Flying into the NW - Tullamore 12/04/14

Top competition in Derry City between the five local clubs Foyle, Maiden City, Londonderry, Ameila Earhart and Derry & Dist. Click here for all the latest news and results for the City of Derry Federation etc.
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willie reynolds
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Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:44 pm

Flying into the NW - Tullamore 12/04/14

Post by willie reynolds »

Well here we go again then, the racing season is off and running for the 2014 season. For the first race of the NIPA season, the birds were at Tullamore in Co. Offaly, a distance to most fanciers in the North West of some 120 miles or more. With the cold weather, and a very brisk westerly wind, everyone was expecting a tight opener and that in general is how things panned out. The NIPA took us down to the wire when it came to release time, with the birds held right to the 2 o’clock deadline, and with the really slow updates and the lack of information coming from the NIPA, coupled with the multiple crashes on the web site, many people thought that there may be a hold over. However, the birds got away eventually, and only had the small task of the 120 mile trip to overcome.

The first race was always going to be tight going, especially given the cold and the wind, and unless you had fit birds you weren’t going to be counting. Indeed, a lot of fanciers are yet to begin training, and many who did send were being vey cagey sending just a few pigeons, which saw overall numbers well down.

Most clubs have sent their results at the time of writing the report, although I don’t know if all the North West clubs were competing today or not. As I say every season, it would be good to have photos of all our winners, and maybe a few details of the bird etc. More especially, as the reports are not only going to the BHW, but are on the web every week as well. Surely it can’t be that hard for someone to take a few pictures at basketing in the club some week and forward them to me. No one else is going to promote the local fanciers and birds, or maybe it’s just the case that no one at the end of the day is really that bothered.

Anyway, let’s get on with the results for the race, and we will have to start with our Section winner Danny Canning, who flies in the Derry and District club. Danny is a relative new comer to the sport, but has already proven himself over the last couple of season as one of the up and coming fanciers in the North West, whom I’m sure, will feature regularly in our reports. Danny then leads the way this week, with the full result in the Derry and District looking like this, 1st, 8th and 9th Danny Canning, 1361, 1244, 1244, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 10th A Mc Crudden,1339, 1300, 1297, 1243, 3rd P Hegarty, 1332, 4th and 7th B&K Reid, 1325, 1259.

Up the road next to Limavady, where not surprisingly maybe, Ronnie Witherow once again leads the way home. Ronnie was last year’s Section Fancier of the Year and will undoubtedly be the man to beat again this year. The full result for Limavady was as follows, 1st, 3rd and 6th R Witherow, 1347, 1277, 1244, 2nd and 5th J Crawford, 1280, 1248, 4th J Kealey 1263, 7th, 8th and 10th R Mc Ilmoyle, 1239, 1225, 9th D Mc Cool 1223.

To Omagh next, where again, a familiar name leads the pack home. Alan Hall starts the year off with a bang, and if his birds are in form this early, he is going to be very hard to stop. The top six in Omagh looked like this then, 1st and 4th A Hall, 1295, 1154, 2nd and 6th Ronnie Harkness, 1285, 1145, 3rd Richard Jolley, 1205, 5th Kenny Armstrong, 1151.

Back to the Derry clubs, where we have a father and son topping two different clubs this week. In the Amelia Earhart, Robert Cassidy takes the first red card of the year, while in the Londonderry club, Robert’s son John leads the way home. Obviously a lot of hard training done by the Cassidy’s this year. Better known for excelling at the distance, it just goes to show what can be done on a good hard day. Well done to both Robert and John.
The result for the Amelia club looked like this then, 1st Robert Cassidy, 1342, 2nd W&D Hamilton, 1327, 3rd C Fox, 1286, 4th N Doherty, 1286, 5th and 9th Canning & Gill, 1282, 1245, 6th J Quigley, 1275, 7th S Campbell, 1261, 8th L Mc Closkey, 1245, 10th G Mc Glinchey, 1241.

In the Londonderry club, the result was as follows, 1st and 3rd John Cassidy, 1334, 1271, 2nd, 4th and 6th L Flanagan, 1286, 1267, 1242, 5th and 9th P Mc Laughlin, 1251, 1201, 7th, 8th and 10th, Mc Faul, Murray & Wick, 1235, 1223, and 1185.
Last but not least this week, we have my own club the Maiden City, where we have a very popular partnership taking the honours. This week’s winners are Roy and Gary Martin, whose win I believe is their first club win. Roy and Gary also take 5th and 6th spots, with Concannon Brothers Michael and Robert taking second and third. Onwards and upwards for Roy and Gary this year, let’s hope it’s the first of many wins for the partnership. The full Maiden City result was, 1st, 5th and 6th R & G Martin, 1252, 1142, 1106, 2nd, 3rd and 6th Concannon Bros, 1180, 1147, 1052, 4th T Rodgers, 1143, 8th and 9th T,A & D Morrison, 1043, 1038, 10th F Ramsey 1038.

Well there you have it, one down and plenty more to go. Well done to all our winners, and special congratulations to our Section Winner Danny Canning. Apologies for the old photos, but they are all I have at present.
billyknox@btinternet.com.

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Ronne Witherow, Limavady

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Robert Cassidy, Amelia Earhart

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Alan Hall, Omagh & Dist
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