WulDon

ta... updated loft list shows 177 pigeons left...

sure is, nobody expected to be down to just 160 birds at this stage... makes it interesting tho!

agree there, dont knock the late comers in the year of there birth!

five home this morning...

the Spanish doos? there climatised to there own country, plus they been bred from generations of pigeons that are used to this type of island racing... they are not always the fastest at the shorter ones but they will be there when the going is tough, check out Malta last week... they had a few home, they compete in all island racing... there were some lofts last week that were wiped out, and i'm guessing a lot of them were from fast sprint pigeons that are good at A 2 B racing! dig a bit further on Jose Ledesma, i'm sure his great Mealy cock was called 'Casablanca', check out what this pigeon done!!

he is afraid of flying!

havent competed in that many OLR, done the scottish one in 2009... bit of a waste of time, not there fault just not supported now due to all the bigger OLR from around the world. done the Emerald classic last year which was a bit of fun, this is my second year at the Derby Arona, love this one for a lot of reasons... 1.good excuse for a hoilday 2.website updates and results are second to none 3.continual text messages keeping you updated on your first arrivals 4.the addition of livestream tv this year, this has created interest amongst fanciers who havent entered whihc is great and encouraging. 5.keeps you motivated during the winter months 6.gutted every time i see the weather out there, lol only downfall is expect some tough racing, last week was a prime example with the loss of about 1500 pigeons... not much anyone can do about this, last years final it took a full week to get 12 pigeons home, so definetly not for the faint hearted. imo depending on what OLR race you wish too participate in, they all seem to suit a specific type of pigeon, and if studied then a pattern develops as to which strain does particularly well... eg it cannot go unoticed that the 'Kannibal' line of pigeons are doing really well in OLR around the world just now. if more fanciers from the UK sent to the Derby Arona with pigeons bred from there prime 500-600 mile stock, i reckon you cannot go wrong... the long distance pigeons we have here in Scotland i think would be perfect. look at last week result and count how many Spanish pigeons made it home, over 50 from a final return of 209... tells you something. we visited the lofts in November and handled some of my entries, Jose and his brother Abel do a great job, lofts were immaculate, pigeons looked great, then time that goes into there computer system must be endless, not to mention the photos taken of every entrant. i will definetly be having another crack at it next year 2012...

157 now... not counting any chickens mate, u know the doo game... a bigger roller coaster ride than the Pepsi Max!

cheers Robbie, just lets hope we get a bite of a cherry at some point...

when pics were taken first week in november his pigeosn all seemed quite young compared to others who had almost completed a body moult...

although todays race was a screamer and 155 pigeons were timed in 14 minutes, there wasnt another pigeon until over 5 hours later... these island races are not to be under estimated and there are 49 pigeons still adrift tonight which is about 23% of the convoy, very difficult pigeon racing indeed!

first two were in that first batch today... just need a bit of luck!

Arizona Bingo been a very consistent pigeon also for Dutch fancier Hok M.Reijnen

have asked them to cut there grub back so they trap quicker! lol...

great race today lads, leaders done the 120km in 1hour 33 min, so quite fast! my three home sharp... 34th, 53rd, 76th 26 seconds behind winner, getting closer.... Gauld & Morrison the other Scottish loft gpot there entry and finished 151st, well done

YE A PITY SO MANY LOST, BUT SHOW MUST GO ON... BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE STILL IN THE COMPETITION TOMORROW

THANKS LADS... EVERYTHING CROSSED TOMORROW

Hi Jimmy... yes i was lucky enough to get three of my entries home (75th, 112th, 154th), just happy to be still in the competition after so many losses!

i reckon at least 180-190 of these pigeons will be in condition to go again, lets hope we have a good race yip heavy losses... especially on a small island, looks like they have only had 9 collected and been put back in loft to date??

Due to the weather forecast... Hotspot 2 will now take place on Sunday.

another six pigeons home yesterday, and seven this morning... total now 195

Lot 1... £150.00 Thanks >>> Ian

Lot 29... £50.00 Thanks >>>>>IB

next year lads form a syndicate and get a team of your own pigeons over there, i'm sure scottish long distance blood can do well at this one loft race

not many i expect, it only 60 mile... and plus most the pigeons didnt leave the island of gran canaria... derek better at picking show doos... lol