The first race of the new season took place from Tullamore on Saturday 14th April, and as with the first race of every season, the race itself turned out to be somewhat erratic. Many fanciers saw a number of empty perches on the day, with only the odd next day arrival. Speaking to a number of fanciers, the heavier losses were put down to late breds, first timers and birds not being trained properly, if at all. When you add to this, a very cold day and a biting north easterly wind, losses were probably inevitable.
Another fact that we must always bear in mind, is that all the North West fanciers are flying around 120 miles, if not more. When you speak to other fanciers from around the country and from across the pond, they all find it hard to believe that we fly so far for our first old bird race. In saying that, our young birds start at 100 miles plus as well. Some of these fanciers don’t even train their old birds, and if they do, it is perhaps to ten or twenty miles. Why so little training I asked, only to discover that their first race could be anywhere between 40 and a massive 70 miles.
Moving on to our results, we see many familiar names cropping up again and producing some fine performances indeed to start the season off again. Unfortunately I couldn’t get hold of the results for all the section H clubs as Pigeon Network seemed to be down over the weekend. If any of the clubs want to be included in the weekly round up for the North West, all they need to do is e mail me with the results and even better, a photo of the winner to include in the write up. The weekly column is to try and promote the North West and its fanciers, and to give the members a bit of publicity that otherwise we probably wouldn’t get.
Looking at the Derry clubs first and as I said previously, a lot of familiar names this week.
In the Maiden City R.P.S, two men dominate with Martin Healy taking first and fifth, while Pat Mc Laughlin fills second, third and fourth spots. Martin has been training very hard this year and it is already paying dividends. Pat, who normally starts slowly and builds towards the longer races, also gets off to a flying start. Martin takes 14th in Derry this week, while Pat takes 15th, 19th and 20th. The result was as follows, 1st P+M Healy 1151 ypm, 2nd P Mc Laughlin 1150, 3rd P Mc Laughlin 1144, 4th P Mc Laughlin 1140, 5th P+M Healy.
On then to the Foyle R.P.S, where one man dominated this week, that man being Jim Diamond, who had the first three birds in the club, closely followed by James Gallagher and Paul Maxwell. Jim’s bird is the second bird in Derry this week.
The result was as follows, 1st Jim Diamond 1194 ypm, 2nd Jim Diamond 1174, 3rd James Gallagher, 4th James Gallagher, and 5th Paul Maxwell.
The result from the Londonderry R.P.S was very similar to that of the Foyle, with one man, Leo Flannagan, dominating the club. Leo takes the first three positions, with Sean Gallagher and Billy Houston making up the top five spots. Leo takes three of the top seven spots in Derry this week.The full result was as follows, 1st Leo Flannagan 1191, 2nd Leo Flannagan 1174, 3rd Leo Flannagan 1174, 4th Sean Gallagher 1166, 5th Billy Houston 1157.
Again, as with the other clubs, the Derry and District club is dominated by one man, Anthony Mc Crudden. Anthony not only wins his club, but has the first and third birds in Derry this week, while Sean has the fifth bird back to Derry.
The result was as follows, 1st Anthony Mc Crudden 1197, 2nd Anthony Mc Crudden 1192, 3rd Sean Duffy 1190.
In Limavady this week, one man again cleans up. Ronnie Whiterow, Section fancier of the year for the last two seasons, takes the top three positions. Unfortunately, I don’t have Ronnie’s velocities.
I also had no results for the Rock, Strabane, or Omagh which is a pity as we can’t put together a full round up for the Section. Again, it’s a pity we haven’t got photographs of all our winners. It’s always nice to have a face to go along with the names. That being said, I do have a few photos that I have saved and can use this week. Anyone who wants to forward any photos or details of the winning birds such as what strain they are and breeding etc for the rest of the season can send them to me at billyknox@btinternet.com. The more detail we can get, the better, as it helps to fill out the reports and as I said before, gives our members the recognition they deserve.
Martin Healy of Maiden City.
Leo Flanagan 1st, 2nd & 3rd Londonderry.
Ronnie Witherow Limavady.
Tullamore (2) - 21/04/12
The NIPA had the birds back in Tullamore for the second race of the season on Saturday21st April. And, although the weather conditions seemed somewhat adverse, the birds once again made light of things. In fact, despite the winds being North Westerly, velocities where almost 200 ypm quicker than the previous week.
The race itself turned out to be a very close affair, with only four yards separating the first five birds into Derry. There seems to have been a batch that came early with the rest drifting in all afternoon. In saying that, returns on the whole seemed to have been very good.
For the second week in a row the Derry and District club show how it’s done. They had the first four birds in the town with only two yards splitting the four birds.
