC" 2nd BICC Pau 2009 (beaten by loft mate "Amoy") when "BC" was paired to Mike Mitchell's "Eve" winner of 1st BICC Perpignan etc. 


Race 2 - Agen International 481 miles, 27th June. We clocked 4 of our 7 entries to win 13th, 23rd, 70th & 114th Open. 

Our first bird in the clock was a Six year old cock we call "Mike". He was sent to Agen International purely as a preparatory training race as a stepping stone to fitness for Marseille International 3 weeks later. He has been a very consistent race bird for us over the past few years. He was bred by our good mate and top pigeon fancier Mike Mitchell and is bred from direct Herman Van Helmond stock obtained by Mike from Belgium. 

Race 3 - Barcelona International 673 miles, 4th July. We clocked 4 of our 5 entries to win 2nd, 7th, 9th & 39th Open and also the 2-bird average. 

The first in the clock is a 2009 hen called "Madam 44". She has been a very consistent race bird of ours over the past few seasons now winning:-

6th section E 33rd Open NFC Tarbes 548 miles 2011: 41st BICC Perpignan Int 579miles 2013: 91st BICC Agen Int 484 miles 2013.

Her sire is a son of our foundation hen "Buddy" and her dam is a daughter of Mr & Mrs P Fauchon's 1st Open BICC Barcelona 2005 winner "Cracknut".


Race 4 - St Vincent International 531 miles, 11 July. We clocked 1 of our 5 entries wining 22nd Open. This was by far the worst race of our season! 

Our first and only bird in the clock was a top race cock we call "Tom" who was actually our 2nd bird in the clock from Pau International just 3 weeks previously. His sire is "BC" 2nd Open BICC Pau International 2009 [beaten by "Amoy" when we clocked the only two birds on the day into the UK]: 1st club Bergerac. His dam is "Amoy" our 2009 winner of 1st Open BICC Pau International. 


Race 5 - Marseille International 594 miles, 18th July. We clocked 2 of our 3 entries winning 3rd & 5th Open and also the 2-Bird average. 

Our bird from Marseille is a six year old cock we call "Mike". He was sent to Agen International 3 weeks earlier being 13th Open clocked at 17:15 on the day of liberation. He has been a very consistent race bird for us over the past few years and this prize from Marseille is his 8th International race prize within the BICC. He has previously won:- 

3rd Open BICC Marseille International 2014 594 miles

4th Open BICC Marseille International 2011 594 miles 

9th Open BICC Marseille International 2013 594 miles
13th Open BICC Agen International 2014 480 miles
24th Open BICC Perpignan International 2012 579 miles
37th Open BICC Pau International 2011 544 miles
60th Open BICC Pau International 2013 545 miles
64th Open BICC Pau International 2012 545miles
He was bred by our good mate and top pigeon fancier Mike Mitchell and is bred from direct Herman Van Helmond stock (Old Jan Aarden lines) obtained by Mike from Belgium. 

Race 6 - Narbonne International 551 miles, 25th July. We clocked all 3 of our 3 entries winning 1st, 3rd & 10th Open and also winning the 2-bird average. This was one of the biggest highlights of our season. 

Our first bird in the clock from Narbonne International and 1st Open was a 2011 hen called "Elsa". She was named by my 2 daughters! "Elsa" had a bad start to the season having returned home with all her tail missing from BICC Tours in June. Her preparation for Narbonne International was BICC Alencon followed by BICC Tours then 4 weeks off till her tail started to grow back. She was then sent to an EECC race from Canappeville when her tail was 80% regrown. This was in late June followed by a Bedhampton race at 100 miles with our local Club/Fed then 10 days’ rest before basketing for Narbonne. "Elsa" is very well bred with her sire being a son of Dave Hales's "80" 1st & 4th BICC Perpignan 617m & 38th NFC Tarbes 580m and our top racing hen "Game" 3rd & 7th BICC Perpignan & 15th & 27th BICC Pau. The dam of "Elsa" is a daughter of "Amoy" 1st BICC Pau 2009 545m & "BC" 2nd BICC Pau 2009. As mentioned above, Amoy and BC were the only two birds on the day of liberation into the UK

Race 7 - Perpignan International 579miles, 1st August. We clocked all 4 of our 4 entries winning 5th, 29th, 38th & 44th Open. 

