For fanciers in the south of Ireland this would be one of the most prestigious races on the programme and one that most serious channel flyers would like to win.
Liberation was delayed until 9:45am into a south westerly breeze, and given the lateness of the lib it was assumed that day birds would be in short supply, and this is how it panned out for members of the IHU NFC with no birds on the day.
With an early start on the Saturday morning, Word came through that the first bird had been clocked at 7:40am to the Dublin loft of John Dunne who competes in the Clontarf club, which is on the north side of the city.
He races on his own to a back garden loft, but if he needs any assistance, his daughter Jenny, would be on hand to give him a dig out on occasion.
As it happened, this bird turned out to be the eventual winner of 1st section "A" 1st Open in the IHUNFC St Malo race.
John Dunne has kept pigeons from a very young age, starting originally with street pigeons, then purchasing birds from the Anglesea Lane market just off Caple street in Dublins inner city, at that time pigeons were sold at just one shilling each.
It wasn't until John made the aquaintence of fanciers like Willy Delaney Dublin, one of the best stock men John ever knew, and Noel Grant Ballbriggan , another great, on the Dublin pigeon racing scene, that John started racing seriously, these two gentlemen were to have a lasting influence on John's future racing ambitions.
Unfortunately both of these fanciers have now passed on, which is a pity really, as they were very generous with their knowledge and were always ready to help new starters and John had some great birds off of both of them over the years.
John's timer in this St Malo race was his good red cheq hen. medium in size with beautiful feather quality. Her sire was bred by Mick Grant, and her dam was bred by Danny Dalton & Son who John would like to thank for supplying these bloodlines. The hen had already been to Bude earlier in the season before being set up fot this event, in which she excelled. Well done John.
In 1st section "C" 2nd open we have the ultra successful loft of Tom & Enda Kelly from Castledermot, who fly with the Barrow Valley RPC in Carow. Although this is a father & Son partnership, for these cross channel events it is father Tom who prepares the birds for the channel , as Enda is more interested in sprint racing, Tom on the other hand really enjoys the longer distance races, and is prepared to spend many hours on the road and around the Lofts with the birds in order to have them in perfect order for their chosen race.
This Black cock, only a yearling, has been raced hard this year having several inland races as well as competing from Penzance, taking 18th Open IHU NFC just twelve days before being sent to France.
The sire is a 2011 cock that was bred by and purchased from the National breeding station, and he has bred some outstanding performers over the years, the dam is a Rene Van DeWeyer x Patrick Boecks hen bred from stock. Well done Tom and Enda on yet another fine performance.
In 3rd Open 2nd section "A" is Peter Bell also from Dublin, Peter clocked a yearling blue hen in this gruelling race early on the second morning showing her tenacity. The hen is of Jannsen x Jan Aarden breeding and is home bred from a pair kept especially for stock, Peter obviously knows his family of birds very well, knowing which birds to keep for stock and racing those that have the ability to conquer these tough racing conditions.
Again, Well done to Peter & Family.
I have lots more fine National results to get through over the next few weeks, let's hope I can find the time to do all the winners and their birds justice, I'll be in touch.
Francis Corcoran
Pro : IHU NFC.
John Dunne, Donaghadee.
Red Hen, 1st Open IHUNFC St Malo.
Tom Kelly, of T& E Kelly, Castledermot.
Black cock 2nd Open IHUNFC St Malo.
Peter Bell, 3rd Open IHUNFC St Malo.