MATT RAKES

1^st OPEN TARBES

GRAND NATIONAL

The National Flying Club’s Grand National Race of the season attracted an entry of approx 3800 birds, all being looked after by Paul Pym Chief Convoyer and his assistants. The Chief Convoyer rang Race Advisor Paul Clements at 19:30 on Thursday evening and informed him that the birds were in perfect condition and they were looking for an early liberation on Friday.

The report received from Steve Appleby was favourable for an early liberation with the only doubt being the preveicing weather conditions at the race point at 04;45 ON Friday morning the Chief Convoyer said "it was still to dark" due to heavy cloud cover and an early liberation would be improbable.

Race Advisor Paul Clements contacted the Chief Convoyer at regular intervals though out the morning and as soon as conditions improved Paul would speak to Steve Appleby for an update. At 12:00 the conditions were improving and an afternoon liberation could be possible. Steve Appleby confirmed the weather conditions through France were favourable and it was decided to release the birds at 13:45 in a no wind situation with broken cloud, they left the race point almost immediately.

The race proved to be a hard one but as you can see from this report their were some tremendous performances by many of the flyers.

SECTION WINNERS                                                                                                                   

1st A - L Severe                                               1st E - M/M E Corkett & Sons                1st I - Keith Bush

Flying 526 Miles                                               Flying 601 Miles                                       Flying676 Miles

1st B - M/M R Rann & Son                             1st F - A S Waite                                      1st J - M/M W Lewis

Flying 520 Miles                                               Flying 558 Miles                                      Flying 624 Miles

1st C - Tony Swain                                          1st G-1st Open - Matt Rakes               K - 1st; 2nd & 3rd B Denny

Flying 528 Miles                                               Flying 570 Miles                                       Flying 748 Miles

1st D - Mr & Mrs P Naum                                1st H - R T Howey                                   1st L - J H Clements

Flying 571 Miles                                               Flying 624 Miles                                       Flying 709 Miles

1^st Section G; 1^st Open – Matt Rakes

Matt has been keeping birds all his life, starting with small birds and then following his father into racing pigeons in the late 1980’s when he was racing North Road. He decided to give south road racing a go in 1988 with just a few pigeons and very quickly found himself to have a knack for racing hens. The first ‘big race’ he prepared a team for resulted in the 1^st Open Central Southern Classic Bergerac in 1990, a very hot race with a head wind, beating the pigeon photographer Les Brazier from Sparkford into 2^nd place.

On moving to his own house he decided to invest in some stock for the middle distance races and very quickly built a relationship with the person who was without doubt one of the very best racers in Europe, Steven Van Breemen of Hilversum, Netherlands and birds quickly followed. In 1993 he got to race them when he joined the Farrington Gurney Flying Club and from the first young bird race won 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th & 5^th place, and in a club choc full of National and Classic legends this was quite an opening.

Over the next 10 years or so some 30 birds moved from Hilversum to Paulton and they really were phenomenal. Only racing 10-12 old birds and around 30 youngsters they won most everything before them from the first race to the last; In 1995 from the young bird Guernsey Classic they won 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th etc and a new car against 4,300 birds. And winning the West of England Combine with up to 7,000 birds including 14 dropping together from 25 sent to take the 1,2,3,4 Combine and still being minutes clear of the 5^th placed bird.

With old birds he set his sights on the shorter NFC and CSCFC races, but most of all NFC Saintes, just short of 400 miles and most always a real test. In 1998 he was 6^th & 7^th Open National, 1999 was 8^th Open, 2002 was 4^th Open, 2003 was 3^rd and 7th Open and he does not recall ever sending many more than 4 or 5 birds. Along the way also winning the sections at Nantes national, Bergerac classic and the 2001 Sennon Cove National.

In 2004 he thought he had just about had enough of pigeons and was stupidly suffering from a self imposed pressure to perform at the big races. At the same time Matt and his wife Nicola had their first child and pigeons just were not a big part of their life and he had truly lost all enthusiasm for the sport. Shortly after this Matt had an entire clearance sale at Blackpool and with the exception of a few very old pigeons left the sport.