Our first bird in the clock was a 6yr old cock we call "Spitfire". As with all our birds he has been raced on widowhood all season and fed Versele Laga Superstar Plus and Versele Laga Best All Round. His last race before Perpignan was BICC Pau International back in June where he was our 3rd bird back to the loft, winning 17th Open BICC at 545 miles. 

He has been a very reliable race bird for us having previously won:

5th Nat BICC Perpignan 2014 579 miles 

4th Nat BICC Agen Int 2012 481miles
15th Nat BICC Perpignan Int 2013 579miles
17th Nat BICC Pau Int 2014 545miles
38th Nat BICC Agen Int 2013 484miles
"Spitfire" is also a full brother to our good Barcelona cock "Pipi" 5th BICC Barcelona 2011, 9th BICC Barcelona 2014 & 10th BICC Barcelona 2013, He also flew BICC Barcelona in 2012 returning injured. His sire is a Jim Biss pigeon that has won prizes from NFC Tarbes Twice and NFC Bordeaux also. The Biss line of this cock is that of "Favori", "Navigator" & "Legacy". His dam is a daughter of our foundation hen and mother of our loft "Buddy" when she was paired to a son of Brian Denney's "Dark Peron" This Brian Denney cock was the sire of B C Williams's "Conquerour" 1st BICC Perpignan, 6th Int Hens, 43rd open International 1996.'

So much for the background of the Europa Cup winning pigeons. I'm sure those reading this article would like to know more about the methods used by the partners in order to achieve these performances. With this in mind the following is a reproduction of an article that I wrote on Lee and Kevin's methods and loft when I first visited them in Dover some years ago.


'The father and son partnership of Lee and dad Kevin, first started in the sport in the mid 1990s and at that time young Lee, still a teenager, was taken under the wing of local long distance ace, the late Brian Williams of Westmarsh. Not surprisingly therefore, given Brian’s enthusiasm for long distance racing in the toughest competition available, the young Lee developed an insatiable desire to compete on the International stage. This youthful enthusiasm was actively encouraged by Kevin and the rest as they say is history.

Brian Williams provided advice, guidance and good pigeons to the embryonic Buddle partnership and since those early days, the performances of these two extremely likeable and modest fanciers have steadily improved to their present impressive levels.

Having met Lee and Kevin a number of times at the BICC annual prize distribution I was keen to see and handle their team of long distance battlers. A visit was arranged and so it was that I made the 250 mile journey from South Wales to Kent.

As I mentioned earlier, each and every season has seen a progressive improvement in the performances at National and International level culminating in Lee and Kevin’s great win from the Pau International race in 2009 when they clocked the only two birds on the day into the U.K. winning 1st & 2nd Open BICC.

 The main bloodlines at the base of the present day family is made up  of birds obtained in the late 90’s from fanciers of the calibre of the aforementioned Brian Williams who gifted the partners six youngsters to start them off. To these were added some birds from John Wills of Frimley in Surrey. John Wills developed a superb family of long distance racers which has won for John six 1sts in long distance International races organised by the BICC. Pigeons were also introduced from other top class long distance aces Jimmy Roy, Paul Kendall, Brian Denney and Jim Biss. These bloodlines were the foundation stones of the present day Buddle long distance team. However further introductions have been made over the years and the latest of these have come from David Hales and Lee and Kevin’s good friend Mike Mitchell.

The reader will have noticed that only pigeons from the very best long distance lofts have been used in the building of the Buddle race team as Lee and Kevin’s sole aim is to succeed in long distance International races. All other races are used as preparation and to give the birds experience before being exposed to the “acid test” that is International racing.

The foundation stone of the loft whose, bloodlines run through all of the top performers, is a lovely chequer pied hen named “Buddy”. At 12 years of age she still handled like a two year old. Buddy won 2nd sect 4th Open NFC Pau and is dam and grand dam of many of the loft’s top performers. More on Buddy’s winning descendents later in this report.

The racing loft with YBs on the left

THE LOFT

The lofts are situated in a compound at the rear of the family home and everything was in immaculate order. The main racing loft which faces south west has four sections. One section houses the 30 racing hens and three other sections house the team of 30 racing cocks. These latter three sections contain the up and over style nest boxes which incorporate grid floors to reduce the need for daily cleaning. A small young bird loft which is fronted by an aviary adjoins the main loft.

[Since my initial visit the partners have now built an aviary/walkway along the whole of the front of the loft].

