Kings Cup – Saint Allouestre
2015 has been a much better year for racing pigeons than 2014 and while the entry for the King’s Cup race was only very slightly up on last years, returns were much improved with over 350 birds on the day and many more on the second day. While last year’s King’s Cup race had the highest entry since 1996 and this year’s increase I think there is a movement in Ireland to a return to distance racing. With the good returns this year from all three French races there will be a lot more experienced pigeons about for 2015, which can only be a good thing.
The birds were liberated at 6.15am on Friday 3rd July in a light east, south-easterly wind which was to turn south, south-easterly on route. We knew therefore that this was going to be a fast race and those who had gone to work on the Friday faced a race of their own to get home in time for the birds arriving. 766 members had entered a total of 2,833 pigeons to compete for the most coveted prize in pigeon racing in Ireland – the King George V Challenge Cup. They were also competing for a total of £33,856 in pools and prizemoney. When word of early times began to filter through it became apparent that the early times were Herbie Thorpe in Ashbourne racing in the Boyne Valley club and Brendan Morgan in Coalisland who timed at 1.55pm and 3.30pm respectively. When the results were announced it was Herbie Thorpe who was the clear winner on a record velocity of 1632. The Harkness Rose Bowl for the best two bird average was won by Milliken and Brady from Lagan Valley who timed two birds almost together to take 19th and 20th Open. There was only one Hall of fame winner this year – Dando and Bennett Beach Park whose bird was 196th Open in 2013, 18th Open last year and 171st this year. The Joe Doheny Cup for the Single Bird Challenge was won by John Downing. The race was sponsored by Frazer Animal Feeds and we are very grateful to them for their continued sponsorship of this race.
Prov Result – Saint-Allouestre-Kings-Cup-2015
Single Bird Challenge Result – Single-bird-challenge-result-2015.
Report by Brendan McLoughlin –
http://www.pigeonnetwork.com/spam/new_forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2913&p=3805#p3805
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