Rooster J. Cogburn

A shame to hear this and I hope Andy's health improves. At times people who are good at things can make them look easier than they actually are. I think it's fair to say this could apply to Andy and his work as secretary of the SNFC. Will be difficult to replace and lets hope the next secretary is supported and does equally as well in this very demanding role.

Hopefully it won't be up again ALF

:emoticon-0140-rofl: Theres usually some diesel lying around the doo club in a watering can, so the lads used to Newhouse marking should feel quite comfortable wi the change Lets hope its a good meeting this year, where important things can be discussed instead of being overshadowed by a proposal on changing the region boundaries

Good stuff where do ye have in mind?

Did you put the central marking for the Gold Cup proposal in Derek?

cheers for the reply Marshal Reuben J. Cogburn

Alright bullcock did you get a seconder and put your proposal in?

Aye you're not alone there Walter. Racing Novice obviously has some interest in it or wouldn't have started the thread. Was just suggesting these as they are things that I read. Not necessarily with a few to practising it, but just to see what it is people are looking at/for when they refer to eyesign. I've seen and heard enough from a couple of the best and most successful fanciers I am ever likely to meet that confirms,to me, looking into a pigeon's eye is not a complete waste of time.

If you can try and get a hold of Old Hand's book on it or some of the old pictorials Professor Optic used to write in, it's a place to start. I can't remember the name of the other one I used to read, think it may have been Bill Cairney??

The Blacks of Dromore made a similar mistake around 20 years ago also. It was a stock hen that looked identical to her nestmate, who was a racer. The bird had however flown out and would have been fit. The way Davie and family can get them going at times they do a power of flying. In fact the year they were 6th,7th,8th and 17th INFC Kings Cup the birds were flying,unforced, for 3-4 hours at a time. Anyway back to that hen. I think the race was the NIPA Old Bird Derby from Dinard. As you can imagine, on realising the mistake,they thought they would never see her again. There was 18 birds on the day into Northern Ireland, of which they had 3. The hen that had never been in a basket in her entire life was the first bird clocked in the country the following morning and was 21st Open if memory serves me well.

Yer old pal Toddler was 1st Section D 12th Open Reims in 2003 with an old hen that had never been further than Carter Bar that season if memory serves me well. Think she was timed around quarter past 9 that evening.

I wouldn't like to see the club stray from Alencon, Clermont or Ypres. Although perhaps the date of Ypres needs looked at to give the longest race a weekend to itself. Tours seems to have been as good a racepoint as any for the longest race in recent times and would probably be the one I'd like to see as someone who has never attempted the long one before, but would like to.

Have tried all sorts and to be honest I don't think free mating is a bad idea.

For me it's the SNFC Gold Cup race. The interest in the race probably stems from Wee Billy that used to watch the doos wi us on a Saturday, years down the line he still talked about the time he clocked his good blue cock out of Rennes. There's room for every body at the race and as Wee Billy used to say to me and my dad "if yer on the Rennes result, yer flying". I remember Robert Cormack telling me, that one day when he was in his class at the school he drew a line on an atlas from Linlithgow to Rennes because it was the place he had heard talked about most when he was growing up My dad and I never got the chance to fly Rennes, but have flown the SNFC Gold Cup in the seasons 2003,2004,2005,2011,2012 and 2013. From this handful of times we've sent, I've noticed that it's either the biggest thrill or the biggest disappointment of your year in pigeons The birdages may be smaller and the racepoint may have changed, but the distance hasn't

Above all for me is the man yer getting it from

Have you seen this man? Last known whereabouts-Somewhere in Lanarkshire Hope ye make it home alright Tam

The black wan looks like a mischievous wee sh*te That one would be my pick smashers

Well done John

Think that's now five times between the partnership. Some doing

I've one I can give you It's white though My uncle got me it from the ICI. It was used when I gave widowhood a brief try and I devised the white coat motivation system lol.