Eight pairs of stock birds are housed in a separate loft just to the side and in front of the race loft. The birds were in superb condition and the hens in particular were nothing short of spectacular. Each and every one oozed class and handled as good as they looked. In thirty eight years of visiting lofts I have never seen a better team of hens. All handled similarly in so much as they were medium sized with terrific musculature, strong backs and lovely intelligent noble heads. The eyesign on all the birds was A1 with strong iris colouration and plenty of character. The Buddle hens reminded me very much of the team of hens developed by John Wills of Frimley mentioned earlier in this piece and I can give them no higher praise than that! I didn’t handle many of the cocks as, after handling hens of the above quality I have found that the quality of the cocks will be of an equally high standard. In other words the strength of any loft is in the quality of the hens housed therein. My father told me that 50 years ago and I’ve yet to prove him wrong.

Cock section

MANAGEMENT

Both Kevin and Lee work full time, sometimes 12 hours a day and seven days a week. Time with the birds therefore is extremely limited, in fact, for six months of the year during winter, they only see the birds in daylight at the weekends. Nevertheless the birds’ performances certainly don’t seem to have suffered as the results that accompany this report prove.

The stock birds are mated in late January followed by the racers in February. The racers are allowed to rear a round of youngsters and are then separated and flown on the round about system for the duration of the old bird programme. Kevin and Lee like to get the birds into a half a dozen or so trainers out to 20 miles before racing begins and then give the long distance candidates perhaps 2 x 100 mile inland races followed by a couple of 200 mile channel races to get them in trim for their test at the distance. The final preparation for the long distance target race is a 250 mile channel race supplemented by their twice daily home exercise. The partners rarely train the birds after their initial pre season training as they simply do not have the time. During the periods of loft exercise the birds are let out and the lofts cleaned. The morning exercise lasts for around 30 minutes and the evening stint amounts to no more than 45 minutes. The birds are never forced to fly and the hens in particular rarely fly for more than 10 15 minutes, yet they can always be relied on to put in a full shift in long distance races.

Racing cocks

FEEDING

The race cocks are fed individually in their boxes whilst the racing hens are fed communally in a hopper on the floor. The food is always measured but never rationed as the racers always have sufficient for their needs. In the main the racers are fed Versele Laga Best All Round but in 2011 they were also given VL Superstar Plus to good effect. Other additions to the birds’ diet in the build up to a long distance race are sunflower hearts.

Once old bird racing is over the main concern is to get the birds through a trouble free moult. To this ends the partners feed Versele Laga Mutine Plus moulting mixture up to the beginning of November and this mix is then supplemented thereafter by a good percentage of good quality barley. This diluted mix is then fed for the remainder of the winter period prior to mating.

Using the above methods on their team of superb long distance racers Kevin and Lee’s pigeons won the following prizes during the 2011 old birds National & International campaign:-

NFC Tarbes 2011 [6 Sent]
6th Section E, 33rd Open NFC Tarbes 547 miles
78th Section E, 331st Open NFC Tarbes
150th Section E, 622nd Open NFC Tarbes


BICC Internationals
Pau International [6 Sent]
7th ES, 12th Open BICC Pau
13th ES, 21st Open BICC Pau

24th ES, 37th Open BICC Pau
48th ES, 84th Open BICC Pau 547 miles

Bordeaux International [5 Sent]
2nd ES, 28th Open BICC  481 miles
11th ES, 55th Open BICC
25th ES, 88th Open BICC

Barcelona International [2 Sent]
3rd ES, 5th Open BICC Barcelona 676 miles

Tarbes/Agen International [10 Sent]
6th ES, 9th Open BICC Tarbes/Agen 481 miles
16th ES, 25th Open BICC Tarbes/Agen
22nd ES, 40th Open BICC Tarbes/Agen
26th ES, 46th Open BICC Tarbes/Agen
34th ES, 62nd Open BICC Tarbes/Agen

Marseille International [3 Sent]
4th ES, 4th Open BICC Marseille 594 miles 2011

Perpignan International [6 Sent]
25th ES, 34th Open BICC Perpignan 586 miles 2011
26th ES, 36th Open BICC Perpignan

BICC Nationals [races under 400 miles]

BICC Tours
1st East section 2ndOpen 260 miles

The above performances achieved in 2011 are fairly typical of recent years. The reader will also note the fact that the race team is only rarely more than a handful of birds and that the partners invariably get a team performance from their limited entries.

