The new pigeon racing season got underway at the weekend with both the Derwent Valley and West Cumberland Federations racing from Garstang.
Liberated at 10am, it proved to be a very fast race in a south east wind with winners doing around the 60mph velocity.
It was a good start to the season for Williams and Hadfield in the Workington Social Limit club as they took the first three tickets.
The winner was a chequer cock from a brother to Liam Lines that have done so well for the loft over the years. The dam is from the old grizzle that bred them 13 firsts – all Lambrechts from Steve Foster.
The loft had 15 back in just over 30 seconds and they had their full team back in 35 minutes.
Mike Walker was the winner in Harrington Central, and also took second and sixth.
The winner is a two-year-old late bred chequer pied hen who was having her first race and was sent going to nest.
Peter Dobie and Ralph Palmer won Seaton RBL and as so often with this loft, an interesting background to the winner.
A chequer cock, he was originally bred to go to a one-loft race in South Africa but they decided to keep him. He’s a late bred two year old, unraced but trained as a yearling.
His sire was a Slovakian pigeon, fifth Ace bird out of 6,000 entries in the Golden Algarve one loft race. The dam is a Herman Cuester which was 16th in the RPRA One Loft race and fourth Ace pigeon.
It’s only one week into the new season but already there are concerns over a regularly used distance liberation site.
More than 50 years of pigeon racing on Guernsey has been grounded after authorities deemed the sport a threat to aircraft.
Flocks of racing pigeons being released from lorries at L’Ancresse have been a common sight over recent summers, but the almost weekly events will now no longer go ahead after Guernsey Airport aligned its approach to wildlife hazard management with the UK Civil Aviation Authority best practice.
This means racing pigeons cannot be released en masse within eight miles of the airport – something that is impossible in Guernsey.
Royal Pigeon Racing Association Guernsey site agent Rene Archer said the notification came completely out of the blue.
He said: “I can’t see what the problem is. We have never had an incident. Pigeons fly a maximum of 100 to 150 feet up to get their bearings and then fly no more than 10 feet above the water. I have now had to cancel 28 events this year alone.”
Safety changes had already been brought in around three years ago, which meant drivers rang the airport, which is over five miles from L’Ancresse, to check airspace was clear before a release.
Last year saw 24 lorry loads of pigeons being brought to the island for release, including Guernsey Ports head of safety, risk and compliance Lewis Dale said the decision to ban racing pigeons had been taken jointly between Guernsey Ports and the Office of the Director of Civil Aviation, which is the aviation regulator for the Channel Islands.
“We are committed to maintaining high standards of aviation safety and appreciate the cooperation of local and international pigeon racing organisations,” he said.
DERWENT VALLEY
HARRINGTON CENTRAL (7 sent 195): 1, 2, 6, M. Walker 1731, 1728, 1722; 3, 4, 5, N. Semple 1726, , 1724, 1723.
DEARHAM (3 sent 141): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Dempsey, son and Reay 1646, 1643, 1637, 1632. 1631.5, 1631.1.
ELLENBOROUGH: 1, 2, Barlow and Doyle 1613, 1611; 3, 4, Barker and Charlton 1401, 1235.
WORKINGTON SOCIAL LIMIT (8 sent 286): 1,2, 3, Williams and Hadfield 1716, 1715.4, 1715.4; 4, McLuckie bros 1714; 5, 6, J. Dolan and daughter 1713.3, 1713.3.
WORKINGTON VICTORIA (10 sent 389): 1, 3, Martindale and Lawman 1800, 1798.1; 2, 4, 5, 6, Evans and Abraham 1798.3, 1797.8, 1797.3, 1796.
SEATON RBL (2 sent 50): 1, Dobie and Palmer 1754; 2, 3, 4, F. Scott 1669, 1665, 1650.
WEST CUMBERLAND FEDERATION (20 lofts sent 699): 1, 4, W. McGrady and son (Lowca) 1747, 1710; 2, Tomlinson and Banks (Cleator Moor) 1742; 3, 5, D. Lofthouse Lowca)1725, 1699; 6, Holliday and Dixon (Lowca).
CLEATOR MOOR (10 sent 366): 1, 4, 5, 6, 1751, 1663.8, 1663.3, 1662; 2, Nolan, Hetherington, Coultas and Easdon 1662; 3, Dobson, sons, grandson and Lyle 1665.
LOWCA (7 sent 259): 1, 4, McGrady and son 1747, 1710; 2, Tomlinson and Banks 1742; 3, 5, D. Lofthouse 1729, 1699; 6, Holliday and Dixon 1698.
EGREMONT (146 birds); 1, 4, 5, 6, Wilson and Buchanan 1672, 1616, 1612, 1610; 2, 3, D. Harrison and son 1637, 1630.