Read over an old thread the other night and came across midnight son's;fantastic, interesting and encouraging post on the SNFC/SNFC longest race. "Apologies for what is likely to be a long post but this race is one of the highlights of my year and has provided some great moments. I hope the race never dies and I think there are things that could be done to revive it. I may be biased as my dad and I have had a lot of success at the race in recent times and I was brought up to think of it as the most important race of the year. I wish it was more competitive and more members would have a go at it. In other national clubs the longest race is the big one i.e. Barcelona in the BICC/BBC, Tarbes in the NFC. The most celebrated pigeons in Europe are still the 600 milers and beyond but for some reason in Scotland, we've got a downer on it. Maybe its the lack of international opportunities that our neighbours have down south. When I was growing up with national racing through the late 80s and early 90s my dad religiously voted for the Nantes race to be the gold cup when they used to have the vote on the Rennes entry sheet. This always puzzled me as at that time we were hopeless at the long race but were banging them in from Sartilly and Rennes as it was then. I couldn’t understand why he was voting for a race that we could hardly get on the result from to be the big one when all our success was in the 500 to 550 races. He stuck to his convictions that the 600 mile race was the ultimate test and has held that view ever since and luckily our results at it have improved. There are some misconceptions about the race which don’t help it’s cause and a better understanding/appreciation of the race is needed. Here are a couple of things that I think a majority of members wrongly believe. 1. That it is “always†a hard race, and there are never day pigeons and you’ll be hanging about for 3 days waiting. That is rubbish. As with all racepoints, you do get a hard one every so often and clearly if you get a hard one from 600 miles plus then it’ll be worse than normal. However in recent seasons we’ve seen Dave Pirie win it in Aberdeen timing in fairly early on the day in quite a fast race but even on a steadier day my dad was 2nd open in 2006 and 2011 timing on the day for 612 miles (mother and son). Tours to us is 612 miles and on a 40mph day that is only 15 hours 20 mins. I say only but if you think you’re a good long distance flyer with the right stock then a 15 hour fly won’t scare you unduly. I’m sure plenty on here have tales of 15, 16, even 17 hours on the shift. There is nothing better than that. I can just about remember the 1984 Nantes race, aged 7. My dad, neighbour John Bosworth and John Ellis (Elphinstone, not Wellbank) had all timed on the night into the village and were on a real high. When the race closed and clocks were controlled I was sent off to bed of course but I gather the three of them ended up staying up all night, having a drink and playing pool or snooker in the back garden until it was time for the race to re-open on 2nd day. That doesn’t happen at Clermont. It was the buzz of doing it at the longest race that had so pleased them. Nowadays its all this doom and gloom about it lasting 3 days but it doesn’t have to be like that. 2. You need an old warrior that has loads of experience for this race. No you don’t, you need a good pigeon, bred for the job and given enough experience for the task without damaging its willingness to give you everything. I hear a lot of folk saying they’re trying the long race because they have a bird that has done 3 or 4 channel races always on the 2nd day and isn’t fast enough so will be ideal for the long race. That’s the wrong attitude to take, we used to do it ourselves until the penny dropped. If you send a bird that is hours behind at 500 miles then it will be the same hours behind plus a few more at 600 miles, it might scrape a position on a scattered result if the race has run to a 2nd afternoon or 3rd day but its not going to do 600 on the day to win the race or the section. These veterans know what it is to sit out and come home in their own time on 2nd day so it doesn’t worry them. I think you need a fairly unspoiled bird, something that doesn’t want to sit out and will keep going when the wings are tired to get home or as close to home as possible on the first day. Examples of the type of bird we’ve sent in the last 10 years or so, as you can see these were largely fresh pigeons, not scarred by lots of nights out and hard races:- 10th open Chenoise – 2nd time over 2nd open Chenoise – 3rd time over 2nd open Tours – 1st time over 5th open Tours – 1st time over 8th open Andrezel – 2nd time over 4th open Bourges – 1st time over 2nd open Tours -2nd time over 3. Its too for/ too difficult so I’ll give it a miss. If you are already flying the channel then it’s not that much of a leap. A light tail wind at 600 miles will see the birds home in less hours than a head wind in the gold cup. I don’t understand the reluctance of folk to have a go, just try it. Its only a normal gold cup with 2 hours flying tacked onto it, it’s a challenge but far from impossible. A couple of things I’d like to see happen that would improve the appeal of the race: 1. I’d like to see the section, region and overall national averages given a lot more of a push. That should be the main aim of the season for members. Its virtually impossible to win any single national race outright but if you can demonstrate that you can spread your team out to be in the hunt at every race that should mean just as much as someone hitting a home run one week and never being seen for the rest of the year. Too many members just write off the longest race because they don’t try for the national averages but in the club racing the averages are the most prestigious thing. Nobody remembers who won Selby in the club but they all know who won the averages. If you’re not in a location to win the outright averages then go for your region and section averages, still a great achievement. If the averages became important to everyone then automatically more would try the long race as they’d need a time-in to win them. The thought of missing a channel race should be too painful to contemplate. I’d rather have 1 or 2 at each than send 6 to Alencon and skip Tours. 2. I think the race would be better supported and attract more attention from the members in general if it was on a different day to Ypres. It loses a bit of the spotlight when the two are on the same day and if it stood alone it might get more members to send who are currently happy to get their race that weekend from Ypres. Pigeon men like a race and if you put a race onto a blank weekend then chances are a few more would send than when they have 2 options on same day." what posts have stood out for you this year?

Aye times are hard for us here in the west Alan

Another point to note is that the furthest east loft in the Northwest federation is further west than the furthest east in both the South and West Regions.

We got a shed from Jim a couple of years back. It's smashing, he uses the best of weatherboard.

I appreciate that now a more valid reason to 'disqualify' the Northwest Fed from this set up has been provided over the original Geraldy transporter smokescreen. Best of luck with this venture and I hope it's a success . If all goes to plan it could be the envy of all other Scottish feds