L J Parkinson
Well, we are here, the first race since starting back and Ebony’s first attempt at racing pigeons, who is going to get the upper hand. They have all had the same training and exercising around home when both teams have spent the same amount of time in the air. I say exercising, I must admit that there have been occasions when Ebony’s have spent far more time in the air than mine have, they are exercised separately so that they go into their own sections. I must add that when they are sent to a training toss, they go together, the only problem is there are a couple that insist in going in with mine whereas the rest go into their own section. Most of the time Ebony has hand fed hers while mine have had to fight it out in the troughs, too many to hand feed. How many we will be sending is still uncertain, but it is making our mind up time. One half of me thinks they should all go, after all it’s less than 70mls to Worcester and they have been trained to half that distance. What about the other half of me, well that says send maybe half, we know they are going to be dragged over and that will happen no matter how much training they have had. If it’s a good day it won’t be as bad but if they must come back against the odds then they might give up, like many do I say that because many fanciers do get pigeons reported to the north of their lofts.
Had a BOP attack and it had to be one of the favorites! it would have to have been “Houdini”, the Chequer who has found a way to get out through the bob wires, I don’t think he will be racing this year. Ebony also had a blue hen who looked as if she had a near scrape and just touched the wires, she is back in training. That was the day we had the most missing from a training toss between us. Ebony had 4 missing while I had 5 spending time away from the lofts. After a couple of days some came back which left us both one missing. The big question is will we lose any in their first race this weekend. Two weeks before racing we did have two training tosses when the odd bird came back after a hawk attack, on both occasions they were split, and we had losses, let’s hope nothing like that happens in the races.
Conversations.
I was talking to Bobby Walton a few days back and telling him how I appear to be keener than I was when I was in my early 60’s and leaving the sport. I said at 34ft it takes a bit of cleaning especially when I do it three times most days. “Why do you need to clean out that often, not necessary as long as the loft is dry” “There is no set reason I just do”. I asked Bob if he had even thought about having a small loft in the garden but that was a no-no. He did say that he does not see as many going over as he used to do, that’s the way pigeon racing is going I’m afraid.
Another conversation was about the Tarbes race with the National that didn’t see as many clocked as initially expected. This was a tough day for such a distance, especially for the Northern fanciers. However, there were some good overall performances and in section L, credit to the fanciers concerned, they did well. One fancier sent 8 especially prepared yearlings and expected to clock but it didn’t happen. You could send 8 yearlings next year and have them on the clock, that’s the way it goes in pigeon racing.
I was talking to Ray Lunt about the young birds and the way they go over in the early races, which is why I am debating on how many to send. I was saying to Ray that I still think the fed should have a north and south liberation for at least the first two races. Ray sees no point in a separate liberation, his view was some will go over in the first race you send them too no matter what, you cannot change the way pigeons are. I understand his point of view, but I would still rather have a separate liberation, then I would send them all. I was talking to a fancier about the time I spend talking to Ray but did point out that I still do things my own way. You could say it is a force of habit plus I have always looked at racing the longer races, whereas Ray is one of the best in the sprint to middle distance racers in the country.
A couple of hundred yards away is Peter Latham’s loft and we let them out roughly at the same time of day, depending on whether we are training. I was saying what a difference the time they are spending in the air now to what they were a few weeks ago. As Peter pointed out, that does happen when you start training them, which is correct. The difference is when they are being sent to a training toss, they are racing home whereas when they are around home, they are not putting as much effort into their flying so are not building their muscles up in the same way. There are of course the times when they all disappear for long spells, and we sit there wondering what happened to them. We had one of those cases with Ebony’s, they were let out at 7am and returned at 8.45am, we could tell that they had been flying. I prefer to work on liberation to loft twice each day, weather permitting of course. The problem is we cannot always guarantee the line of flight even for a training toss of 30mls the weather changes so much. There is always a starting and finishing point where the weather meets a dry or wet spell and if we knew where that was going to be we would be well away, training in perfect weather all the time. Because they spend mostly the same amount of time in the air, I suspect Peter does flag them. If my circumstances were right, I would probably flag them, but they are not. If I shift them off our house, they go on the house behind and that must be a no-go area.
Spoken to a few people recently, one being Paul Smith about another fantastic performance on the international scene by Mark Gilbert who is getting nearer to the ultimate win in such tough competition from Barcelona. This is not an easy race point because they must go around the Pyrenees mountains which increases the distance making it harder for the birds. Mark sent 24 and switched his clock off after his 8th arrival, his first being on the day and is 6th International against 16,000 birds. Just think how much work the 300 or so UK pigeons must put in against the odds. This race point is the one on the international scene that they all want to win. Barcelona is the pinnacle of racing at international level in much the same way as Pau used to be with the National FC, two race points that stand out, Tarbes does not have the same ring to it that Pau used to be. This is probably what we have grown up with, more recent fanciers on the scene who have not competed in those races will think the same about Tarbes in many years to come and is not an easy race to win. You must remember that Mark’s pigeon had to do a fair bit of work on its own to get back home, it’s no walk in the park when it comes to international racing for UK fanciers, they have a much harder fly. Is it possible here in the UK, there are a few who I suspect could do it, but Mark is the most likely, having said that there are many good distance fanciers who stay clear of publicity and we don’t notice them until they have achieved such success. Don’t know if it’s true but word is there are mighty big offers on the table for this pigeon but even 6 figures are not tempting a sale. How many and who are the fanciers in the UK who have clocked from 680 miles plus on the day of liberation, I say 680 because of Tarbes and Pau in the Grand National. Always have quite a talk to Paul who is up to date with what is going on around the world. Paul has not been in the best of health recently but with the treatment he is getting, we wish him well.
