midnight_son

According to a thread on Pigeon Chat, its not going too well. Leaders are quick, around 50mph but returns seem poor. Thats just based on a handful of posts so could be misleading of course.

I missed the clocks but the winners were in from 13:07 onwards (from 6.30 lib). I believe Ally Robertson has won it and has another one well up too. From memory the other leaders were Jimmy Pryde, Ian Johnstone, Barry Kinnear, John Bosworth & J & G Whitson with most of the decent prizes away within 40 mins or so of the winner. Personally, not at the races at 14:45 but 5/5 home so they live to fight another day, by which time we might have got them racing.

Central Yorks - Newbury - 8.15 Lt S/SW BICC - Falaise - 8.30 Lt South

Not sure it'll be a doddle but we may try. Thats about as far as far as I'd want to go, I'd like to think a chance of getting them on 2nd day. Once you're talking about 4, 5, 6 days to get home the fun goes out of it - plus I have a job to go to, can't afford days and days off work waiting for pigeons. Day racing at 550 to 650miles is top priority (hence trying the extra races from Falaise and Le Mans in last couple of years), so Bordeaux would just be an optional extra, my dad is keener on the marathon stuff than me and I guess we will try the shortest International at Agen 820 miles one day in the next few years.

Yes Saintes was tempting but unfortunately has been brought forward by a few weeks so now clashes directly with SNFC longest race. One thing we are unlikely to do is split a 600 mile plus team over two races on the same day so SNFC will take priority. The NFC race that comes at the end of the year is now Tarbes which is a good bit further again. They have some races earlier from Fougeres, Messac and Ancenis that we might try. Those are in late May and early June so no SNFC (channel) races at that time of year. As I mentioned in previous post, that Bordeaux race with BBC looks the best option at the end of the season. That will be about 770 but I haven't yet investigated where the marking is.

Just to be clear, we have not yet sent to anything further than Niort or Bourges with SNFC (670m). However, we are actively looking for additional long distance races and by long distance not necessarily 1000 miles, just anything over the channel that doesn't interfere with the SNFC team. In 2013 we competed with BICC from Le Mans and must say there were very welcoming and supportive. Last year we sent to Falaise and Le Mans with the North East Greater Distance Club (Newcastle area) as those races came before the SNFC programme kicked in. Again, the officials were very helpful. The marking stations are a major problem as there are none that don't require a full day off work and an 8 hour round trip. I made contact with a fancier in the Newcastle area, John Rumney who is dedicated to flying the BICC programme with a few others in his area. They took our pigeons to the marking station along with his. If he wasn't sending then it would be a much bigger undertaking for us to compete. I believe the NFC have a marking station at somewhere near the Metrocentre via the Sportsmans Club so that is not too bad but for BICC you are talking about the midlands or further south. Not sure about BBC marking stations but they have a Bordeaux race on 1st weekend of August that might be tempting if the nationals have gone well and have a few to pick from. It is certainly do-able to take part in these races and as with anything the more folk that are interested the easier and more cost-effective it becomes. If there was 10 Scottish lofts going rather than just us then splitting the costs and the time required to get birds south would make sense. Anyone thinking about flying in International races needs to be aware that from 2015 onwards youngsters need to be rung with FCI logo rings. Some unions have them as standard but not the SHU so your SU15X 1234 will not be eligible. Older rings are fine. I discovered this by fluke reading the BICC AGM report so have had to order my rings from RPRA to ensure this years babies are eligible for Internationals in a few years time. At least keep the option open.

Just to make aware any of those who are interested. YBs bred in 2015 that you may wish to enter in International races in future will have to be rung with rings carrying the FCI logo. Apparently there is a new rule that applies to 2015 youngster onwards. Anything bred in 2014 or earlier is fine, they can compete with their standard union ring. I think it is common knowledge down south but not up here. The SHU rings don't have it this year so you'd have to source rings from the BICC or RPRA.

34/41 when I left loft at 3.40, not sure if anymore since but no complaints the way they came in the first 45 mins

Funny old race today but 4/9 here so can't complain, all 4 of them flying the channel for either 2nd or 3rd time this season so they are now overdue their holiday. Some great efforts today seemingly all over the country from Dumfries to Dundee and all points in between. Congratulations to all the winners and well done Bessie, a gold award is a rare achievement these days.

Well done all, that was a good day. 2114 here and JFB next door at 2141. Hopefully more to come in the morning.

New leader doing 346 miles in 6h 40m = 51.95mph Even allowing for slowing down should be birds in Scotland well before race closing tonight

Another one in Dover just minutes before them H & P Archibald, 1st BICC at the moment but still time up country

1139, 1331 and 1353 for us. Second one has previously been 6th open & 13th open so hope she scrapes a section prize for silver award. Well done to everyone that's in.

I'm hoping John Rumney times in the morning, he has had a great season with the BICC flying hundreds of miles further than most of the household names. This is his first international race, flying 750 miles and one of the very few trying it this side of the midlands. If he can get one then its not too much further into Scotland.

http://www.biccpigeons.com/provisional/earlytimes.pdf http://www.pipa.be/en/node/314653/liveresults/list/0/*?order=Speed+%28m%2Fm%29

Hoping to send 11, all widowhood (cocks and hens) with one roundabout pair. First time we've totally abandoned natural pairs so a bit of an experiment but hoping for a clean steady race so we can make a fair assessment of new system, whether good or bad. A couple going for silver awards and a load of first timers. Should be interesting one way or another..................... Good luck to all having a go.