Thankfully at this time two very important friends in the sport Steven van Breemen and Les Brazier just refused to let him go. Steven is an absolute legend and Matt does not think in the last 16 years they have ever gone more than a week without speaking, someone to bounce ideas off and work together with for both their benefits. Les Brazier really taught him about what was important with pigeons, enjoyment, respect and enjoying what goes on in your lofts and really not worrying about anything outside. Unfortunately Les died a few years ago and one of very few regrets was not making the decision to try distance racing a year or 2 earlier as he had the free choice of whatever he wanted from Sparkford and the only one he took was 10^th & 14^th BICC Perpignan.

After much arm twisting and constant nagging from Steven Van Breemen Matt decided to think about trying some real distance pigeons and in 2005 he went along to a unfortunate bereavement sale for Stevens closest friend at the old café of Jan Arden, in Steenbergen and bought a few birds, and how well they have done for him in just a few years. Being a mixture of the best Dutch long distance lines it was a family of Aardens from Piet Lazeroms, van de Wegens, DeSmet Matthys and Delbar, all crafted into a beautiful family and this is basically what Matt has. He purchased 7 birds, still have 6 and they have all bred winners for him including this grand national winner who was also 8^th Open in last years grand national, a cock to be 104^th grand national last year, a hen to win a very difficult Messac race this year and the only 1 of the originals not to have bred the goods is the sire of Matt’s 2^nd bird from this years grand national who may get inside the first 200 positions.

These birds are raced plain and simply natural, with most all the birds being basketed sat 7-10 days. Birds are fed well on food from the Willsbridge Company and get a few of the super Gem products. The only racing now is from channel events, mainly with the West of England Combine and Matt just trains them on the inland, anything up to 100 miles once a week in lieu of racing. Youngsters have only had one race last year and no youngsters were raced the previous 2 years.

Matt says the winning hen herself has just been a dream to work with. Bred in 2006 a youngster she was trained to 25 miles, as a yearling went to Messac and came to top the Fed, then as a two year old had channel races before going to the Tarbes Grand National being 3^rd Section, 8^th Open 4,035 birds on a fast day race doing 1485 ypm. To one or two very close friends he said that he was not 100% happy with her condition last year and thought he could get her in better condition. This year he gave her a near identical preparation and she has not put a foot wrong and everything gone to plan. With this year being a very tough race and an amount of west wind in France for the first day of the race Matt remained confident in this hen’s ability to get a good section prize, but did not think for one minute that section G could win the Open.

Matt expected the best birds would be around 11am and will admit to being in the lofts well before 6 after what he thought was one of the worst night’s sleep he has had for a long time. To see ‘Indy’ dropping for the loft at 10:47 he was almost speechless and that does not happen often. To be told it was first bird in the country just got the day going but did expect birds in the north to use the very gusty southerly wind and get out in front despite the extra distance.

Matt says a huge thank you must go to his wife Nicola (young bird master), his daughters Ruby and Abigail, Ruby named this hen ‘Indy’ after last years race and who is he to argue, whilst Abigail is in charge of grit and the birds get it most every day whether they want it or not. This really has been a family effort and Matt must thank all of the well wishers, the phone has been red hot and he is sure that over the next few days this will start to sink in, especially when he thinks of the Farrington Gurney members who in my eyes are legends in the sport, Fear Brothers, Vic Preddy and so many others who set the standards we all try to attain.

A final word to some other fantastic performances in this race; particularly Mr & Mrs Corkett & Sons, and the one that kept me hanging on to the bitter end Brian Denney, in my eyes probably the best at this game in Europe right now. To everyone who timed his congratulations, as he does think this was a much more difficult race then anyone us thought it would be.

1^st Section A – Lou Severe. Lou Takes 1st Section A, he timed in his 2 year old Blue Cock bird, sitting 10 days on eggs. So far his race programme this year includes 4 club races plus every national to date.

The bird is off F Lloyd & E Kelly lines the dam is off "Little Margaret's" 1^st Pau National 2004. Little Margaret’s Son was 2^nd Pau National in the same race. This Little Margaret bird was crossed with Lou Severe's own Janssen crossed with club member Rob Hampton's Bricoux x Sions.

1^st Section B – Mr & Mrs R Rann. The partnership of Rod Rann and his wife Linda, they live in the village of Shalfleet near Newport on the Isle of Wight. They timed a two year old widowhood cock now called Blue Tarbes at 11.14 to take 1st Section B. This cock was paired in March and was allowed to rear one youngster and then put on to widowhood. The full sister to Blue Tarbes was the first of their three day birds in 2008 from Tarbes NFC and was their third bird this year timing at 12.37, they had good returns with 7 out of 12 on the day. 

