| Author: Les J. Parkinson & Cameron Stansfield | Title: BICC - Dax International |
| Date: 2005-07-25 22:37:21 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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Please note that the BICC provisional velocities CANNOT be compared with the NFC velocities as the NFC are using their own hours of darkness, which are 21.30 to 05.15. The BICC velocities are worked out under International Rules, which are 21.48 to 04.20 – a difference of 1 hour 17 minutes.
Following a one-day holdover, the 1,050 BICC, National Flying Club and Welsh South Road National birds, part of the 11,937 bird International convoy, were liberated at 10am on Sunday July 17 th in a light south-west wind. The birdage, which was down 5,589 on last year, was made up as follows: The Nertherlands - 3,105; Germany - 1,764; France - 1,426; Luxemburg - 46; Belgium - 4,546 and the UK - 1,050. Congratulations to all members of the three competing UK organisations who clocked, and a particular word of congratulations to the NFC Dax winners, D. Bullen & Son of Croydon, probable 5th Open International. This was a performance to rank alongside the UK's outright International wins in the last two years.
Pride of place in the BICC goes to David Hales w ho saw home a 2y blue chequer hen at 10.16am after flying 551 miles. She did not race as a young bird but was lightly trained and then as a yearling she was schooled in most of the BICC's shorter races. In preparation for the International scene, this year she went to the East of England races, and this approach has clearly paid dividends. Her sire is from Jim Biss pigeons when paired to one of David's old lines which were bought from William Geerts of Schilde. David was so pleased with the way these pigeons were performing he went over to try and purchase some more but to his surprise there were none left. The Geerts lofts had seen a dramatic change and a new team of pigeons had been brought in so the good old lines were no longer available. David likes to start the season with about 35 cocks plus 16 hens. What did surprise me was that David houses the natural team in an old gas board shed that is made out of aluminium. I asked if this got a bit hot and yes it does but the pigeons fly well to it so they are not complaining; there is also a tradition wooden loft for the w/h cocks. David's winning hen was sent sitting a 2-week-old youngster.
In second spot we have Barry Smith & Son of Elmswell with a yearling blue hen having her second trip across the Channel this year. She was bought as a squeaker from Barry's workmate Cath Terry who flies in the Stowmarket north road club. As a youngster this hen flew the programme, and for Dax she was sent on a 3-day-old youngster, her first of the year. Barry was keen to point out, however, that she was not in his original team of three but was entered as first reserve! Barry flies natural in the old-fashioned way, which is an open loft, as much corn as they want (mainly beans and maize plus a few peas and some linseed) and he trains hard. This method suits his passion, which is for the long races, and he is not interested in sprinting. He has enjoyed previous success with yearlings at the distance. For example, in 2003 he was 8th BICC Pau, 620 miles with one and the same pigeon went on to win 29th BICC Barcelona at 749 miles. Barry aims to finish his old bird campaign by sending four birds to BICC Perpignan and two of these will be yearlings.
In 3rd and 4th spots, separated by just 7 minutes after flying 596 miles, are Brian and Cornelia Long , who are having a good season at the distance. Brian was saying that he was very pleased with the way their pigeons arrived home from this race as they were in good condition. The first pigeon in the clock is a chequer pied cock from the old Ko Nipius lines that are known for consistent performances in the longer races. This one is a grandson of Brian's BICC Pau winner of 91 so the good breeding is in the blood and that nearly always tells in the end. In preparation this cock went to Montlucon where he showed promise for the later races. In the last couple of years he has been a good consistent pigeon so he has the potential to go on another year and improve on his present performances. Brian is good for the BICC and is always ready to help where possible. Without him the club probably would not have been in such a strong position, so well done. Brian has an excellent set up and, with the help of his wife Cornelia, it looks as though they will continue to hold their own when the bigger races come around.
Next up we have Dudley Lever of Alton, flying 511 miles. This is some pigeon as she was 2nd Open BBC San Sebastian in both 2004 and 2005. Since scoring from San Sebastian this year she has, in Dudley's words, ‘Sat doing nothing'. She came back from San Sebastian to a 7-day youngster, laid out again and was sent to Dax sitting 10 days, having had two 40-mile tosses. Dudley felt she was in better condition for Dax than she had been before San Sebastian so she was sent well pooled. Interestingly, last year after scoring from San Sebastian she won 15th Open Bergerac on the day on the corresponding weekend to this. Dudley strongly felt she was a five-week cycle pigeon who would come on for having flown San Sebastian and Dax was always the plan for her. She will be 6 next year and will be racing again as Dudley's philosophy is that pigeons are for racing. It is worth pointing out that this hen did nothing spectacular in her early career but she has now been in the clock in 7 out of her last 8 Channel races. A very small pigeon, she was bred from a half-brother to Roger Chant's 1st Open NFC Pau winner whilst the dam was bred by Ian Benstead.
Sixth spot goes to David Chambers of Oxford, this one also being of Ko Nipius lines, via a Mr Jones of Southampton. David's pigeon is a 3y widowhood cock who had only been as far as Tours, 312 miles, previously, that being the bad BICC Tours earlier this season. He arrived on the Monday but picked up well. David sent 10 to that Tours race with a view to sending them all to Dax but such was that Tours event, his Dax entry numbered just four. His winner from Dax looked as if it had flown so David feels Tours had maybe taken the edge off him more than he'd thought. This cock won his first ever race as a young bird but had not shown since and David was losing faith in him. Interestingly, David was saying that six weeks ago he felt his birds weren't right so he had them tested, with the result being they had a high yeast count. He treated them with a product called Y40 and they seemed to improve straight away, in fact David won 31st Open NFC Pau and now he has 6th BICC Dax in the bag too. He usually pairs his widowhood pigeons up at the time of the Nantes National and in fact he did so again this year – but no sooner had he done so than he thought, ‘Beggar it, they are just beginning to show some form,' so he promptly parted them again. His Dax pigeon therefore continued on widowhood until the day before basketing for Dax when he was given his hen, a bowl, some straw and an open loft. Good fanciership on David's part. This was David's first go at International racing but he will be back for more – Dax and Pau in particular.
Brian Buttigies comes next with a 2y dark chequer hen raced on the natural system, as are all his birds. This is only a small-team loft with everything geared towards distance racing and, considering that Brian only keeps about 20 pigeons, they don't do too bad at all. He has a good line of Jan Aardens that have won the Combine at Lerwick plus they have won from such hard racepoints as Thurso north, winning 1st Club, 5th Combine, and from Barcelona on the south so they have proven to be flexible on either route. They have to be able to cope with the distance at these lofts because they don't get a great deal of work, in fact this hen had only been to one race prior to Dax. Brian was saying that these pigeons have done him proud and he has his eyes set on more distance racing, which is where he gets his pleasure out of the pigeons.
Report compiled by Les J. Parkinson & Cameron Stansfield.
BICC News & Full Results - http://www.pigeonbasics.com/clubs/bicc/
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