My nephew Wayne Hargreaves was telling me that he cannot get away from pigeons. One that he parted with when he packed up has returned and has not been transferred so he does not know who the pigeon now belongs to so cannot return it to the new owner. It is not in our system as being sold, so I take it this is either one of a batch of young birds sold or one he has given someone who has bought another. We come across this problem quite a lot where fanciers buy pigeons and don’t transfer them. With the new system at the RPRA it is quite easy to do and very efficient, so I don’t know why fanciers don’t do it when they first buy them.
Casualty department.
Is filling up, we are not having a good time between attacks from the top and the wires below. Apart from a blue cock, none have been too serious, nevertheless they have happened, so they need separating from the rest until they are right. Otherwise, I would have to keep catching them when I let the others out. I feed them in plastic troughs so that I can wash them, or at least wipe them out after every time they are used. This morning I could see a 6inch spread of blood on the inside of the trough after feeding time, there was also a small amount of blood on the outside. That was about an hour ago and I could not see any blood on any of the pigeons, I have now given them time after being fed so I am now going to spend time inspecting them all. Had a good look and cannot find any more with signs of damage so it looks like it might have been a minor injury that I have missed in the last day or two. Yes, I did have injuries before when we were racing but not like this year.
Results.
The latest trip down the road for the South West Cheshire Fed was to Guernsey where the birds were liberated at 11am in a strong south wind which saw the vels top the 1900ypm mark. This week’s winners are K W Walker & Sons racing with the Duddon PFC which is mostly the biggest club in the fed with either birds or members. The winners are 1st & 2nd in their club 1st & 10th in the fed after recording vels of 1937/1909ypm plus they win £80.80 in the fed. Still with the same club K & K Rowland are 3rd club on 1864ypm while J Churchill is 4th with a vel of 1861ypm. The next 4 in the fed all went to Middlewich 5B members with 1st & 2nd club 2nd & 3rd fed going to Jones Bros & Karen Jones with two on 1935ypm plus fed money of £101. M & H Smith also win £20.20 after winning 3rd & 4th club 4th & 5th Fed on 1933/1932ypm. Roy Parker is 6th fed after leading the way plus 4th in the Crewe West End with a vel of 1926ypm. Bob Humphries is 2nd & 3rd club 7th & 8th fed clocking up 1922/1920ypm. Greenbank saw John Peever come home with 1st & 2nd club plus 9th fed with vels of 1918/1881ypm followed by Tommy Hulme & Son 3rd club on 1839ypm and Martin Williams 4th clocking up 1792ypm. In the Winsford HS Mike & Keith Hitchin fill the top 5 positions with vels of 1867/1861/1828/ 2 on 1817ypm.
The Mid Cheshire Fed’s next race was from Weymouth when 70 members sent 810 birds that were liberated at 7am in a light southwest wind. The result is headed by Kingsway winners Delooze Bros who take the top 3 in the club plus 1st & 6th section and open with vels of 2055/2028/1969ypm. Ashton in Makerfield sees John Hankey collect 1st & 2nd club 2nd section and open with vels of 2045/1983ypm. John Kettle is 3rd club on 1913ypm. In the Newton FC B & D Hooper take the top three positions to go with 3rd & 4th section and open on 2031/2029/1959ypm. Martin McGee racing with the Sankey Bridge HS is 1st & 3rd club 6th section and open on 1996/1964ypm being split by P Wilcox with a vel of 1980ypm. W & P Brown have had another good race securing the top three positions in the Earlestown FC on 1995/1994 (2) ypm they are also 7th 8th 9th section and open. Completing the top 10 in the open and section is J Stewart after taking the top three in the club with vels of 1993/1973/1972ypm. Jones Bros & Karen Jones win the top three places in the Acton Bridge FC on 1968/1953/1935ypm also winning 2nd 5th 10th section. Geoffrey Warburton wins the Frodsham HS on 1625ypm while the Greenbank club sees Martin Williams 1st & 2nd club 6th & 9th section on 1952/1935ypm with John Peever 3rd on 1833ypm. With vels of 1930/1885/1884ypm J Chadwick takes the top three positions in the Leigh & Atherton HS while the Lymm FC is won by T Hodson on 1973ypm ahead of A Cookson 1807ypm and Anrew Roberts on 1774ypm. Middlewich FC sees M&H Smith with the top three positions on 1968/1957/1923ypm also collecting 3rd & 4th section. P & M Child are at the top of the list in the Rudheath WMHS recording a vel of 1945ypm. Next, we have AJ Thornley on 1934ypm followed by Dave Pritchard clocking up 1964ypm. In the Runcorn DHS the top spot goes to A Oates on 1801ypm ahead of AJ Morris who takes the next two places on 1716/1711ypm. That leaves the Wrinehill HS where Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw finish with the top 3 positions on 1971/1938/1864ypm also collecting 1st & 8th section.
Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585.
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Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com