This partnership started the season with eleven widowhood cocks and ten widow hens, the whole team went to Stratford on the North Road to get them going. Then the widow hens were then raced across the channel with the NFC and the widow hood cocks with the BICC from Saran two loft mates were 1st and 2nd Section.  

The Dam of Blue Tarbes is bred from an original Jim Biss bird bought in 2002 when they decided to try long distance racing. The Sire is from a son of Joe Raeburns 'Gwen' who in 2001 won 1st Open NFC San Sebastian. 

The birds are all fed on Versele Laga corn. They don’t train the old birds very much as training pigeons on the Island is difficult and most training is done in the opposite direction to the racing, which can be confusing. The next race for these birds will be The Saints National with The National Flying Club

1st Section C - Tony Swain. Tony’s winner is a chequer cock with a grizzle hen taking fourth section he has raced pigeons for some 50 years and enjoyed some success in that time. The strain of pigeons that he races for 500 mile plus races are from the late Sam & Rowly Fear of Clandown. In the late 60s and early 70s, a lot of pigeons were exchanged between us. More recently, Tony has introduced bloodlines from Mike Staddon and Kevin & Christine White. He would like to thank Dave Davies for all the work he has put in transporting my birds to the Marking Station.

1^st Section D - Mr & Mrs P Naum. The winner from Tarbes is a 5year old Ko-Nipius cock bird who has had a consistent race career with the NFC, bred and raced by Paul & Gillian Naum of Watchet, Somerset. 

Preparation for Tarbes included 2 x 50 mile training tosses followed by his first national race from Fougeres, flying 218 miles and then onto Alencon two weeks later, a distance of 243 miles. A months rest followed, with no additional training, just free open loft all day on the natural system. Nest condition for Tarbes was sitting eggs at 10 days. This pigeon is now known as 'The Showman' as on his return he was in gleaming pristine condition, as though prepared ready to show.  

The grand-sire to the Showman, 'The Quiet Man', has won over 17 prizes including 4th section Pau NFC, 3rd Section Saintes NFC, 90th Open Pau CSCFC, and 1st Open Amalgamation Saintes. The Showman's uncle was 3rd Section Pau NFC, and his great grand-dam was 20th Section Pau NFC, showing consistency through the bloodline. 

Their Ko-Nipius family has been with us for the past 20 years, and it has proved an invaluable breeding and racing line for us. It originated from George Hilson and Roy Barber of Bury and was further enhanced in the past years by an introduction of Geoff Kirkland's Dezmet Mattis and Alfons Bauwens. Racing at Club level has taken a back seat to the national races, due to work commitments and time pressures, they concentrate on the Old bird races, as they prefer not to race the young birds en masse, but to train them up and race them at National level from 2years and over.  

They would like to thank to John Tyreman and Paul Clements the race advisors, who made the right decision and provided a good race, and also to Paul Pym Chief Convoyer, who tended to the birds in the transporter for the 4 days prior to liberation.

1^st Section E – Mr & Mrs E Corkett & Sons. Eric first started racing pigeons in 1957 when he joined The Linslade & District North Road Club. He met his wife Margaret in Colchester they married in 1955 and have three Sons Gary, Glen and Martin. As Margaret’s father also kept pigeons and raced in The Colchester Championship Club she had a good up bringing with the birds and help Eric with the feeding and caring of the birds especially when the boys were young. They formed the partnership of Mr & Mrs E Corkett and Sons when Gary and Glen were in their teens who also helped with the training and caring of the birds.

The pigeons they raced at this time were Bricouyx Sion and Krauths on the natural system. They enjoyed racing North Road achieving good results in Club; Fed and The Thames N.R. Combine. Since racing The South Road from 1982, they have achieved a lot of success in Club; Federation and Combine. But their main objective has been The National Races which to date is - 2 Open wins; 6 Section E wins six years flying in The MNFC - 3 Opens; 9 Section wins in the race from Tarbes their first bird clocked is a two year old Roger Florizone x Luc Van Coppenolle cheq white flight hen, which was 2^nd Open; 1^st Section E. Second pigeon is also a two year old Jan Arrden x Coppenolle cheq white flight hen 6^th Section E 41^st Open Provisional.

These two hens are half sisters to a blue pied hen clocked on the day of liberation from Tarbes 2005 – 2^nd Section E; 5^th Open, another half sister was 2^nd Section E; 6^TH Open Bergerac MNFC 2008.

