The birds were at Talbenny in Wales this week, for our first channel race, and true to form, it turned out to be a bit of a stinker. Talbenny has long been known as a graveyard for pigeons, and not much seems to have changed, with many empty perches, and a lot of fanciers not seeing any returns at all on the day. Fresh head winds and a lot of showery rain on the way home wouldn’t have helped either. By all accounts there are a lot of birds around Ayrshire in Scotland, and it seems that many older and more experienced birds are the ones who failed to cross, with a lot of yearlings in the results. Velocities then as you might have expected are low, with only a handful making over the 1,000 ypm mark. With only another four weeks of racing left, let’s hope for an upturn in fortune for everyone, and a bit more luck for all those brave enough to try the channel.
We will have to start up in Omagh again this week, where Alan Hall reigns supreme again, adding another Section win to his impressive tally. Alan excels when it comes to the channel, and will be looking forward I’m sure to the coming weeks. Alan has a great race with first and second in the club and takes third in the Section to go with his first place. Close behind again this week is the ever present Alan Kelly who takes third and fourth in the club, with Ray Adams making up the top five. The complete result for Omagh looks like this, 1st, 2nd and 6th A Hall 1094, 1076, 982, 3rd and 4th A Kelly 1064, 1034, 5th R Adams 985.
Next up we go to Limavady, where Ronnie Witherow takes another first and gets in for second in the Section. Ronnie is another man who likes the channel events and will be hard to beat in Limavady in the coming weeks. The full result for Limavady looks like this, 1st R Witherow 1087, 2nd D Johnston 1058, 3rd and 6th H Crawford 1004, 925, 4th W Mc Ilmoyle 994, 5th J Kerr 945, 7th and 8th J Crawford 808, 793.
In Strabane this week, D Mc Nulty takes the top two spots in what turned out to be a very hard race in the club. Tommy Mc Bride also has a couple in the result for third and fourth, while Glenn Quinn also has a brace to finish the result with fifth and sixth positions.
The velocities for the Strabane birds looked like this, 1st and 2nd D Mc Nulty 855, 851, 3rd and 4th T Mc Bride 843, 761, 5th and 6th G Quinn 740, 675.
Up in the Derry clubs this week, we will start with the Amelia Earhart club where Niall Cassidy has a great race to take the red card this week. Sean Campbell makes a top three appearance at last with a good second place, while the Mc Monagle brothers Jim and Ray are in the frame again in third position.
A full card from the Amelia Earhart, which looks like this, 1st N Cassidy 1032, 2nd S Campbell 1018, 3rd and 9th J+R Mc Monagle 985, 4th C Fox 959, 5th M Mc Closkey 955, 6th and 10th W+D Hamilton, 7th P Ward, 9th J Quigley.
In the Maiden City club this week, only eight birds at the strike off. The result for the Maiden City looked like this 1st and 3rd S Morrison 1000, 961, 2nd Kelly+Borland 981, 4th and 6th T Morrison 953, 5th R Lyle 952, 7th P+M Healy, 8th P Mc Laughlin.
Over in the Londonderry club, Leo Flanagan racks up yet another win and takes second and fifth as well. Leo probably isn’t really known for his channel racing, but shows the rest just how it’s done. John Cassidy, whose brother Niall won the Amelia this week, also has a very good race, taking three of the top seven positions. The full result for the Londonderry club was 1st, 2nd and 5th L Flanagan 998, 952, 832, 3rd, 6th and 7th J Cassidy 916, 4th J+D Kelly 833.
Finally this week, down in the Derry and District, Michael Moran takes the club win, with Anthony Mc Crudden and Danny Cooley close on his tail in second and third positions. Danny Canning is in fourth this week, with Tony Mullen making up the top five. The full result for the Derry and District looked like this, 1st and 6th L+M Moran 995, 2nd A Mc Crudden 960, 3rd Cooley Bros 950, 4th D Canning 887, 5th and 8th T Mullen + Son 885, 7th M Harkin, 9th S Healy.
Well done again to our Section winner this week, Alan Hall, and to all the club winners and all those who managed to get into the results. Next week its back to Talbenny again, and we have the yearling Nationals on the same day, so it should be interesting racing again next week.
billyknox@btinternet.com
City of Derry Federation Talbenny (1) 57/356 – P Maxwell Snr Foyle 1033, N Cassidy Amelia Earhart 1032, S Campbell Amelia Earhart 1018, L & B Flanagan Londonderry 998, L & M Moran Derry & Dist 995, McMonagle Bros Amelia Earhart 985, Kelly & Borland Maiden City 981, A McCrudden Derry & Dist 960, C Fox Amelia Earhart 959, R O’Reilly Foyle 956, M McCloskey Amelia Earhart 955, T Morrison Maiden City 953, R Lyle Maiden City 952, L & B Flanagan 952, Cooley Bros Derry & Dist 950, J Gallagher Foyle 947, T Morrison 946, P Maxwell Snr 934, W & D Hamilton Amelia Earhart 930, R O’Reilly 921.
Niall Cassidy 1st in the Amelia Earhart.
Leo Flanagan 1st, 2nd & 5th in the Londonderry.
Alan Hall from Omagh & Dist, 1st Sect H from Talbenny (1).