Welsh South East Combine @ Reims

[Tenny]

Being honest, they suffered the last time they changed as birds had little time before it closed in and got dark, no different today, the weather closed in before birds would have got there.

 

Birds being clocked in the valleys 1:30 over 8 hrs later and its stll light - your about 25 miles further aint you? how much time you need ? Theres birds in NORTH WALES 2:30 too aint there? Come on PJC dont be so negative all the time! I have sent and not clocked and I not moaning!

[Guest Rhondda RedFox]

I was expecting a dodgy race but it turned out better than I thought.

 

7 out of 12 home and the Red card so I'm quite happy.

 

This just goes to show that there's nothing wrong with the South East Route its how the race is managed.

[pjc]

Birds being clocked in the valleys 1:30 over 8 hrs later and its stll light - your about 25 miles further aint you? how much time you need ? Theres birds in NORTH WALES 2:30 too aint there? Come on PJC dont be so negative all the time! I have sent and not clocked and I not moaning!

 

Yes, we are only flying 391 but there are fanciers flying a lot further, and the weather would have closed in there about 2-2.30! It came from that direction so North Wales would have been fine.

[Guest neil]

Pjc,got to say your are coming over as very negative and as Tenny and Rob have said it was a good honest race and as you know we are sending some pretty average birds along with our best so you will lose birds.

Given the race birds were given a 15-16 hour day to work with and the rain even when it arrived was later into the race any birds behind must at least be close to home

Neil

[Tenny]

Yes, we are only flying 391 but there are fanciers flying a lot further, and the weather would have closed in there about 2-2.30! It came from that direction so North Wales would have been fine.

 

This may be a silly question but why did you send?? you knew the weather like we all did. wot could they have done to please you ??? Just asking..

[Guest strapper]

I was expecting a dodgy race but it turned out better than I thought.

 

7 out of 12 home and the Red card so I'm quite happy.

 

This just goes to show that there's nothing wrong with the South East Route its how the race is managed.

 

 

how on earth you can judge a route by one race is beyond me?..the route is suicidle to say the least.

wether managed rightly or not.

[Guest neil]

Seems the 2 senior posts from wales are the most negative and ultimatly giving an impression that the whole of wales have got it wrong,i for one would defend all our races under the control of Chris Butler (both combine and rhondda valley),yes i have lost birds but the blame lies with me not anyone else,what we have now got is a strong well run combine who have responded to ideas and moved to try and suit all,i havent heard anyone moaning that they are changing routes or going elsewhere.i and many others are satisfied and above all no one area seems to have more than most when it comes to winning a national unlike other directions

Neil

[Guest Rhondda RedFox]

Obviousley hit a nerve there Paul.

 

I can only speak for myself, have flown this route since 2001 and have always been very happy.

 

How can you call the route suicide when we had such a good race today, one member in my club sent 44 and had 32 home today not bad for 373 miles with a head wind. You can't honestly say that when the WNR flew as part of the combine you experienced many bad races Guissen was the worst race the last year we were all together but apart from that excellent racing.

 

Last week you were blaming the transporter, it can't be both.

 

With the racing the combine are having it clearley isn't the route and there are a lot of WNR members flying with us through the national, ask them what they think.

 

I think the biggest mistake the WNR did was to leave the combine because they can't seem to get it right since, which is a shame.

[Guest strapper]

Obviousley hit a nerve there Paul.

 

I can only speak for myself, have flown this route since 2001 and have always been very happy.

 

How can you call the route suicide when we had such a good race today, one member in my club sent 44 and had 32 home today not bad for 373 miles with a head wind. You can't honestly say that when the WNR flew as part of the combine you experienced many bad races Guissen was the worst race the last year we were all together but apart from that excellent racing.

 

Last week you were blaming the transporter, it can't be both.

 

With the racing the combine are having it clearley isn't the route and there are a lot of WNR members flying with us through the national, ask them what they think.

 

I think the biggest mistake the WNR did was to leave the combine because they can't seem to get it right since, which is a shame.

 

no m8 not hit a nerve at all,i was just replying to your rightful opinion that there is nothing wrong with the south east route.

i personally didnt blame the transporter, so your statement there is innacurate..actually i blamed human error on the transporter

yesterday you had a good race and hopefully it continues,but it was more luck than judgement, because isnt it a fact that the combine were originally set to race b4 yesterday?but because of the weather conditions for the original day of racing it was changed?...and were lucky as were wnrf because of the weather we did have late on...saturday proved after all to be a good day.

concerning the wnrf pulling out of the combine..its didnt take long b4 the combine followed us down our route into france did it?

if the route they was on was ok why the change?..its because we all were flying through the dutch/belg/german racing..and to be honest..we still are!..if we happen to lib on their lib days...reims for the wnrf proved that!..this is the reason i called it suicidle.

 

you mention that a club m8 had 32-44 home which is very good ..but its still only one race, half the uk had raced on saturday...so a big amount of free airspace for them to come through...which is a good thing

and concerning wnrf members still flying the combine ,i think your find that combine members fly the new national too.

i was at the original meeting of the set up of the new national..and there were rhondda valley members there...all for joining it.

 

 

i personally trully believe we all should be flying together but as you know, politics amongst those in power didnt agree.

so we have to follow suite or join another fed.

anyhow i hope good racing continues for you neil m8.

[Guest Rhondda RedFox]

As you know the combine always raced on a Thurs to avoid clashing, which is a good idea.

 

The reason the combine changed route is because the Belgian's told us we could no longer lib on a Thurs and there were a few other days we couldn't liberate on as well. This is the reason for the change of route not because of bad racing and the reason we chose the same route as the WNR is quite simple, we did NOT want to fly south so we had to race through Northern France and used the same race points.

 

If the Belgian's would lift the restriction on which days we can liberate there I would be all for going back as would a lot of other members because like I said we have not experienced many bad races in the last 9 or so years but that's a question you decided to ignore.

[pjc]

Don't think you realise where I am!

My comment was about the members birds in the 60m west of me and not about our own which are all in the loft!

[Guest neil]

Paul

the combine moved to sunday due to forcasted weather as did i believe the wnr,this was a good decision as there are posts from organisations who flew from france on saturday asking why they had a poor race and low returns.

I agree we should be as one but im afraid it will not happen in the near future because the power people in the wnrf will never admit that it may have been hasty to breakaway and the combine seems to be more than happy to carry on without them.

Some officials who had an opertunity to be regarded as great leaders and lead this great sport forward need to look at what they have done with their "im better than them egos",each of these people had good things to offer and had ideas and inspirational thoughts which have seen major changes with new transporters,ets,we even have our own spring/autumn fair,things have changed but i wonder if its for the better or worse.

Last night like every other night the national marking station was full of fanciers talking of medium returns,some good birds some bad but the one thing i always find is that the atmosphere was full of optimistic talk of the next race,just as it should be -good clean fun which is why i have lived the whole 49 years of my life in this sport and the only time i havent had a pigeon loft out the back window is when im on holiday.

i hope for both organisations that the future is bright and changing routes as an organisation is not always the answer,if people wish to fly north/south or s.east they have that choice already in place and should move individualy and then they do it for themselves and not decide for everyone else.

hope the birds are still making it home

neil