14/15 Newark 0/3 Le Mans (early days yet to be fair to them) Italy 2 - 1 England

Cheers, yep got a hen at 2108. Not as quick as I hoped but it was a bit of an experiment and it turns out not as easy a race as the early times suggested. She has had 4 races up to the Newark toughie last week when she had 8 hours then straight off to Falaise on Thursday. I'd have preferred a bit more rest but also needed the time on the wing that day. I believe returns are not too great in the NEGDC so just grateful to get one through and its always a thrill to have a day pigeon from 500 miles whether its the 1st of June or 1st July. Straight to SNFC Alencon for her next. Link to her photo should be below. Twitterlink

Just heard of one in Tynemouth 1640 flying 426 miles so over 46mph. I've 3 hens away with the North East Greater Distance Club flying almost dead 500m but not sure how good they are. Doesn't seem too many excuses though so hopefully might get something through in reasonable time.

Thanks, so that'll be about 45mph for Sheffield. Probably a bit after 7pm by the time they get up here even assuming we were with them.

If anyone has any info on how the Yorkshire pigeons are getting on out of Falaise today can they post it up please. Lib'd 7.30 lt west wind. Thanks

For clarity, I'm not all that bothered about 800 miles plus, as Stevie Dal says, that is becoming attritional. I also wouldn't use the word stale as nobody is more excited than me when the big ones come around. All I'm saying is that we in Scotland could make more of the channel season by giving it a fresh thought and not being completely bound by the routine that we have stumbled into since the inland nationals came along. We have a loft-ful of 500-700 mile pedigrees and nowhere to send them until last week of June but there are people relatively nearby who have shown the way and are flying 500 miles by the end of May. Meanwhile we let the whole of June including the longest day(let alone May!) pass us by then have a mad rush to squeeze our channel programme into the last 3 weeks. Andy M, I take your point and agree re: Usher Vaux type stuff but the members would need to mandate the committee to take it forward I assume. Its a pity that a mass lib with UNC and WDA couldn't be achieved at Ypres as part of the commemoration this year but that type of thing would be a great event, particularly if it was a tad further. For example don't the NEHU have a classic race bringing together both UNC & WDA from Clermont or Beauvais in early June with about 14,000 birdage, would that not be a cracking event for Scottish birds to join in with ? My thinking is that if you spread the races out then more birds can be recycled back into the other races and potentially support more races if joint convoying can be tapped into.

So, its 3rd May and for most Scottish feds either the 2nd or 3rd race of the OB season. How far were we all flying ? Somewhere between 60 and 110 miles probably. How would you have got on if you had been flying 415 miles today ? Would you think it do-able ? I've kept in touch with the lads from the Newcastle area who ferried my BICC Le Mans entries to the racepoint last year. They have set out to compete in BICC and NFC races at long distances and their first BICC race from Falaise was today. Falaise is 415 miles to them and to the best of my knowledge there was virtually nobody else competing within near 100 miles of them. I received an e-mail tonight to let me know that they had timed a number of pigeons tonight, earliest at 1815 from an 8am lib. These birds will take respectable positions against opponents flying below 200 miles in many cases so they've not just slogged up in their own time, they've done a decent speed. They'll be at Alencon in 2 weeks, then Tours two weeks after that, leading into Cholet, Saintes etc with NFC before trying the International races. The question is, if fanciers who are little more than a long toss from south and central Scotland can get their birds ready for 415 miles on 3rd May and by doing so, set themselves up for an ongoing long distance programme from this weekend through to the start of August, then why are Scottish long distance fanciers depriving themselves of a proper programme rather than a load of sprint races and crowbar our 3 (4 if you count Ypres?)distance races into 3 weeks back to back. This is not a dig at the SNFC because the race programme is what the members voted for and to be fair, we have fallen into a routine programme over the last few years and nobody has come up with anything much different in the proposals. So who fancies an extra channel race or two in late May early June in future ? Just me ?

Congratulations Gus, very well deserved. Great to see that the Fancier of the Year award lives on.

Thanks for all the kind comments, much appreciated. We always aim for the averages and try and spread the team out to at least give us a an entry in every race with so its great when it works out. First time for the new R & J partnership although I was a silent partner for many years when my dad flew as RP Combe and also won it in my own name in 2010 before we started official partnership this year. Well done to all the other SNFC trophy winners and gold/silver award winners in 2013, greats effort by anyone who gets their name on a National trophy. It was a hard season but some very memorable moments. Flying up our way its not often that we time in before the lib line has a good few times on it from Solway or Eye Valley so we usually know roughly where we stand and that we're beaten by X time but twice in 3 weeks I saw birds arrive that, at that time, were likely national winners as no times were reported. I saw John Bosworth's (next door) pigeon arrive from the gold cup in almost darkness (only bird on the day), peeling off a batch off 3 and with headlights on full beam barely scrape over our hedge and find its way onto John's sputnik. That was exciting and it wasn't even our pigeon. At Clermont we timed our blue cock with no birds reported in and for the better part of an hour were able to imagine the possibility that it might be our turn to win the national. Eventually Sinclair Thomson and Jock Alston were too good for us but it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully more experiences like that in 2014 channel races, just 8.5 months to go.........