| Author: Les Parkinson & Cameron Stansfield | Title: BICC – Barcelona International |
| Date: 2005-07-28 13:02:19 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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The season gets harder and much more intense at this time of the year with the longer races to contend with and they do need some covering. The extra distance at Barcelona is not all that easily covered because the birds do have that bit more to contend with as they cross the border from Spain into France.
Peter and Sheila Fauchon
The winners of the 2005 BICC Barcelona race are Peter and Sheila Fauchon of Sheerness in Kent who recorded a velocity of 819ypm. The winning pigeon is a 2y celibate cock (he's never had a hen in his life) who has always been known as Cracknut. Sheila explained that he was reared under a pair of hens and got into the habit of leaving his nest and walking across the floor. Twice he was pecked, on the second occasion so badly that she had to apply a plaster. Since then he has been the proud possessor of a tusk and a wonky eyelid. He is, says Sheila, an ugly devil! Cracknut's preparation was three Reims races with the Wingham club and St Nazaire with the NFC, then rest and two 30 mile tosses. His breeding is Stichelbaut x Braakhuis. He was pretty tired on return but was out for a fly the next morning. Sheila explained that Peter does the breeding and she does the racing but that they don't have a system as such, rather they love their pigeons, feed and look after them well and then send and hope! To win Barcelona has always been their ambition but to have done it has been the biggest shock of their lives. They spent Sunday convinced that a longer flier would beat them and even on Monday the magnitude of their achievement hadn't sunk in. Cracknut has now been retired. Congratulations to Peter and Sheila on a fantastic performance.
John Clarke
A name never far away in these races is John Clarke who entered 6 with his first bird clocking up 739.49ypm (676.19mts) with a 3y Truman-Dicken dark pied hen sent sitting 10 days. When I first took on the job as PO for the club I wrote that the degree of difficulty in the BICC races is greater than any other club in the mainland UK because they are liberated with the continental pigeons therefore a pigeon needs to be that much more alert as to where they are heading. That will always be the case with this club in the International races because they can quite easily be pulled off the line of flight with the other birds heading towards mainland EuropeThere is no doubt about it these races are hard and all the more credit to the winner's, for this race as mentioned we have John Clarke who is highly delighted with clocking another pigeon from a distance race but on this occasion he finishes 2 nd . I always believe that a lot of winning with racing pigeons in this type of competition is done by fanciers who have a great deal of support from their family and John tells me that he has plenty of that. The support doesn't have to be direct help with the pigeons because we are all aware that families do have a lot to put up with. When you consider that John has kept pigeons for over 50yrs there has been a lot of putting up to do and John is always there with a thank you for that support. Another problem for John is that he is a farmer and therefore always has something to do so again is reliant on others to allow him time with the birds. Even so John does not spend that much time with the birds because they are kept quite close to nature and are hopper fed on ‘Willsbridge breeding mix' plus an addition of Hormoform and they left on the open hole for most of the time. John has been brought up on the distance and like many more who have been successful in this part of the sport learnt early from friends like the late Fred Griffin, Mike Young and the famous Fear Bros. What did he learn? 'To be patient because that is what it takes to win in the distance events. It's no good starting the season at 100mls per hour, you need to be patient and if you have the right pigeons you will get there in the end.' I did take notice of a comment from John regarding getting the pigeons right for the distance: 'They must have a dry loft and plenty of fresh air.'
Arthur Hadlow
There is one thing about this job and that is there is always something that arises to make you smile and that was the case while talking to Arthur Hadlow who finishes 3rd on 694.61ypm (613.61mts. This prize winner for Arthur is a blue Cattrysse cock that was 6 th in the Marseille race last year and also covered the distance from Barcelona in 03. Arthur was telling me that he only breeds young birds for his requirements and last year that number was 8. There first toss is always from about 50mls and he still has the 8; this year only 4 have been bred so I wonder how they will go on in air space that will have thousands flying in all directions. I suppose the system either makes or breaks them and in this case it makes them, still I suppose that we are all too soft with our young birds and probably that's why we lose so many. It is over 60yrs since Arthur took up pigeon racing so he must have learnt a great deal over that time so has put his experience into learning the youngsters from an early age. The pigeons are raced to a 24ft loft that has been accommodating birds that have been chosen to race the more difficult channel races. There are a team of 11/12prs kept with no stock birds as they all have to race and they are fed on SR mix from Malibu all the year round. Arthur has been racing in the BICC, NFC and local Whitstable club until this year when a new club was formed to race the channel each week so the birds can have a 200ml race nearly every week should they be required to. John did admit that he does not come into the prizes that much until he gets them to about 400mls and he doesn't sound in the least bit bothered.
