Penzance YB National - 09/09/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

Robert Shaw takes Top 3 in Penzance YB National

The Irish National Flying Club held their Young Bird Channel National from Penzance in Cornwall on Thursday 9th September. The race had been postponed from the Wednesday due to the inclement weather but the race team was quick to spot the bad weather approaching and so basketing was moved back from the Monday to Tuesday.

The birds were released at 8.30am in a light northwest wind and there were 2400 young birds from all over Ireland competing in this prestigious race. Word soon filtered through as the first of the pigeons were timed in the south and we all knew that we needed to get birds shortly after 3pm to be in with a chance of winning this National.

While the race was won in Ballymoney by Danny Dixon, South Down Fed members once again put up some great performances at national level. Pride of place goes to Annsborough’s Robert Shaw who had one of the best cards on the day with 4 pigeons in the result. This was something special as there were only 266 birds recorded on the day throughout Ireland with many more making it home on the second day.

Robert takes the top 3 positions in the Fed and his fourth bird is 8th Fed with all 4 birds making the Open result. His North section and Open positions are as follows, 37th, 84th, 86th and 150th North section, 41st, 99th 102nd, 188th Open.
Robert sent 9 birds to this race and timed 4. All the birds timed had been to Talbenny two weeks previously. The first bird timed was a mealy hen whose dam was one of John Orme, Newtownards’ Distance pigeons through Fear Bros. The dam is an Ian Axe Delbar. A full sister of the bird timed here won Bude as a yearling.

Robert’s second pigeon was 2nd Section F from Talbenny. The sire of this one is a Vandenabeele from the Fowler family in England while the dam is a Van Reet from Jeff Greenaway of Dromore’s ‘Back to Back’ pigeons.

The third bird, which arrived with the second one is a black cheq hen with the sire coming from his Mr & Mrs Paul Woolis from Grimsby pigeons and the sire being one of his own Catryyse pigeons.

The pigeon at 8th Fed for Robert is another hen, with the sire again coming from his Mr & Mrs Paul Woolis pigeons. The dam of this one is a Jan Arden.

D Croskery & Son who have had a dream year at National level winning a coveted Hall of Fame from the King’s Cup add another great trophy to their collection by winning the Robin Duddy Challenge for the best average 3 bird nomination in the Yearling National and Young Bird National. Dominic and Dolen are 4th Fed, 87th North section, 103rd Open. As reported last week they had another great result in the Skibbereen National when they were 2nd and 9th in the North section.

The pigeon timed here is a half sister of their Hall of Fame winner. Its dam was 60th Open in this race last year while the sire is one of their own De Klak pigeons.

Newcastle’s S & A Foster take the next two in the Fed result at 5th and 6th Fed. Again both these birds take good section and Open result. Stephen and Adam timed their two birds within 5 minutes to take 126th, 130th North section and 154th and 161st Open.
Stephen and Adam have a great record from this race and their first pigeon timed here is down from a pigeon that was 5th open in this race for them on the dam’s side while the sire came from Bill Hamilton from Arbroath.

Their second bird broke its leg before the young bird racing began but Adam looked after it and got it back on the road again. He has been well rewarded for his efforts as this bird was in the top 10 in section F of the NIPA in the Talbenny Derby winning £300. The grandsire of this bird came from Billy Houston, Corrigs and contains Tom Marshall’s distance lines. The dam is from Bill Hamilton.
Annalong’s McLoughlin Bros are 7th Fed here, taking 143rd North section, 180th Open and is a just reward for all the hard work put in by Seamus throughout the season. The pigeon timed here was 5th club in Talbenny. This young hen is from a pair obtained from J & J Hollinger Millisle.

P Brown & Son Annsborough are 9th Fed, 156th North section, 194th Open this week. Last year Colin got 4 late breds from club mate Mickey Croskery and a pair of them is responsible for the pigeon timed here. While Mickey isn’t in the result here he has had another terrific season.

The result is completed by Annalong’s Bobby McConnell who timed at 5.45pm to just miss out on an Open position. Bobby’s bird was 1st club Talbenny and is bred from a pair of pigeons bought at Richard Quinn and daughter’s clearance sale. The breeding id from Frank Tasker and this pair have bred a few other club prizewinners.

Full Result: 1, 2, 3, R Shaw Annsborough 1222, 1168, 1165.73; 4, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1165.51; 5, 6, S & A Foster Newcastle 1088, 1067; 7, McLoughlin Bros Annalong 1029 Nom; 8, R Shaw 1018; 9, P Brown & Son Annsborough 997; 10, B McConnell Annalong:

* Annual Dinner and Prize Distribution in the Dundrum Inn on Friday 15th October at 8.15pm sharp. I need numbers by this weekend.
*Frank Sheader Soontjens sale on Saturday 16th October in Glenavy. Birds on view from 1.30pm. Sake starts at 2.30pm.
*The birds of the late Henry Beattie will be sold in two parts. Sale 1: Saturday 23rd October. Sale 2 Saturday 30th October. Both sales in Glenavy at 2.30pm