Any of the fanciers who timed a pigeon in either or both of these races can be very proud of their performance, having said that one fancier in the County Antrim town of Ballyclare had one of the best team performances for some time in an Irish long distance National. Ballyclare & District HPS member Arnold Thompson clocked no fewer than seven prize winning pigeons over the two races, and for good measure had two in the prizes in the very difficult NIPA St Malo National the week before the Kings Cup. In the Yearling National from Sennen Cove in mid June with 2,236 pigeons competing the loft gave an indication of what was to come by putting five in the prizes in a race where the tail end positions down to 283rd were taken on the third day, this from distances around 300 miles. That gives you some idea just how hard Irish channel racing can be when weather conditions are less than perfect.
Arnold's interest is mainly in long distance racing and over the years he has put up many top class results from France, including winning a Hall of Fame Award for a pigeon three times an Open prize winner in the King's Cup. Back in the 1980s he and I were near neighbours living just about 100 yards apart on Ballyclare's Green Road, although his loft was then and still is located a couple of miles away on the townland of Skilganaban between Ballyclare and the village of Ballynure. The remains of the old Skilganaban National School which closed in 1933 lie very close to Arnold's loft. My father was a pupil there and a photo taken in 1930 of all the pupils and the two teachers in charge can be seen on the Internet This commute from home to loft every day does'nt seem to have hinderd Arnold's ability to remain one of Ireland's top National flyers for many years. The loft is situated on land belonging to his good friend Leslie Woodside also one of Ireland's top distance flyers. Leslie after a short break from pigeons has returned to competing again, this time with greatly reduced numbers.
Arnold keeps around 60 stock birds and 90 racers in the range of lofts pictured, all are treated with the usual preventitives pre season including Parastop which is added to oil dampened corn. Currently all but 3 stock birds are flown out during the racing season keeping the breeding stock in top condition which can only be a good thing. The stock birds are mated in late January with a few racers in the section mated to a stock bird, most raring a single young bird. These first round squeakers numbering 30 -36 are then transfered to their own section to be raced on the darkness system later in the year, with any further young birds just raced naturally. The race team are then paired mid February with young birds taken from a few selected pairings, the others sitting out pot eggs. After spending winter locked up, with only a number of latebreds given any exercise during that time, the race team are brought into condition with a number of 30 mile tosses starting two weeks before the first club race. Arnold's current employment as a driver leaves him free from 10.30 am to 1.00 to tend to the birds, he then finishes work at 4.30pm spending another few hours at the lofts. Loft floors are scraped morning and night during the racing season and once daily in the off season. Corn is supplied by Robert and June Kirkwood from Lisburn with Arnold mixing the feed from varius popular brands such as Versa Laga, Vanrobaeys and Natural. Maple peas are added to strenghen the mix at certain times of the season with 50% barley added during the winter. All Old Birds are raced natural with yearlings going to most inland races before a team of up to 20 of them are sent to the INFC Yearling National from Sennen Cove, a race that has,over the years, brought much success to the loft.
Two year olds and over have selected races to build them up for the French National races including midweek tosses from Balbriggan with either Tom Cairns, Ivan Mawhinney or Ronnie Williamson. Arnold would now and again take them himself to this point in an effort to get the birds in tip top condition for the races that he is aiming at , namely NIPA St Malo, INFC St Allouestre an Lamballe. This preperation certainly paid off in 2021 starting with the Sennen Cove Yearling National on 16th June, a 324 mile fly to Skilganaban. From his entry of 20 pigeons ( the INFC limit) Arnold timed 5 in the prizes taking 63rd,109th,110th,191st and 274th. This, as is often the case, was a very difficult race where as stated earlier the tailend prize winners included pigeons timed the third morning. A great start for the loft with winnings of £778 in prize and pool money, as Arnold is one of those fanciers who likes to tick quite a few boxes on the entry form.
NIPA St Malo turned out a real hard race as the winning velocity of 817 ym would indicate, this with 1980 pigeons taking part. Arnold was on the lookout early the second morning to see a great 2 year old Blue Cock arrive to take 15th Open, a real guttsy performance flying 460 miles. A beautiful pigeon this, bred down from the Hall of Fame Hen. A second arrival was clocked to take 113th Open with total winnings of £706 to add to the prize fund.
The INFC King's Cup race from St Allouestre is is a 494 mile fly to Ballyclare with two sea crossings thrown in just to make it interesting, three if you include the Bristol Channel. Arnold was one of 495 fanciers who got up on Thursday the 8th of July thinking could this be the day I achieve my dream and win Ireland's greatest pigeon race. His entry of 20 birds included a muscular 2 year old Blue Cock bred off a Cock that had been 8th in the Yearling National mated to an Aiden McAteer Hen. With only one pigeon recorded on the day to the eventual winner Liam McCall flying 378 miles into Wicklow this turned out to be a really hard race with the Blue Cock arriving home the second day to take 10th North Section, 17th Open. It was interesting to note that Aiden McAteer who bred the Dam of Arnold's pigeon timed two birds in the race to take 15th and 41st Open. When doing the photos for this article I was able to handle this cock and what a pigeon he is, he has it all, great muscle, silky feather, beautul rich eye , pity I had to give him back to Arnold. With winnings of £1,650 this lad has earned his keep, and who knows may well add to that in the not too distant future.
The Friendship National from Lamballe was on Fri. 9th July which saw this race overlap with the King's Cup that had been liberated the previous day, leaving many fanciers watching for arrivals from the two races at the same time. Arnold having timed from St Alloustre earlier in the day was one of these fanciers just hoping to get a bird from either race point. He had 17 pigeons in the race and when a Blue Cock swept on to the landing board it took a few seconds to ascertain whether this was a second day King's Cup pigeon or first day arrival from Lamballe. When he recognised the pigeon it was indeed a Lamballe pigeon that had just flown 460 miles, and a good day just suddenly became a great day, getting even greater not long after when a second Lamballe arrival dropped onto the landing board. Clock station news later that night revealed that only a handful of pigeons had made home on the day and with two of them Arnold went home a very contented man. Having to work the next morning Arnold passed on clocking duties to neighbour Leslie Woodside who by mid morning had timed three more arrivals. Leslie told me it was wonderful watching this team of great pigeons drop in at regular intervals from such a hard race. A sixth bird made home on the third morning to give Arnold the following Open positions, 6th, 9th, 38th, 40th, 42nd, 66th. With only 67 pigeons home in race time this was a fantastic piece of long distance racing wih winnings of £820.
The bloodlines that run through this exceptional team of long distance pigeons include such eminent fanciers as James Clelland, C & L woodside, Maurice Wilkinson, Paul Dunlop and Aiden McAteer. From this base Arnold has moulded a racing team that will compete on equal terms against the best in the country, with the main ingrediant of this mix being the man himself. A common sense approach by a very knowledgeable pigeon fancier has seen Arnold Thompson achieve a lot of success, and as one of the gentlmen of the sport this is richly deserved. Milne Mairs.
Photos 1719 The Thompson lofts..........
1727 Arnold Thompson of Ballyclare & District........
1741 6th Open Lamballe Friendship National...........
1754 17th Open St Allouestre King's Cup.......
1748 15th Open NIPA St Malo National
Part of Arnold Thompsons setup, I had forgotten that I built the big loft for him. Old age.
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