S. R. & W. H. Knox
With the longer races a scribe very often has call to speak to the same fanciers on a regular basis because they are such a specialised race. Our next fancier to cover is Bill Knox of the S.R & W.H.Knox partnership of Tyler Hill on 470ypm. Bill timed an experienced 5y cock that has been across 22 times including 3 times to Barcelona being 6th In 03. This weeks candidate was sent sitting 2 day eggs and had previously been sent to two races with the EE Championship from 137 & 200mls plus Alencon with the BICC and Reims in the mid week club. The sire is a son of “Brownie” from Norman Barrett from 5 obtained with the same number coming from John Murray of Coxhoe, the dam being out of a good grizzle hen who is a top performer including 11 & 14hrs on the wing. There is also a brother to this hen that has done very well with 11th Open Pau BICC and 6 th Marseille. Bill has between 30 & 40prs fro racing but does like to compete in as many of the longer races as possible so the extra few birds allows his to happen after all 8 x 500ml races in one season is not all that easy. All birds are raced on the natural system with the hens being slightly better than the cocks.
Alasdair Muir
Alasdair Muir is having an excellent season and we will be reporting on those wins in the next few weeks but in the meantime we have the information on the 5th Barcelona pigeon. This is a 3y blue w/f hen whose sire was bred for stock out of his Pau Classic winner 'Andy's Boy' who also won 9 th & 34th out of Pau plus a Gold Award. Other wins include 14th & 23rd Bordeaux in the Classic. 240th Saintes NFC all in North East winds. He was paired to his own Aunty to breed this good stock cock, she was known as Andy's Girl and won 26th NFC Pau as a ylg, 10th L&SEC as a 5y. The sire is a good stock cock having also bred 4 th GDSBNFC Pau 2004 and 11th GDSBNFC this year at Pau. The dam of 5th open is a daughter of Alasdair's Bordeaux Classic winner who is also the dam of a pigeon that he clocked in the dark at 11.50pm out of Pau 2005.
John & Rose Wills
In 6th position we have John & Rose Wills of Frimley in Surrey, six times winners of BICC international races. Their timer on this occasion is a 4y cock, a full brother to their 1st Open BICC Biarritz winner of last year. The sire was bred by Ian Benstead who, when presenting him to John, remarked that every good pigeon he had ever owned was in its breeding. The dam is John and Rose's Ever Loyal who won 5th BICC Barcelona, timed on the winning day. Preparation was two Channel races with the BICC and a toss from Folkestone, 70 miles east, ten days before basketing. He was sent sitting and was fed on a hopper of beans and plenty of peanuts. This pigeon took 12 days from Barcelona last year (as did his mother on her first attempt) so obviously learned from his mistake. All being well, he will be going back to Barcelona next year.
John Tyerman
The 5th bird verified, probable 7th Open, is to John Tyerman of Bracklesham Bay. John timed a 4y natural cock sent on 14-day eggs. He has always been a steady performer, never returning tired, and is a grandson of John's Rainbow Lady, 1st Open Bromley Continental Anglo-French St Jean Du Luz. He also contains the blood of Dorking Supreme, 20th Open NFC Pau and 22nd Open L&SECC Pau. This is the first time that John has sent to Barcelona, 661 miles, but he enjoyed success with the BICC from Perpignan and Dax a few years back and indeed he has never failed to time in an International race. John took 65 pigeons to Dunkrik three weeks ago and doubled them up. His Barcelona pigeon was one of 20 that were back on the day, and at the end of the 3rd day 50 were home. This is not for the faint-hearted but it has paid dividends as John also clocked two on the day of toss from NFC Pau at the weekend – at 9.30 and 9.43pm.
Report compiled by Les Parkinson & Cameron Stansfield
For more BICC Info & Results: http://www.pigeonbasics.com/clubs/bicc/
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