Club AGM

[NeilA]

What will you do Andy out of the options

[Andy]

What will you do Andy out of the options

Because we have the option of flying with both or either each weekend I think most of our club will send to Stoney Cross with the WOESRC for the first 2 races instead of Blanford. 34 miles instead of 18 miles.

[NeilA]

What will you do Andy out of the options

Because we have the option of flying with both or either each weekend I think most of our club will send to Stoney Cross with the WOESRC for the first 2 races instead of Blanford. 34 miles instead of 18 miles.

Makes sense I would most would already train that distance

[MIL]

Rules of the game are dead simple

Shorter the race the more important it is to get out and away real fast

Bit like the 60m indoor sprint

You get away bad and you're screwed

[NeilA]

Rules of the game are dead simple

Shorter the race the more important it is to get out and away real fast

Bit like the 60m indoor sprint

You get away bad and you're screwed

For them kind of races would you think about a family that’s competed in the really short races they have in Belgium where they race 60-80 miles weekly not the sprint birds we have here that over generations have become pigeons to fit our programme

[Andy]

Rules of the game are dead simple

Shorter the race the more important it is to get out and away real fast

Bit like the 60m indoor sprint

You get away bad and you're screwed

I take your point Mike. There could be 2,000+ birds from these short races heading down towards the coast into Devon and Cornwall, I am 30 miles North of the coast. So mine would need to take a completely different line from the race point, as would most of our members in our club.

[MIL]

But pigeons that are leading have zero birds ahead of them.

They know where home is and they should be looking for it from the point of release

[Andy]

But pigeons that are leading have zero birds ahead of them.

They know where home is and they should be looking for it from the point of release

That’s what they would need to do. The bulk of the convoy will be heading in a South Easterly direction. Ours would have to head off in a North East direction. It’s the opposite with the WOESRC. The first 3 races with the 3 counties are section libs with 2 liberations.
Could be even more different with young birds as if we were to race with both the 3 counties are East to West but the WOESRC are going down the leg, so SW to NE.
Could switch birds from week to week. I’m asking in all seriousness Mike, do you think that would be bad for youngsters? Probably better to stick with one route but as I’ve said before I’m not that interested in young birds racing.

[MIL]

That’s what they would need to do. The bulk of the convoy will be heading in a South Easterly direction. Ours would have to head off in a North East direction.

So?

I’m asking in all seriousness Mike, do you think that would be bad for youngsters? Probably better to stick with one route but as I’ve said before I’m not that interested in young birds racing.

For us fanciers further up the country its not an issue. We pretty much race "on a line"as near as dammit

The further South you go, the goalposts change.

In answer to your question Andy, it wouldn't both me one bit

I'll give you an example

I sell birds for Richard Goodier in Devon. He races his birds along the coast to the likes of Ramsgate and Brighton

The week after he's say in the BICC from Guernsey or the NFC from France

What birds is he sending? Yes the birds that have raced along the coast in a different direction

Pigeons are born with a homing instinct. Any fool can send birds to a race and get them back

Getting them back with the highest velocity - now that's where the craftsmanship lies

[Andy]

That’s what they would need to do. The bulk of the convoy will be heading in a South Easterly direction. Ours would have to head off in a North East direction.

So?

I’m asking in all seriousness Mike, do you think that would be bad for youngsters? Probably better to stick with one route but as I’ve said before I’m not that interested in young birds racing.

For us fanciers further up the country its not an issue. We pretty much race "on a line"as near as dammit

The further South you go, the goalposts change.

In answer to your question Andy, it wouldn't both me one bit

I'll give you an example

I sell birds for Richard Goodier in Devon. He races his birds along the coast to the likes of Ramsgate and Brighton

The week after he's say in the BICC from Guernsey or the NFC from France

What birds is he sending? Yes the birds that have raced along the coast in a different direction

Pigeons are born with a homing instinct. Any fool can send birds to a race and get them back

Getting them back with the highest velocity - now that's where the craftsmanship lies

Richard Goodier is in the 3 counties Mike, so I’ll be racing against him.

Having always raced from down South turning pigeons from East to West or West to East then having to turn the South over the channel. Where I am now, 35 miles inland, is the furthest from the coast I have been. In Worthing we were only a half mile from the coast. There we used to fly North and then turned them South for the nationals.
The first season after Brexit we couldn’t race from over the channel. I was just racing with the BICC and the CSCFC. The same birds raced from Guernsey, south, then Penzance, SW, then Berwick, north.