When the Stichelbauts came to
Sycamore Cottage
Part 5
WHY BARCELONA INTERNATIONAL BECAME THE DREAM!With humble beginnings, and sheer dedication we climbed the long ladder to Pau NFC in 93, when I got my 2 entries in the open result. These were the 2 key breeding hens Dark Enchantment and Dark Expected - lovely in bred little birds. In 94 I managed Diamond Queen at the 735 miles velocity 1036 ypm first bird into my area where Denney was an excellent flier. As a visionary and to tempt the boundaries of possibility, I dreamt up the Barcelona aspiration as the final test of extreme distance fervour. We entered my six birds in 95 - the only ones in the loft that were over 2 years of age. Mother said you wont clock from their Jimmy, its too far, its just a dream.
Jim's Mum Dorothy in the loft doing what she enjoyed and where she often sang to the birds
Well we did at a record BICC DISTANCE of 879 miles, and verified 2 more birds. The race point is the expression of my inner man, the dream, the desire, the spectacle. It is the only race for me and after 21 years is cemented into my psyche, as the greatest race on planet earth, where stars are born and made from stamina, guts and dogged persistence. It is the race for big thinking dreamers to find happiness in the ultimate race reality.HOW TO BREED MARATHON PIGEONS
The quintessence of this concept is easy in theory, yet the practice is difficult. Prepare a system where every bird is sent racing beyond 700 miles - the ones in race time are the business in race reality. You will find that in the ancestors will be some sprinters and performance birds at different distances as there are no pure strains for specific distance traits - the diversity of the genotype ancestry sorts that out. Good stock will generate the right racing birds, and I like a specimen pigeon of great origin e.g. the cock of MARCO Wilson - takes the biscuit for me in the last 19 years of performance champions.
The Marco Wilson Cock
Always send the 2 yr olds your full distance - they, with good preparation are mature enough. Keep breeding your ace pigeons to saturate the performance genes which are intuited in the actual birds. New intros are tested to the limit, where the apricots may fall miles from the tree.
THE JIM DONALDSON INFLUENCE ON MY BIRDS
Jim and I made contact in 98, when we exchanged birds. He is a distance and 700 miles Genius into the far North of Scotland. With his inbred outbreds we breed some reds and pieds from his Circus Boy genes.
Circus Boy - Rennes Lass Dam of 7x1st section winners
I like to darken them up, although they are lovely to behold. However, the strong performance genes are evident in my birds e.g. in Musgrove Addiction. These and the early Denney lines have been shrewd introductions to enhance my birds performances. My ODDBALL hen was 50 percent Donaldson - we are inbreeding to her with my lines. I could not wish for harder pigeons to send to Barcelona International for testing. Jim is a hard and genuine man when it comes to birds and races a lovely small type of hen with rounded muscles.
Jim Donaldson relaxing at home
OPTIMAL CONDITION FOR A MARATHON RACE PIGEON
Paired in March and raced to eggs with some sexs separation to fit in with the gradual build up to July, I like all the birds to have a fly of 10 hrs plus on the wing 3 to 5wks before the marathon event of over 700 miles. The birds will be loaded with glycogen/fat reserves in April before the off. The regime on open loft and my unique feeding system produces a blown up bird, muscled up and with lots of fat and energy reserves, since a marathon is like a migration. All UK Barcelona Int. birds will take at least into the second day, when they will roost, forage, drink and fly if they are to be clocked in race time. Some birds will home in great condition over many days - natural open loft conditions are harnesses of semi-wild, instinctual, hard condition. My system is in demand for the extreme distance man, and will be personalised by the individual concerned. The key factors are fuel and time on the wing - I like birds with weeks out, away from home experience!
CURRENT RACE PREPARATION FOR OUR BARCELONA TEAM
My unique feeding system is combined with open loft conditions all year round for hard, rugged, elemental, instinctual awareness and condition. With 1 40 mile toss, all birds go in the first WSRC race into Taunton. Then no tossing as the birds are raced trained in the BICC National races at the set intervals, prior to the NFC Messac on June 4th. All birds are then rested before yearlings at Saintes NFC, and older at BICC Barcelona Int. A logical increase in distances, I like a 12hr fly before the 1st week in July with the great race waiting in the wings. As the season gets going the sexes are separated to time the egg cycle preparation. Our birds given Vydex Supersix, and Blitzform reach fabulous condition. The result then is down to the inner qualities of the actual bird. At each racing stage we empty the entire loft, since all birds must be tested.
Jim Emerton
