There couldn’t have been a more popular winner of the West Cumberland Federation’s mid-week race from Charnock Richard.
It went to Billy Cottier at 93 years young the oldest flying member in the Federation – and surely one of the oldest competitive fliers in the country.
Billy started flying with his brother John and their father on Greenbank in 1953. Since then he and John flew as Cottier brothers and then he was in partnership with his late son Mike.
Nowadays he’s helped by Barry Patrickson and Willie Henderson and this was actually the loft’s third win of the season as they took the honours in Sandwith from the two early Flookburgh races.
The West Cumberland Federation birds were liberated at 10-15 from Charnock Richard in a west north-west wind and the Cottier bird was clocked at 12-06 after the 72 miles flight.
For good measure they also took 4th and 9th Fed and had another further down the Fed sheet in 23rd position. They took the first three positions in the Sandwith club.
The winner and their second pigeon are actually nest mates, gifted in a batch of 12, by Barry Kegg who is loft manager for the highly successful Sandwith flier Steve Chambers.
The grandfather in the Chambers’ loft is one of the best birds in the area, a five-year-old chequer cock, bred by Alan Devlin from his Syndicate lines, which has amassed stacks of tickets in club, Federation and Amalgamation.
For the fifth race in a row with the young birds the West Cumberland Fed got a smashing race with the youngsters tumbling into their respective lofts in flocks.
Brian Fitzsimmons of the Cleator Moor club said: “It was a brilliant race. The decisions that have been made by our chairman Danny Rodgers and his committee have been exemplary.
“We’ve 82 new crates and a transporter full of younguns. All have had five races and they are coming home better than they have for years.
“Special mention must be made of Neil Buchanan who has taken our birds this year using his own leave from work and our appreciation needs made public.”
WEST CUMBERLAND FEDERATION (1,198 birds): 1, 4, W. Cottier (Sandwith) 1136, 1132; 3, 5, 6, Holliday and Dixon (Lowca) 1134, 1131, 1130; 2, Waddington and Taylor (Lowca) 1135.
CLEATOR MOOR (11 SENT 617): 1, Tomlinson and Banks 1129; 2, Dobson and sons 1128.44; 3,Nolan, Hetherington, Coultas and Easdon 1128; 4, P. and S. Byers1127.7;5, 6, A .and T. Kenmare 1127.2, 1127.2.
SANDWITH: (6 sent 290): 1, 2, 3, Cottier and Patrickson 1136, 1132, 1129; 4, 5, 6, Pears and Henderson 1127.9, 1127.9, 1127.4.
EGREMONT: (157 birds): 1, J. and M. Doran and son 1112; 2, 5, 6, D.Harrison and son 1100, 1097.3, 1097.3; 3,4, Wilson and Buchanan 1099, 1097.5.
LOWCA: (5 sent 214): 1, Waddington and Taylor 1135; 2,3, 4, Holliday and Dixon 1134, 1131,1130; 5, 6, D. Lofthouse 1129.7, 1129.7.
