Just 3 weeks to go

[Andy]

I don’t think this will end channel racing. Those that want to fly the channel will still be able to do so. I think a lot of clubs and feds will stop flying the channel as it won’t be viable for them. A lot have already become mainly short/middle distance anyway. But the nationals will continue with channel racing making it available to those that want to do it. We don’t yet know what the full cost or implications will be but it doesn’t look like we need to worry to much for this season. The veterinary part has got to be done within the year so I understand.
You will get some fanciers that will say that south road racing is finished but they are the ones that probably don’t bother anyway. Some may say that they will give up. Again they are probably the ones that have been looking for an excuse. When vaccinations came in back in 1980 they said it would finish channel racing, it didn’t. They said that ETS would finish the sport, it hasn’t. Those wanting to continue will do so and find away around any hurdles put in front of them.

I agree to a point Andy and agree that the organisations will still want to go across but I think you will be surprised how many fanciers won't want defra or the vets sniffing around their lofts and bareing in mind that their are a few anti pigeon racing people involved in these organisations that could well make life difficult for us. Also once the vets know we have no choice but to use them it will be a licence for them to print money especially with the money that is involved in the sport these days.

I think you’ll find that if the vet side becomes the norm for channel racing it won’t be long before it will be the same for all racing, like it was with vaccinations. To start with you only had to vaccinate if you wanted to fly the channel. Within a short while you had to vaccinate just to race from anywhere.
I don’t think the vet inspections will be much of a problem for most. In theory anyone with a cat or dog is already registered with a vet. All the inspections will do I think is just check that the visible signs of health are good within the loft and not overcrowded. We have to have an inspection every year for our pet shop license. It’s quite routine and done in about 10 minutes. They just check that any animals we have are healthy and are being kept in the right environment for the species.