Preparation for this race for those was hens was two inland races then National Flying Club Alencon on widowhood then paired up sitting 12 days for Tarbes. Trained two 60 miles training tosses after Alencon for the Tarbes Race. Feeding is Gerry Plus and Super Star Plus

1^st Section H – R T Howey - Richard started racing as a boy at school in the late 1950s and the first race he took part in he had to cycle half a mile to use a clock. He won his first race from Berwick during the 1962 season and raced north until 1980 and won many of the Scottish races, he has never been interested in short races and use them for training for the long ones.

Looking for a new challenge Richard turned to south road racing during the season of 1981 and joined the N.F.C. shortly afterwards and very rarely misses a race. His pigeons are based on the John Carmichael Kirkpatrick’s which he had his first pair from the masters loft in 1963 and kept them pure until 1996 when he introduced a Van Bruane cock from the late John Lawless of Rushden, Northants which crossed in well, and bred his second section winner. Other families Richard has crossed successfully into his own birds are The Southwells from A & T. Deacon, and birds from his good friend the late Brian Deacon of Byfield Northants.

The highlight of his season is the Grand National and this years section winner is a widowhood cock containing the Carmichael, Van Bruane, and A & T Deacon bloodlines and has flown every National with the N.F.C. and came home from Messac in such good condition, he sent him on to Tarbes. Another interesting fact is his first four birds home from Tarbes are all related.

The pigeons are fed mainly Versele- Laga corn and are treated with Natra herd products from his good friend John Barnett of Telford.

Richard would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has telephoned to congratulated him, and also this year has won his own Photography prize of the Section winner which he would like to award to fancier who is second. 
I have decided to call my section winner "Ron" 

1^st Section I – Keith Bush. 61 years old retired pharmacist tops section I with a two year old hen sitting a one-day old baby, this hen is now named Alf’s Memory after his brother who passed away at the end of last year.

Alf’s Memory comes from their own Busschaert family which have been kept together since his late fathers’ time. Keith comes from a pigeon family and has raced on his own since getting married to Pat. He turned from North Road racing to South 14 years ago.

Alf’s Memory had flown Lessay in mid May and had a few inland races out to the coast.

The feed is farm corn mainly beans which are hopper fed, he noticed they were eating a lot prior to basketing.

Keith timed in seven on the day and another on Sunday morning and says that his first two pigeons came back from the north

1^st Section J – Bill & Beryl Lewis

Bill and Beryl Lewis from Kempsey scored 1^st & 3^rd section J Tarbes national, flying 624 miles. Having five pigeons on the winning day, the last being timed at 20:50 hours, all gallant pigeons.

Although Bill does not agree with a mid-day liberation as liberating pigeons in the heat of day and expecting them to take B+B after eight hours flying when they are prepared for a 500+ mile fly, sounds good in theory but no one told the pigeons what to do!!

The section winner has now been named Freelands Tarbes Terminator and is from Bill and Beryl’s own family of pigeons which have to fly 450 miles as yearlings, and as two year olds over 600 miles. The basic bloodlines are from Louella, having purchased direct sons and daughters from champions Peter Pau, Smarag etc. Also birds direct from Robert Venus super crack lines again direct from the Barcelona national winner. These have been blended to other pigeons which survive the above regime.

Bill & Beryl have previously timed twice on the day from Tarbes 624 miles and were disappointed that a mid-day liberation had taken place as discussed earlier, anyway the scene was set and two club members Shane Harvey & Kalib Cooper came to watch the birds arrive. Shane who has had a brilliant season this year with the Upton-upon-Severn club arrived with his self designer shorts (These were cut by him with a pair of scissors while he was wearing them). Bill was a little concerned that they might have frightened the birds as they arrived but as it turned out Shane saw the first pigeon which came from an easterly direction, the pigeon landed (not noticing his shorts) and dropped on to the sputnik and then on to the Bricon ETS pad, Shane confirmed it was a Tarbes pigeon as he was holding the clock in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Bill checked on Freelands Tarbes Terminator and although a little lighter than when he was sent Kalib was happy just to handle a 600 mile pigeon as he has only joined the sport and this is his first year of racing. Bill told me "The preparation for his Tarbes pigeons had been steady with a couple of channel races with the club and a couple with the NFC. The birds are fed the best VanRobaeys available, these being the Morris Caesarts racing and depurative with diet and peanuts being fed as a build up to the big races, and Orego-stim has been used this year and its certainly does what it says on the tin. The cock birds which won 1^st and 3^rd section were on round-a-bout as Bill does not like wasting the hen birds.