Looking at the other clubs, we have only one man doing the double this week, Jim Diamond of the Foyle. Jim’s birds are flying fantastically and now for the kiss of death, he is going to be hard to beat over the next few weeks. All the other local clubs see a new name at the top of the pile this week. Let’s take a look at the clubs then and see how things turned out.
As the club leading the way, we will look at the Derry and District first. Top spot this week goes to Bonny and Kieran Reid who are no strangers when it comes to taking their fare share of red cards. Kieran in fact takes first and second in the Derry and District and also has the first two birds in Derry. I don’t have any details about the birds unfortunately although maybe I will be able to get some details for a round up later. Third and fourth this week is last weeks’ Derry and District winner Anthony Mc Crudden who also topped Section H from the first Tullamore race. Anthony’s two birds are also the third and fourth birds back to Derry, another super fly. The full result for the Derry and District was as follows. 1st B + K Reid 1320 ypm, 2nd B + K Reid 1319, 3rd A Mc Crudden 1318, 4th A Mc Crudden 1318, 5th B + K Reid 1314.
Next up this week we have the Rock F C. This is the first report I have been able to get on the rock as I didn’t see a report for the first week. Top the pile this week is veteran flyer Jim Mc Monagle, who is now flying in partnership with his brother Ray. Jim was out of the birds for a long time but is now back with a bang and will surely be looking forward to the longer races. Jim and Ray also take second place, another great fly this week. Third is the ever present Eamon Quigley with Micky Mc Closkey in fourth and fifth. The full result was the Rock is, 1st J + R Mc Monagle 1314 ypm, 2nd J + R Mc Monagle 1290, 3rd E Quigley 1259, 4th M Mc Closkey 1259, 5th M Mc Closkey 1256.
The Londonderry club is dominated this week by two men, Noel Murray, and last week’s winner Leo Flanagan. Noel takes first and fourth spots while Leo takes second and third. Completing the top five in the Londonderry club are father and son partnership Toby and Martin Gallagher. The results were as follows, 1st Noel Murray 1313 ypm, 2nd Leo Flanagan 1304, 3rd Leo Flanagan 1285, 4th Noel Murray 1279, 5th T + M Gallagher.
In the Foyle RPS this week we have the only fancier in Derry to do the double, Jim Diamond. Jim takes first and fourth places with Sean Mc Grotty also having a very good race taking second and fifth. The only other man in the frame this week is John Mc Laughlin who sneaks in to third. The full result for the Foyle was, 1st J Diamond 1316, 2nd S Mc Grotty 1305, 3rd J Mc Laughlin 1303, 4th J Diamond 1303, 5th S Mc Grotty 1290.
Next, we have the Maiden City RPS, where again two men dominate. Firstly, Pat Mc Laughlin who follows up a very good race from the first Tullamore, to take three of the top five positions, another super fly. Filling in the gaps is last year’s top young bird flyer, Robert Lyle, who takes second and third spots and (here comes another kiss of death) a man who will be hard to beat going forward. The full result for the Maiden City was, 1st P Mc Laughlin 1302, 2nd R Lyle 1292, 3rd R Lyle 1286, 4th P Mc Laughlin 1284, 5th P Mc Laughlin 1284.
Last but not least this week are the Limavady club and a thank you to Ronnie Whiterow for e mailing me the results. Ten men sent 205 birds this week with Willie Mc Ilmoyle in pole position and taking his first red card of the year. Willie also takes third and fourth positions, another top fly. In second place, another very consistent flyer in Limavady, John Mc Cool. And, completing the top five this week is last week’s winner, Ronnie Whiterow. Full result then for Limavady was as follows, 1st W Mc Ilmoyle 1299, 2nd J Mc Cool 1274, 3rd W Mc Ilmoyle 1251, 4th W Mc Ilmoyle 1241, 5th R Whiterow 1226.
Well done to all the respective winners in the clubs. Unfortunately, I don’t have results for Strabane or Omagh, so I can’t give any details for these clubs. A special word of thanks to Robin Duddy, who was good enough to come and meet me in Templepatrick, with one of my birds from the first race. Not many photos this week, so I will be a little self indulgent.
billyknox@btinternet.com
Pat McLaughlin dominates Maiden City.
Sean McGrotty of the Foyle.
Robert Lyle 2nd and 3rd Maiden City.
Roscrea - 28/04/12
The third race of the old bird season took place from Roscrea, a distance of 140 miles plus to most members. The birds were released at 10.30am, and yet again, the weather wasn’t great with north easterly winds and showers en route. It was no surprise therefore that velocities were down on the previous week. Again, we seem to have had a batch of early birds with the rest making their way home right up to nightfall. Taking everything into consideration, returns overall were quite good. The quickest birds were all in between 1.30pm and 1.45pm, and the winners were separated by a matter of seconds.
