With the rain pouring down here at the moment, Saturday evening, there was no hope that we would have got a race tomorrow, so it was a good decision to hold back and have the marking on Sunday evening for a Monday race, as it happens to be a bank holiday weekend, nobody should be too put out about that decision, however, another slight problem has popped up, that being, that all the major organisations in the North of Ireland have decided to do the same thing, which means that our birds flying southwards could be flying straight into the path of over 40,000 birds heading north, now this is not a big country and not a lot of air space available, so our situation will have to be accessed in even more detail than anticipated.
With so many birds in the sky on Monday, we decided to hold the birds a little later than usual and liberated the convoy of just over 900 birds into a North West breeze.
The returns were no better or worse than usual with some fanciers having all their entries home, with others that have some still missing, a typical young bird race.
Just to catch up first, we have some results in from the Wexford P.R.O. Thomas Walsh
Wexford RPC
Hi Francis
Results from Trim on the 27th July.
1st Lyn Griffiths and son
2nd Peter Doyle
3rd Tony Kelly
Results from Trim on the 30th July.
1st Peter Doyle
2nd Lyn Griffiths and son
Results from Carrickmacross on the 4th August.
1st Peter Doyle
2nd Anthony and Jodie Thomas
3rd Peter Doyle
Ennioscorty RPC.
He went, he conquered, and now he’s back. Eddy Dobbs takes pole position in the Enniscorty Club on his return to North road racing, his dark cheq cock doing a velocity of 1200ypm. next Paddy Collins with another dark cheq, this one a hen from his own family, followed closely by Crosbie Bros with a cheq hen.
A little more detail on the winning birds and fanciers, and a few photo’s would be much appreciated.
NewRoss RPC.
Pat Ronan had a good race here winning 1st & 3rd positions
Arklow Members had 129 birds away for their first race back on the North road after a long stint away on the South road, but like everything else in life, these things go around in cycles and we are glad to have a few of them back competing with us. There is a long tradition of North road racing in the County of Wicklow and plenty of fine performances have been put up by fanciers in that area in many a North Road National., one only has to look at the inscriptions on the An Taoiseach Cup for the longest North Road National race from Thurso to appreciate that fact.
James Clare took the pole position in this event from Carrigmacross on a velocity of 1205ypm just ahead of J & M Murphy on 1180ypm then John Annesley in 3rd, not a lot of detail as yet, but I’m sure someone from over there will keep me posted in future events.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
Edward Holden back to winning way’s in the Cill Cheannaigh club with a 1,2,3, in this race, his first bird, a Red Bucharest x Van Reet cock, Winning velocity was 1267ypm. Diarmuid Barron & Son were next with only decimals separating both lofts.
Barrow Valley RPC.
Rocca & Roly take first place in this race with a likely Fed topper, on a velocity of 1286ypm just ahead of Damien Maher and Tom McNally in his first race back with the club after being out through illness, a welcome return by Tom and I’m sure it wont be long before he visit’s the winning enclosure, I did say the same thing about Damien Maher some time ago but thus far that illusive first prize has evaded him, but he is still trying, remember boys this partnership of Roly & Rocca will show no mercy when it comes to winning races, we are all going to have to try a little harder, there’s only a yard or two in it, the difference is, that these guys seldom make any mistakes in their preparation and their attention to detail is second to none.
Next week we are in Monaghan and it looks like it will be Monday for this one, with the weather acting up again it is very unstable, with some difficult decisions having to be made by all concerned.
As regards these write ups, I’m afraid that the information I am receiving on the races in my opinion is not up to scratch, taking into account that the people that provide these notes, do their best to get as much info as possible, it seem that that their task is near impossible, with the lack of information being presented to them. Its going to take a bit more detail on the winning birds and fanciers to make the effort sustainable and worthwhile, the will is there, but without the proper info it just does not make good reading, so please help them to get something tangible to use.
I told you at the beginning of the year that mere results are not enough, as these can be seen within minutes of birds being clocked on every mickey mouse web site going, which seems to be the norm these days, but in my view it does take away from the winners of the races. From what I can gather, most of the material on these sites seems to be a little hysterical and very sensational and before the real results come out in full, the performances of the birds and fanciers is lost in the furore over whether they should or should have been released, losses being reported as fact within minutes of the winners being clocked instead of waiting a good few hours and get a more realistic view of the returns, remember birds that are not home within a few minutes of the winners are not always lost, in most cases they do turn up, but unfortunately this is not what some people want you to hear or read about, no, they seem to get some type of satisfaction in getting the negative message out there, and as quickly as possible, as they say there’s no point in letting the truth get in the way of a good story, especially if it spells doom and gloom for those competing, we seem to have lost the ability to wait, take stock and then analyse the results of any particular race or event in the rush for a quick fix, as it were.
Anyway that’s my lot for this week, any news or info to Francis Corcoran@alpinelofts.net or 00353599145419. Punch.
Rocca & Roly
Peter Doyle
Edward Holden
Pat Ronan