The following set of results will confirm the Buddles’ great consistency over a number of years in possibly the hardest competition available:-

National positions won (all over 500 miles)

1st National BICC Pau 2009 (Clocked on the Day of Liberation)

2nd National BICC Pau 2009 (Clocked on the Day of Liberation)

3rd National BICC Perpignan 2008

4th Open NFC Pau 2002

4th National BICC Pau 2010

6th National BICC Dax 2003

7th National BICC Perpignan 2009

7th Open Single Bird NFC San Sebastian 2001

14th National BICC Pau 2007

14th National BICC Perpignan 2010

15th National BICC Pau 2009

17th National BICC Pau 2007

19th National Narbonne 2010

26th National BICC Barcelona 2009

27th National BICC Pau 2008

38th National BICC Pau 2004

39th National BICC Pau 2004

47th Open NFC Dax 2005

41st Open NFC Tarbes 2007

41st National BICC Perpignan 2010

42nd National BICC Tarbes 2008

43rd Open NFC Tarbes 2010

44th National BICC Barcelona 2009

48th National BICC Pau 2005

51st National BICC Tarbes 2009

53rd National BICC Pau 2008

60th National BICC Tarbes 2008

74th Open NFC Pau 2004

81st NFC Tarbes 2005 (Clocked on the Day of Liberation)

85th National BICC Dax 2005

90th NFC Tarbes 2005 (Clocked on the Day of Liberation)

105th Open NFC Pau 2004

137th Open NFC Pau 2004

177th NFC Tarbes 2008 (Clocked on the Day of Liberation)

Racing hens

The Buddles’ National results in recent years listing only those where their pigeons finished in the top ten Open prizes are as follows:-

1st National BICC Pau Int 2009 545miles.

1st National BICC Narbonne Int 2014 557miles.

2nd National BICC Barcelona Int 2014 673miles.

2nd National BICC Pau Int 2009.

2nd National BICC Pau Int 2012.

3rd National BICC Marseille Int 2014 594miles.

3rd National BICC Narbonne Int 2014 557miles.

3rd National BICC Perpignan Int 2008 579miles.

4th National BICC Marseille Int 2011.

4th National BICC Pau Int 2010.

4th National BICC Agen Int 2012 484miles.

5th National BICC Perpignan Int 2014.

5th National BICC Marseille Int 2014.

5th National BICC Barcelona Int 2011 673miles.

5th National BICC St Vincent Int 2013 531miles.

7th National BICC Barcelona Int 2014.

7th National BICC Pau Int 2014.

9th National BICC Marseille Int 2013.

9th National BICC Barcelona Int 2014.

10th National BICC Barcelona Int 2013.

10th National BICC Narbonne Int 2014 557m.

Hen section

The above positions gained sending a small team of pigeons to INTERNATIONAL races - not club or Fed or National but International races competing against thousands of pigeons racing to all parts of Europe.

The following are brief details of some of the loft’s top performers at the time of my 2011 visit:-

** “Buddy” winner of 2nd Section E, 4th Open NFC Pau 542 miles 2002. “Buddy” is G-Dam of “Amoy” 1st Bicc Pau 2009, “BC” 2nd Bicc Pau 2009 & “Bolt” 4th Open Bicc Pau 2010.

** “Game" winner of 3rd BICC Perpignan 579m 2008, 7th BICC Perpignan 579m 2009, 15th BICC Pau 544m 2009, 27th BICC Pau 544m 2008, 222nd Sec E, 896th Open NFC Tarbes 548m 2007, 93rd Sec E, 350th Open NFC Tarbes 548m 2005, 1st Club Etampes 2005. Being voted as IPRR pigeon of the year 450+ miles 2008.

** “Bolt” 2nd Section 4th Open Bicc Pau 544 miles 2010.

** “Miss 45” Winner of 4th Sec E, 41st Open NFC Tarbes 548m 2007. 34th Sect, 177th Open NFC Tarbes (clocked at 19:19 on the Day) 2008, 98th Sec E, 426th Open NFC Tarbes 2009. Dtr of “Buddy” 4th Open NFC Pau 2002 when paired to s Son of Brian Denney's “Dark Peron”.

** “Portia” winner of 14th Section E, 43rd Open NFC Tarbes 548 miles 2010. 79th Section E, 314th Open NFC Tarbes 548 miles 2009.