Leading the way this week are the Foyle club with John Mc Laughlin having the first bird in the town and also taking Section H. Well done to John who has only recently started racing to a new loft. Paul Maxwell edges closer to the top spot with a second position this week, while Sean Mc Grotty is consistent taking third place. The full result was as follows, 1st John Mc Laughlin 1177, 2nd Paul Maxwell 1165, 3rd Sean Mc Grotty 1149, 4th J Diamond 1146, 5th P Maxwell 1145, 6th T Miller 1144, 7th S Mc Grotty 1141, 8th P Maxwell 1140, 9th J Gallagher, 10th R O Reilly 1122.
Next up, we have the Londonderry club, where again, we have two men dominating the result. Making it a double, having won last week, we have Noel Murray who also takes another three positions in the top ten and second Section H. Yet again, taking three more positions in the top five we have another very consistent flyer, Leo Flannagan, with Derek Simpson making a return to take fifth spot. The full result for the Londonderry club was, 1st Noel Murray 1174, 2nd Leo Flannagan 1151, 3rd Leo Flannagan 1147, 4th Leo Flannagan 1139, 5th Derek Simpson 1125, 6th N Murray 1115, 7th N Murray 1113, 8th N Murray 1113, 9th T +M Gallagher, 10th D Simpson 1100.
On to the Maiden City club, where Gerry Mc Laughlin takes top spot. The remarkable thing about Gerry’s win is that he only sent one bird. Gerry doesn’t keep many birds because of health reasons and when you can send one bird against other members sending twenty or thirty, it makes the win all the more pleasing. Well done to Gerry. The full Maiden City result was as follows, 1st Gerry Mc Laughlin 1162, 2nd Quigley + Dunne, 3rd Billy Page 1144, 4th Mc Gettigan Bros 1136, 5th P + M Healy 1131, 6th P Mc Laughlin 1123, 7thP + M Healy 1123, 8th S Morrison 1119, 9th P + M Healy 1117, 10th B Page 1117.
Next up we have the Limavady club, where John Mc Cool takes one step up this week to take the top spot. Willie Mc Ilmoyle hangs on in there to take second and third. In fourth spot this week and worth a mention, is Liam Miller who is new to the sport and hopefully will be encouraged by this week’s result. The full result then for Limavady was, 1st John Mc Cool 1130, 2nd Willie Mc Ilmoyle 1126, 3rd W Mc Ilmoyle 1121, 4th Liam Miller 1119, 5th Ronnie Whiterow 1119, 6th H Crawford 1106, 7th W Mc Ilmoyle 1106, 8th W Mc Ilmoyle 1106, 9th R Whiterow 1096, 10th R Whiterow 1091.
In the Derry + District this week, Anthony Mc Crudden once again takes top spot and also takes third in Section H. Eddie Mc Eleney climbs closer to the summit in second while D Canning has a good result again in third. Anthony takes fourth while Danny Cooley gets closer in fifth spot. Full result then for the Derry + District is as follows, 1st Anthony Mc Crudden 1173, 2nd Eddie Mc Eleney 1156, 3rd D Canning 1154, 4th A Mc Crudden 1153, 5th Cooley Bros 1151, 6th Cooley Bros 1151, 7th E Mc Eleney 1148, 8th A Mc Crudden 1147, 9th J + G Ramsey, 10th M + C Chism 1128.
The Rock club this week see’s a welcome return to the top spot for Niall Cassidy, while the ever present Tommy White and Micky Mc Closkey take second and third positions. Full results, 1st Niall Cassidy 1134, 2nd Tommy White 1116, 3rd Micky Mc Closkey 1081, 4th D Rigby 1076, 5th Fox + Hegarty 1069, 6th A Mitchell 1060, 7th Fox + Hegarty 1060, 8th T White 1058, 9th J + R Mc Monagle 1058, 10th J + R Mc Monagle 1048.
In the Omagh club this week, three men fill the top six positions. Leading the way is Richard Adams who also takes second spot. Third and sixth spots go to Alan Kelly, while Kenny Armstrong takes fourth and fifth. Full result then, 1st Richard Adams 1171, 2nd R Adams 1152, 3rd Alan Kelly 1134, 4th Kenny Armstrong 1126, 5th K Armstrong 1121, 6th A Kelly 1119.
Well done to all the winners and all those who took positions. And well done again to John Mc Laughlin who tops Section H and, to all the fanciers who took Section positions.
Haven’t got any more photos from anyone, so I can only show the same ugly mugs that I have been using all along.
billyknox@btinternet.com
Gerry McLaughlin of the Maiden City.
Damien Dunne runner-up in the Maiden City.
Billy Page.