Having said that, the arrival of a light south east wind on the morning of liberation was a welcome addition to the prevailing conditions.
As expected the birds left Wales pretty sharply and hit Ireland between Wexford and Waterford and arrived like a spear directly inland from there.
Taking first and second Open was the Kilkenny loft of John Murphy clocking two birds in quick succession on velocity's of 1406 and 1396ypm. Johns first arrival was a two year old Cheq cock, the sire of which was purchased from the Gordon Bros in Northern Ireland, the Dam was aquired through Elimar auctions and contains the bloodlines of champion Starlight. The bird in second Open was a two year old Cheq hen bred from birds obtained from Chris Gordon in the UK, these have been racing well for John since being acquired.
Both birds had competed in the first six races of the season on the roundabout system, and were paired up in preperation for the channel races, both were sent sitting twelve days on eggs on the night of basketing. The birds are fed on the best of food that John can buy and is supplied by PJ Nagle of Carlow pigeon supplies, also treated with yellow drops and Oxygen Plus as reccomended by Sheldon Leonard of FBI.
John Murphy is a shrude pigeon man, he has invested heavily in good pigeons and good lofts, he also takes advice from some of the best pigeon racings minds in the sport, and for that, john would like to thank them all for their time and advice.
In third Open, also seventh and tenth open, we have the partnership of Krasen and o'Hara flying into Monesterevin about fifty miles inland from the coast, in fact these guys had a superb race having clocked three birds in the first ten of the Open.
In fourth Open we have JJ Hurley of the Barrow Valley Club in Carlow, JJ who is no stranger to the winners enclosure clocked a two year old Blue hen with plenty of previous form. Fifth and taking first section "D" is John Collins of the Tower racing pigeon club in Waterford, John is having quite the exceptional racing season this year with several leading and winning positions in a very strong federation with whom he flies on a weekly basis, and now has come up Trumps in the first channel race of the IHUNFC programme. Lester Audoire of Kilkenny is in at sixth Open, leo Conran, Graiugenamannagh, who is having another good season is in at eight Open. And a very creditable ninth Open position goes to Billy MaCarthy off down there in Cork, a great performance indeed.
Although the winning velocities may give the impression of an easy race, it was quite difficult, especially for those fanciers on the east coast and those in Dublin, the coastal fog and a north east wind on this side of the channel made for difficult racing into those parts. However, one thing is for sure, and has been expressed by all and sundry, that the birds returned in immaculate condition and were a credit to both the race controllers, who put in an increditable amount of hard work to get us a race and also the convoying team for the condition of the birds on their return, well done to them all. Franciscorcoran21@gmail.com
The wing of the winning pigeon for John Murphy Kilkenny RPC
John Murphy holding his first and second IHUNFC Open winners from Talbenny in Wales.