** “Thirty Eight” winner of 41st Sec E, 137th Open NFC Pau 542 miles 2004. 19th Sec E, 81st Open NFC Tarbes (Clocked at 20:55 on the day) 547miles 2005. 75th Sec E, 203rd Open NFC Bordeaux 438miles 2006.

** “Jack” winner of 28th section E 105th Open NFC Pau 542m 2004, 23rd section E 90th Open NFC Tarbes 548m 2005 Clocked at 21:05 on the day of liberation, 22nd Section E 29th Open NFC Falaise 2003.

** “A Ring” winner of 9th Sec, 14th Open BICC Pau 547 miles 2007. 54th Sec, 97th Open BICC Bergerac 435 miles 2006. 53rd Sec, 84th Open BICC Dax  523 miles 2005.

** “D900” Winner of 27th Sec, 53rd Open BICC Pau 547miles 2008. 1st Club, 1st Fed Le Mans 2008. 2nd Club,15th Fed Le Mans 2008. 12th Sec, 17th Open BICC Pau 547miles 2007. 27th Sec E,31st Open NFC Chale (OH) 2006.

Two returnees from an International race together after their long flight

That was then, this is now and some of the present day "superstars" housed in the loft in 2014 are listed below:-

"Spitfire"
4th BICC Agen Int 2012 481m
5th BICC Perpignan 2014 579m

15th BICC Perpignan Int 2013 579m
17th BICC Pau Int 2014 545m
38th BICC Agen Int 2013 484m

"Saffron"
3rd BICC Narbonne Int 557m 2014

7th BICC Pau Int 544 miles 2014
24th BICC Agen Int 484m 2013 
26th BICC Perpignan Int 579m 2013

"Day 30"
11th BICC St Vincent Int 531m (on the day) 2012
45th BICC Pau Int 545m (on the day) 2012.
43rd BICC Pau Int 545m 2013
44th BICC Perpignan Int 579m 2014

58th BICC St Vincent Int 531m 2013
88th BICC Agen Int 481m 2011. 
111th BICC Pau Int 545m 2014.

"Mike"
3rd BICC Marseille Int 2014 594m
4th BICC Marseille Int 2011 594m 
9th BICC Marseille Int 2013 594m 
13th BICC Agen Int 2014 480m
24th BICC Perpignan Int 2012 579m
37th BICC Pau Int 2011 544m 
60th BICC Pau Int 2013 545m
64th BICC Pau Int 2012 545m

"Pipi" 
5th BICC Barcelona Int 2011 673m 
9th BICC Barcelona Int 2014 673m
10th BICC Barcelona Int 2013 673m
Verified Injured Barcelona Int 2012 673m

"Madam 44" 
2nd BICC Barcelona 2014 673m
6th sec E, 33rd Open NFC Tarbes 548m 2011 
38th BICC Perpignan Int 579m 2014

41st BICC Perpignan Int 579m 2013 

91st BICC Agen Int 484m 2013
2x 1st Club Le Mans 220m 

"Tom" 
5th BICC St Vincent 531m 2013 
15th BICC Pau 545m 2014
22nd BICC St Vincent 531m 2014
30th BICC Pau (on the day) 545m 2013

"Amoy" 
1st BICC Pau Int 545m (on the day) 2009 
61st BICC Tarbes Int 548m 2008

"BC" 
2nd BICC Pau 545m 2009 (on the day & beaten by loft mate!) 
1st Club Bergerac 2008 435m (single entry)

"Elsa" 
1st BICC Narbonne Int 557m 2014
39th BICC Agen Int 484m 2013

"Twenty8" 
7th BICC Barcelona Int 2014 673m 
51st BICC St Vincent Int 2013 531m
75th BICC St Vincent Int 2012 531m
78th BICC Perpignan Int 2013 579m

"Rhodes" 
13th BICC Perpignan Int 2013 579m
29th BICC Perpignan Int 2014 579m

39th BICC Barcelona Int 2014 673m
62nd BICC Agen Int 2011 484m
146th BICC Agen Int 2012 483m

Having visited the Buddle set up and after handling their team of racers I can only predict continued success in the future for these top class fanciers who are both totally dedicated to long distance International pigeon racing.'

Quite prophetic really given the 2013 and 2014 series of results! I feel sure that this level of success will continue in the coming seasons.

                                           

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Elimar - November 2014