ISRF
Young Bird & Overall Champion 2007
Gerry O Mara & Family - Kildonagh &
Dist R.P.C.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In a fed the size of ours with over 700 members, to
win a race is an achievement to win 3 with birdage
of 10128, 10279 and 6999 and miss out on another by
a decimal with 7065 birds gone is nothing short of
magical, to start of a report with facts and figures
is something I don't usually do but this is not a
usual fancier and these are not usual results.
Going
back to the start and Gerry became involved with the
birds when just 13 years of age when he joined the
Dublin Northeast club with his father Bill who everyone
knows around the Dublin pigeon scene. They raced there
for many years and set up individual lofts later on,
to this day the father and son team still use only
1 stock loft and share the youngsters, more of this
later.
For
the last 3 seasons Gerry has raced in the Kildonagh
& District club on the north side of Dublin a
club with 38 members and just to prove its not a one
man show they also produced another fed topper last
year with Keith Brennan winning from Mallow with over
5600 birds, so he doesn't get it all his own way even
in the club.
The
birds are mainly Buschaert from Alan Hindhaugh and
Van Loons from Davie Reid with birds also coming from
other top class fanciers like Tom Boland, Richard
Hogg and "Big" Willie Brennan, The stock
birds go down on the 10th of December with the racers
following on the 27th. The first round from the stock
goes to Bills loft and the second round Gerry keeps
and these tie up nicely with the round from the racers,
this gives Gerry around 70 young birds all roughly
the same age, this is the whole young bird team nothing
else is added after this and these will bring the
loft through the whole y/b season. All the babies
are on the dark from weaning and are fed Vanrobys
young bird mix until they are a few weeks from racing
then they go onto a super widowhood mix.
Training
for the young birds is short and often at the start
and then on to the local wagons, during racing they
go approx 30 miles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
but will fly out again in the evening. Gerry believes
getting all the youngsters weaned at the same time
and not adding any second or subsequent rounds gives
him a big advantage as he only has to work on one
team and doesn't have to take his mind off them in
order to look after any other younger pigeons.
Old
Birds
The
saying goes than a rolling stone gathers no moss,
same applies for top fanciers no time to sit back
and admire when went before, this year is another
and new ideas are brought on board. Last year Gerry
raced his birds the traditional widowhood way, racing
mostly cocks with the hens getting a run out later
in the season. This year however that's all changed
and a roundabout system is to be introduced. To make
sure all his birds have this system in their heads
he has removed all his old (widowhood) cocks from
the race team and will have 21 yearling cocks and
15 hens trying the new way. A brave move but something
he feels he has to do to move forward and stay at
the top.
Training
the old birds is simple and straightforward get them
fit before the first race then very little once they
are on the road, but if he feels it necessary he's
not afraid to take them up the road if they need the
cobwebs blown off. They get their morning and evening
exercise for an hour each time but interestingly Gerry
doesn't stick to a strict timetable with flexible
working hours he may not be there at the same time
every day.
Feeding
the old birds is kept as per your basic widower system,
breakdown with depurative when they come back from
racing until Monday then a build up for the weekend,
Gerry stresses the fact over and over again to keep
things as simple as possible, don't complicate your
feeding regime, feed good quality grains and stick
to the system you have chosen.
Treatments.
The
birds get nothing through the winter and only when
on their first round of eggs will Gerry begin treating
them for canker, after the breeding the racers all
get wormed ready for the racing. Two things that can
destroy your season are canker and respertory problems
and Gerry treats for both these every other week.
Gerry
has no secret weapons in the loft or in any bottle,
but he has two, one either side of his head, even
at the top of the sport Gerry is a keen listener and
has a knack of asking the right people the right questions.
His advice to novices would be the same, seek out
the very best pigeon fancier you can, don't be afraid
of these people remember these lads all had to start
somewhere and more than likely would have done the
same thing to get where they are now, don't listen
to the pub fancier who although talks a great race
never gets in the result with any regularity.
Results
In
the past nine years Gerry has topped the South Road
Fed which has an inland average birdage of 7000 birds
an incredible 15 times and won an Open from Penzance.
He was overall Fed champion 3 times in 2001/02 &
2007 and runner up twice 1999 and 2003. His club racing
results are amazing from the time he was with the
Dublin North East up to this year in the Kildonagh
he has won over 90 club firsts in 9 years that's an
average of 10 a year. These club results have to be
looked at in context, In the ISRF we only race in
one club at a time, the North east would have had
over 40 members and the Kildonagh nearly 40 all racing
in one fed, these are individual wins no duplications
and in serious competition.
A
list of some of Gerry's results from last year.
Rosscarbury
314/6999 birds 1st,2nd, 3rd, 5th Club 1st, 7th, 18th,
28th Fed
Thurles
412/10987 birds 1st,2nd, 3rd, 4th, Club 1st, 5th,
6th, 9th Fed
Pilmore
Beach 386/10128 birds 1st,3rd Club 1st,26th Fed
Thurles
276/7065 birds 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Club 2nd,
4th, 5th, 11th, 24th Fed
Tramore
389/8966 birds 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Club 3rd,
5th, 7th, 13th, 16th, 19th Fed
Rosscarbury
479/8772 birds 1st,2nd Club 26th,45th Fed
Tramore
459/9013 birds 1st,2nd Club 10th,21st Fed
Pilmore
Beach 401/8670 birds 2nd, 3rd, 4th Club 4th, 8th,
17th Fed
Gerry
would like to thank all the fanciers who have helped
him out over the years especially Alan Hindhough,
Davie Reid, Tom Boland "BIg" Willie and
Richard Hogg and a big thank you to his father Bill
who has been a great support through the seasons and
a big factor in this lofts success.
Well
done to Tucker Daniel, although I typed this up it
was Tucker who went out and got all the info from
Gerry and he already has another in the pipeline,
its going to be hard to keep up with him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
