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Is It Really A Race


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The folly of pigeon racing. ( My opinion )

 

Race distance is measured from race point to each individuals loft this is a fact.

It is a well known that birds do not fly in a straight line from liberation to any loft. You only need to be in the fancy a short time to realize this, and we all know that race results do not tell the whole story ie who had the best pigeon in a particular race. The recent article by Joe Murphy only highlights this, Fife pigeons mostly enter the Kingdom via the east side of the country, in our first race Berwick on Tweed. A pigeon entering Fife may be alongside one heading for Valleyfield both measured on the same mileage from the race point but the Valleyfield bird having a dog leg of approximtely 20 miles plus, this is normal in most races. A loft in Bo'ness will fly the same mileage from Reims as one in Lumphinnans even if Lumphinnans is 15 miles further north the measurment to both is correct and yes we all know that pigeon racing is unfair.However we all love the sport and its as good as we can have it.

 

The strongest or best pigeons in a race will not always appear at the top of the result a race that covers a large area will usually be heavily influenced by external factors, weather, location, wind, and flight lines. In other words, a national winner or a fed winner is not necessarily the best pigeon of the day. It is always possible but it will not definitely be the case. To what extent is a pigeon from one side of the country influenced by these external factors compared to its opponents from the other side of the country What makes it so difficult to compare two pigeons is the fact that every pigeon covers a different route or distance, except pigeons from the same loft, every race has a number of pigeons with virtually no chance of winning a prize simply because the racing conditions (location of the loft, wind, weather) are not to their advantage. They face an unfair competition with no chance of winning. This is especially the case for the national races, and it basically means that quite a few of the better pigeons will not get the recognition they deserve.

 

Pigeons that have to cover a shorter distance to their loft will likely have an advantage as those flying a greater distance have to endure growing fatigue, approaching nightfall etc. Also, if the wind blows from the west, we know the eastern part of Scotland will have a big advantage over fanciers from the western part of the country. Very occasionally the opposite applies when the wind blows from the east. The only time you hear fanciers complain is when they perceive that their distance from the race point is unjust, however this cannot be the case as all lofts are meassured in a straight line from the race point to each individual loft. No one has a perfect loft location all the time although, some have most of the time.

Lets just enjoy the sport as it is, envisage our favourite wings-folded posture approaching the loft from a channel race.

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Something went wrong a few years ago where I live, a West wind or South West wind - the birds would come straight over my loft as I am right on the coast

 

Then about 5 years ago it changed, no matter what the wind is the birds 99% of the time come out of the West - that's inland for us, they're never on the coast - now whether it is Birds of Prey and too many nesting sites on the coast I just don't know

 

 

Yet those people who fly inland won't have it!! Well it's true for my area

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you are right there, falcons everywhere, known it for years, resident pair half mile from village, another at portnockie cliffs, another at macduff,all watched by birdies,we fly east coast for years and the race days are hard on the doos,plenty losses and its not phone signals, swallows n swifts still comin every year, birds are still migrating, no its hawks and we feed them every year, rspb love us, time the governing bodies changed the race calender to race later so as to avoid the nesting and rearing times of perri, good weather now into october, are they even considering this or are we governed by dinosuars mebbe.convoyers n race copntrollers get a bad press for funny races but its down to overpoulation of perrigin,buzzard, eagle, red tail hawk , gosh, i could go on,rant over.

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another point i forgot to add,there is shooting parties out at this time of year and durris estates south o abdn have them every day and w/end, at end of day they dig a pit and shovel all game in that no one wants for home and there is plenty doos rung that goes in, i know this cause the brother in law is a shareholder and has seen it happening more than once, racebirds are easy shooting for these groups on our line o flight so thats another thing we are up against ime afraid.

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you are right there, falcons everywhere, known it for years, resident pair half mile from village, another at portnockie cliffs, another at macduff,all watched by birdies,we fly east coast for years and the race days are hard on the doos,plenty losses and its not phone signals, swallows n swifts still comin every year, birds are still migrating, no its hawks and we feed them every year, rspb love us, time the governing bodies changed the race calender to race later so as to avoid the nesting and rearing times of perri, good weather now into october, are they even considering this or are we governed by dinosuars mebbe.convoyers n race copntrollers get a bad press for funny races but its down to overpoulation of perrigin,buzzard, eagle, red tail hawk , gosh, i could go on,rant over.

 

Governing bodies won't become involved in changing the race calendar. Fanciers have to do this themselves. Federations, for purely cost reasons, won't change their calendar because they are desperate to tie in with Nationals. Nationals won't change their calendar because they want an extra hour flying time for their Blue Ribband race. It has to be done by the members. Start at federation level. It may cost you more money to race because you are unable to "tie in" with the National, or you will need to race shorter. If it catches on the National will follow suit eventually. :)

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