Bill & Beryl’s pigeons have also done well in the one loft races, last year winning £30,000 in the Europa and 5^th open in the emerald classic winning over £5,000 and are devoted to winning the Sun City race having sent for the last five years. Bill & Beryl would like to congratulate all the other section winners plus Matt Rake on winning the race and Brian Denny on his outstanding performances 3^rd 4^th open nearly 750 miles, outstanding pigeons and outstanding fanciers.

1^st Section K – Brian Denney. What a fantastic performance by Brian Denney, Brian not only wins his section he is 2^nd; 3^rd; 5^th; 6^th; 8^th and 11^th section and 3^rd; 4^th; 12^th; 19^th; 30^th and 58^th Open. His section winner is a 5 year old hen named "Cheq Hen" the 2nd section winner a four year old dark pied named "Dark Dancer" 

Brian was born near Malton in Yorkshire and his father kept a few pigeons, but never raced them, although he enjoyed taking them for short flights on his bike. Brian first had pigeons when he was a school boy and used to visit two fanciers in the next village, who really got him into pigeon racing. He went into the army for nine years and started up racing pigeons in 1962, at his present home in Strensall, near York, Brian’s first birds were obtained from Albert Witty and Derek Smith and both these fanciers helped him with eggs from their best birds. The Derek Smith 'Lolita' family are still in Brian's bloodlines today. He says he remembers his first winner, it was a little dark chequer which came like a rocket and won the first race he ever entered. In the 1960's Brian admired the performances of Frank Cheetham who flew 709 miles from Pau and says he was on the front page of the pigeon papers every year after putting up brilliant performances from Pau . His first club was the Acomb MWC in York and he has the same loft that he started with in 1962, though he has made it bigger through the 40 years he has been in the sport. 

The loft is 'L' shaped and faces south. It has two sections for widowhood racers, with 16 nest boxes in each, a section for the hens next door, two sections for the stock birds and a large section for young birds. Brian maintains that space and ventilation are the main factors in good loft design. He says deep litter is O.K. He used it for many years and it can get dusty, hence good ventilation in the loft is needed. His family of long distance pigeons are now his own and known throughout the pigeon racing world as the 'Bry-Den' 700 mile family. This season he has 13 pairs in the stock section, which were paired up in late January, and his stock team are all retired premier racers, or children of his best pigeons, such as 'Dark Peron' and 'The Bordeaux Cock'. If he is trying new introductions, he prefers to race them first and if they stand up to the test on the road he will take a youngster off them. Through the years he has introduced some good crosses into the Derek Smith 'Lolita' bloodlines, the main one being Louella Van Hee pigeons. The main thing he looks for when bringing in new pigeons is that they have good 500 - 700 mile performances in their bloodlines.

Brian races cocks and hens on the widowhood system and normally keeps 25 pairs of racers, which are paired up in February. He likes the yearlings to fly from France a couple of times, which can be 350 to 400 miles, and the only time he would re-pair for Pau is if he had some good hens he wanted to send. Brian has raced hens and cocks on the widowhood with equal success, and says the disadvantage of re-pairing for Pau is they soon throw flights. The Denney pigeons are hopper fed beans as a base, mixed with a good widowhood mixture and the birds get a lot of Hormoform. Sometimes the hens are let through to the cocks on basketing night and sometimes Brian just turns the nest bowl over. The short club races are used for training and on their return from a long distance race they sometimes stay with their mate overnight. One of Brian's best hens was 'Blue Pau' and she was a champion racer and breeder, winning 3 rd. Section K. 41st. Open N.F.C. Pau, 738 miles, 4th. Section K. 201st. Open N.F.C. Pau. She was the dam of many outstanding racers including 'Classic Lad', winner of 1 st. Open Northern Classic Saintes, 573 miles on the day of liberation. Brian says at one time he used to win at all distances, but he is now only interested in long, hard races where only the best come through. He likes the wait and as long as there is a chance of getting one home he is there ready to clock them in. Other principal pigeons in the Denney loft include: 'The Pau Hen' 1st. Section K., 118th. Open N.F.C. Pau 'Whitetail' 4th. Section K., 51st. Open N.F.C. Pau, 5th. Section K., 234 th. Open N.F.C. Pau 'The Bordeaux Cock' 7th. Section K., 109 th. Open N.F.C. Pau, 8th .Section K., 133rd. Open N.F.C. Saintes, 3rd. Section K., 85th Open N.F.C. Nantes 'Dark Peron' 3rd. Section K., 33rd. Open N.F.C. Saintes and the grandsire of 'Tuff Nut'. A wonderful loft of long distance racers! Brian has about 40 young birds to race each season and they race natural to the perch. They are trained in stages up to 55 miles and are raced to the south coast, about a 220 miles fly, and are hand fed twice a day on the same mixture as the old birds. Brian is now retired from work and says his wife, Thelma, has always been interested in the pigeons. He told me that she is very capable of doing anything in the loft and has clocked in for him many times when he was working. Their two daughters, Susan and Lynn, have always taken an interest in Brian's pigeons. Brian is not interested in the eyesign method, although he likes to see a nice bright eye with plenty of colour, and he maintains the basket is the true test if a pigeon is good or not. He has been secretary of the local club for 20 years and says he thinks the sport is going backwards, with clubs getting smaller. The future is with the National if it gets its house in order, with entry fees and prize money.  He likes inbreeding and line breeding and practices it all the time, saying it is the only way to keep a good family going strong. Brian likes latebreds for stock and in the winter months increases the beans and peas for the heavy moult period.

