Marking and sending to Channel races

[REDCHEQHEN]

The UNC marked for the first channel race in 3 years on Wednesday, convoying a NEHU race, and I was a volunteer helper. Race marking was supposed to start at 9am but on arrival at 8.50am the car park was full!

The paperwork was horrendous, the vet was a lovely man who had travelled from Chesterfield to Hartlepool as we could not get anybody local, the process for the first race had started the week before, where all entries had to be into the NEHU by 9am Monday morning - 2 days before race marking - with all ring numbers declared ( needs to be earlier)

All ring numbers had been entered onto a spreadsheet prior to race marking and these ring numbers had then had to have their basket numbers added to the spreadsheet. All baskets had to be labelled with a basket number. 

The send was not huge (just under 1500) sent by approx 153 members of the NEHU. The work involved was enormous. The planning that had gone into this event had taken months and until you get involved, you neither understand nor grasp the enormity of the job. At the moment you can only go through Portsmouth to Caen, so the UNC's first channel race probably took the longest to get there. There was only one marking station, the MNFC had problems with their race marking I understand and had to remove 400 birds from their wagon delaying their UK departure. You can't cut corners, don't ever believe that you can. Every marking station requires the presence of a vet. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by REDCHEQHEN
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