| Author: Les J Parkinson | Title: BICC - Saran 2005 |
| Date: 2005-06-30 18:53:48 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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 The progressive BICC enjoyed another successful race last Saturday, this time from Saran, when over 3,101 birds were competing, sent by 290 members. Congratulations go to the probable race winners Legge & Legge.
1st West Section, 1st Open
The probable race winners, also winning 1st West Section, are Legge & Legge of Bowerchalke who are enjoying a tremendous season. Their winner on this occasion is a late-bred yearling Peter van de Merwe cock who has flown the BICC programme this season without scoring. All birds are flown natural, with Mr Legge saying that he has no time for frills as he works 12-hour shifts. He tries to create the right environment for the birds and leaves them alone as much as he can,believing that the loft is the birds' home and they don't want disturbing (which means he doesn't clean out too often!). The birds have pretty much an open loft but though they exercise well in the spring time, by this time of the year they don't fly around home with as much gusto. Accordingly they are trained heavily, Mr Legge's philosophy being to train hard and race light. He tends to train against the wind and so doesn't stick to a line of flight. Mr Legge's methods are more that of a 500 mile fancier but they certainly work for him at shorter distances. Targets for Mr Legge now are the NFC Saintes race and Bordeaux with the BBC.
1st Central Section, 2nd Open
The first bird for runners up Darren & Des McFadden was a 4yr old Marcelis widowhood cock, which has had every race since the start of the season including the 4 BICC Nationals. The previous performances for this cock are: 1st Club Exmouth, 1st Club Nantes, 2nd Club West Bay, 4th Club Exmouth, 7th Club West Bay, 51st Open BICC La Ferte Bernard, 170th Open BICC Tours, 183rd Open BICC Falaise and 62nd Open BICC Falaise. All these results were previous to the 2005 season and were achieved on the natural system. The partnership decided to have a go at widowhood with 12 cocks this year to race the start of the programme so that they could keep their proposed Channel pigeons till later on. They have been a brilliant success having won 5 x 1sts, 4 x 2nds, 2 x 3rds plus other Club and Fed in the strong Godalming DFC. Incidentally another widowhood cock was 9th Open in the last BICC race and was their 2nd pigeon this week doing 1301 so should figure quite high in the result once again. They are fed Gem corn and get Gems supplements as well, especially the Gemthrepax which they wouldn't be without.
2nd Central Section, 3rd Open
Third Open was Jake Howells of Brighton. Jake lost his wife 6 years ago and since that time has dedicated himself to the pigeons with the aim always being to win in the best competition available. A family has now been developed by Jake based on good winning pigeons and, as is always the case, the breeding will always come out somewhere along the line. This blue pied cock is a very reliable racer on the widowhood system and was a winner from Fougeres last year. His sire was a winner of Poitiers. Jake was saying that the garden has seen more lofts added in recent years but he has still got only 15 race birds. In fact the lofts have taken over the garden and he admitted that his late wife would not have approved because she did like her garden. The birds are fed on a mix that Jake has put together based on Beyers "W" widowhood to which he adds his own choice of grains depending on the races at the time. The preparation for these races is via the club scene where he still competes with the general idea of getting them fit for the wider range of races.
3rd Central Section, 4th Open
Rod Broome from Havant clocked a chequer hen bred by Mick Buckingham from the Camphius/Janssen lines to be 3rd Central Section, 4th Open. Rod has had these pigeons for the last 4 years and they are now starting to make their presence felt. This prize-winner is part of a team of 32 that are raced on the roundabout and she was only competing in her second race of the season. This race team are also the breeders because Rod keeps no stock birds; the racers rear the youngster required and for this year there are 28. They are fed on Beyers, Gem and an Irish mix blended together by Rod with the addition of Hormoform which he has always fed as he is a great believe in it's goodness. Rod is a fancier who likes the birds to be trained when the wind is on their beak; they need to work to get fit and blow homes are no good to them at all. Rod finished by saying that he likes everything to be plain and straightforward - don't we all Rod - but it doesn't work like that very often.
4th Central Section, 5th Open
Fifth Open on first bird times goes to Mr & Mrs C. Lever from Romsey who took the rubber off a 3y red chequer cock that has had six races this year including the last BICC race from Alencon. The cock can best be described as consistent but until this race had done nothing outstanding which is something that we very often see with pigeons until everything falls into place. He is from the Janssen family bred along similar bloodlines to the cock that was in the first 30 from the St Nazaire National a fortnight earlier. For the Saran race he was sent sitting 7-day eggs and the plan is to prepare the bird for either the CSCFC Bergerac or BBC Bordeaux race as it is hoped that this will be his distance. The main race team consists of 16 widowhood cocks with this cock being part of the twelve pairs in the natural section. In total between 50 and 60 young birds are bred each year from which it is hoped a good team see the programme through for the yearling stages. The loft has been in form this year having achieved multiple good results with the CSCFC, BBC, NFC and in open races/specialist clubs.
5th Central Section, 6th Open
Brian Wall comes in for 6th Open, one slot lower than he recorded a fortnight ago in the NFC St Nazaire race. His timer here was a 2y Marcelis widowhood cock which had taken minor cards previously but nothing of real significance. Its most recent race was NFC St Nazaire and since then it has been showing its well being around the loft so Brian wasn't surprised to clock him. The parents were direct Marcelis via Eric Perrin of Telford. Brian says he has been struggling to hit form this season but with his successes in the last 2 weeks it has now arrived with a real bang. Will it continue for the BICC Tours race and NFC Saintes, Brian's two main targets? Brian remarked that he thinks the BICC is brilliant for two main reasons: the birds come back in good condition on account of being able to drink on two sides of the crates, and because he can enter on the day or marking and doesn't have to send in his entry by post. For the record, his pigeon was fed on Gem Super Widowhood.
1st East Section, 26th Open
Mr & Mrs Kevin Gray of Greenhithe topped the East Section for the second time this season, the previous win having come at Falaise. Kevin was also well up from Alencon. He has won his clock station 3 times out of 3 with the BICC this season, against 4 to 500 pigeons each time, so it's not surprising he thinks racing with the BICC is brilliant. He concurs with the views of Brian Wall, saying the birds come back in great shape, never looking for water. The winner here is 2y widowhood cock, a grandson of Toyboy. Kevin has created his own family based on the Bert Hession Van Reets initially, crossed later with De Klak Janssens from Marcel Buijsse. His winner has been consistent having won minor cards and flew BICC Falaise and Alencon previously. He concentrates on sprint-to-middle distance racing as this suits his work patterns. Kevin races a conventional widowhood system but did re-pair on the Wednesday before this race. The birds are still together now and will be sent sitting to BICC Tours, his next target.
On a more important note this is the club that brought you International racing in its easy present day form, competing against the continentals with ease. What is also good about the club is that you just turn up with your entry forms on the marking night with no worries. With the BICC it is no a case of 'Don't send because I forgot to send off my entry forms' it's as easy as that. Those International races are now knocking on the door and with the success that the UK fanciers have achieved why not add your name to the list. The first in the series of International races is from Pau so check your race programme so you dont miss out. However you are not to late to get on board with the rest of the races and Dax has been good to the UK so have a word with Jan Deacon about joining and sending with the BICC, I am confident that she will make sure that you receive your stationary before the next race. Now that the momentum is going we need to keep it that way and the BICC has kept up with the International scene for many years. As I mentioned a while ago I have a letter from Ted Bennett on the BICC and had also spoken to Tony Cowan about it, which will be used when we have more time away from the races. To date there have been some really good performances in the club so lets hear about them with a few photos, that is all up to you.
Les J Parkinson
PRO
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