One thing Brian did say that he thinks that The Tarbes Grand National should be advertised more in the fancy press as a build up to what is "The Grand National Race".

Brian would like to thank everybody who has phoned to congratulate him on his performance

1st Section L- John Clements John’s section winner has always been a good consistent hen – she flew Saints with the National Flying Club last year and has flown with the BICC several times, he thinks she was 8th section in an early channel race once. Before this race he lost her cock and thus she paired with another hen that had also lost her spouse. She is bred from a hen that was second section from Dax when the NFC flew the Internationals. This pigeon was a daughter of his number one stock cock, a pigeon from Barry Carson of Winster in Derbyshire. This No 1 stock cock was off his last Pau section winner. The Number one stock cock himself flew Pau twice - 8^th and 14^th section in 1993 and 1994.

The second section Dax pigeon was paired to a very consistent Gilbert Heynen pigeon that was bred out of his ‘666’ – a pigeon that won the Bordeaux National for him. John’s 4th section pigeon is an 8 year old hen that had previously scored twice from Dax (670 miles) when the NFC had the Dax International as a part of their programme. She even won a small amount of International pools from Dax in the International hens section. This hen is a real class act – she is bred direct from his No 1 stock cock and is half sister to his other Dax pigeon. This hen is typical long cast fly all day type of pigeon. She did not race last year but this year I took it as a challenge to prepare and race her at 8 years of age. A fortnight before Tarbes he sent her to Frome as a trainer in the club. She came an hour behind the winner flying round and round when she got home absolutely full of herself - you could almost see the smile on her face in the sky. She had one Channel race from Fougeres with the National before being sent to Tarbes.

John starts his pigeons off on ‘Round About’ to get them reasonably fit then fly them on Natural usually sitting on eggs. He throws a tennis ball at them to get them started off flying but after he gets them up to a quarter of an hour they begin to gradually extend their exercise period to three quarters of an hour by themselves. The cocks exercise in the morning and evening and the hens exercise at lunch-time. As their exercise period builds up to its maxim of three quarters of an hour he also gradually increase the good strong corn and in the final week give them corn soaked with parishes food then dusted with Brewers Yeast. This seems to bring the final top condition before the race.

One little thing he did that might have put them in a good mood was to throw open a spare section the day before they were basketed. It might have done the trick – It certainly made them happy so he says that he will try it again another year but at this distance you cannot hope to do well without good pigeons of the proper breed in the first place. Acquiring such pigeons then breeding pigeons capable of flying 700 miles is the most difficult problem you will ever have. It is not a task to be taken lightly. John must congratulate a fellow competitor - Brian Denny of York who is included in my book ‘Long Distance Pigeon Racing" - He had a marvellous race. John learnt a lot when writing this book - John says he got more out of it then he put into it. John does not think he would have done so well in this race had he not interviewed such a range of high-class fanciers as are in the book. I don’t think they are aware they have helped me so much.

Congratulations to all the winners

Ron Crook

Email: roncrook@virgin.net

Tel: 01491 613477