15th Sun City - Final Race Report
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:03 pm
“INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE”
THE 15th SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR
(THE GREATEST PIGEON RACE IN THE WORLD)
“NEWSLETTER”
“FINAL RACE”
Near HOPETOWN 526km (327 miles)
held on Saturday 22nd January 2011.
The UNITED KINGDOM TEAM had a fantastic “FINAL RACE” result and had 4 pigeons on the day and won 3rd, 5th, 24th, 40th then 65th, 66th, 77th, 100th, 102nd, 118th, 124th, 128th, 129th, 141st, 144th, 161st, 162nd, 173rd, 198th, 199th, 202nd, 206th, 217th, 223rd, 228th, 239th, 246th, 249th, 264th, 274th, 285th, 286th & 298th OPEN. The IRISH TEAM also had a good race and had 1 pigeon on the day which took 78th then 116th, 160th & 293rd OPEN. Only 51 gallant pigeons were officially clocked on the day in this extremely tough race and this also included
1 x Non-Activated pigeon. Plus also 5 more pigeons were clocked during darkness.
The actual weather conditions in South Africa throughout this 2010/11 race series have been a dominant factor, at times it has been incredibly hot and dry and then extremely wet and unsettled for prolonged periods with 100mm (4 inches) of rain falling in a 12 hour period. In fact a few of the training tosses had to be cancelled or rearranged because of inclement weather during the race programme, with the Race Director and Loft Manager always thinking about the pigeons first rather than just getting another training toss under their belts.
Once again it was great to finally meet Craig Boord and his team who is the owner of Fearless Films (Streamline Media) an Australian film company who had been given permission to shoot footage of anything to do with the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race which would be eventually shown on worldwide television documentary. They filmed the arrival of the pigeons in the penultimate Training Race, basketing for the Final Race, Welcome Function, liberation of the pigeons in the Final Race, arrival of the winning pigeons, coverage in the Superbowl, Celebratory Dinner and Prize Presentations, plus the auction of the top 100 pigeons in the Superbowl on the Sunday morning. They also did numerous interviews with top fanciers from all over the world which will also be included in this documentary. These guys were also given permission to film areas around Sun City which when included in this documentary will make it a wonderful film for the whole world to see. I for one am really looking forward to see this very special extravaganza, which eventually will be shown all over the world.
However after numerous months of hard work and about 80 training tosses and twenty-two (22) official races, which was made up by 16 Training Races and 5 Hot Spot Races plus two short non-qualifying training tosses and over 7,000km (approx. 4,350 miles) on the road, Thursday 20th January 2011 finally arrived for the basketing of the pigeons that were due to go to this truly prestigious International Pigeon Race. This outstanding team of pigeons supplied by some of the best fanciers in the world today had already undergone five testing Hot Spot Races from the end of November 2010 and were now ready for their twenty second race. Fanciers and competitors were invited to the race lofts to enjoy a barbecue (braai) in the very warm conditions and watch the pigeons being basketed. All the pigeons in the four lofts were finally loaded into the crates at the lofts by the loft staff and loaded onto the transporter on Thursday morning and were then ready to be taken to the massive air conditioned Superbowl for the Race marking procedure. All the lofts were checked to make sure they were empty before the transporter left. The transporter arrived at the Superbowl at about 13-00, the crates of pigeons were unloaded and then Zandy Meyer (Race Director) told everybody present what to do and what was expected from them. The race marking started at 13-15 and is run by a team of four independent auditors who are from E. COETZEE & KIE and nothing is left to chance, with every encapsulating ring carefully being removed for the first time since the pigeons arrived in Sun City, thus revealing the pigeon’s official ring number. The pigeon’s electronic ring is then scanned and the marker then reads the ring number out to the person who is operating the computer, it is double checked against the computers database and if all is correct, it then moves onto the next process which is having its official ring covered again by a special sticky label, which is supplied by the Auditors, then it is wing stamped and placed into one of the race crates. As the pigeons are scanned, the computer operator is also told by the computer when sixteen (16) pigeons have been race marked, that is checked with another person who is also doing a separate manual count, plus the sticky labels are also cut into the correct amount for each basket. So in essence there are three different checks before each basket is closed and sealed with sixteen (16) pigeons in each, which gives the pigeons plenty of room. With a great team of markers and four different marking tables, the actual race marking only took about four hours and the complete race marking was finally completed just before 17-15 with very few problems arising. A fantastic achievement and thanks of course must go to all the fanciers concerned as without your help to basket these pigeons this massive task would have taken the Race Committee much longer to achieve. The general opinion of most of the fanciers I spoke to that had assisted us with race basketing in previous years was that the pigeons being basketed today were all in excellent condition and were ready for the task before them.
From an original record breaking entry of 6,611 pigeons from 36 different countries, a total of 2,575 pigeons were finally basketed for “FINAL RACE” and the race was due to take place on Saturday 22nd January 2011 from Hopetown 559km (348 miles) and this total included 245 United Kingdom pigeons and 37 Irish pigeons. In this final total there were 29 pigeons that were “Not-Activated” and these would not be competing for any of the prize money. Also unfortunately, about 26 pigeons were deemed not fit enough to be sent to the race by the veterinary officer Dr. Marthinus Hartman, either because of injuries or smashed identity rings which of course meant they were not eligible to compete in the race. These owners would all get a US$1,000 refund as their pigeon/s were not actually entered for the race. For the second time ever we had two inspectors in attendance from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and they seemed to be very happy with the way the race basketing went.
It was also a great pleasure to see that all bar 3 of the 36 countries that originally entered pigeons still had pigeons left in the race, which in itself is a remarkable achievement and these were made up as follows:- INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES totalled a record breaking 2,202 and the host country SOUTH AFRICA had 373 entries and this is a breakdown of actual original entries per country and in brackets what was actually sent to the Final Race AUSTRALIA 271 (88), AUSTRIA 78 (22), BAHRAIN 15 (10), BELGIUM 521 (233), BULGARIA 6 (2), CANADA 169 (61), CHINA 9 (3), CZECH REPUBLIC 114 (50), DENMARK 128 (67), GERMANY 1636 (717), HONG KONG 9 (0), HUNGARY 3 (1), IRAQ 3 (2), IRELAND 87 (37), ITALY 30 (15), KUWAIT 243 (83), MEXICO 6 (1), NAMIBIA 9 (5), NETHERLANDS 422 (177), POLAND 51 (23), PUERTO RICO 3 (0), QATAR 21 (7), REPUBLIC OF KOREA 12 (1), ROMANIA 81 (41), SAUDI ARABIA 3 (0), SLOVAKIA 90 (31), SLOVENIA 6 (1), SOUTH AFRICA 978 (373), SPAIN 24 (16), SWEDEN 15 (7), SWITZERLAND 33 (18), TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 6 (1), UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 15 (6), UNITED KINGDOM 609 (245), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 890 (226) and ZIMBABWE 15 (12). Once again it was great to see quite a few new countries competing for the first time but as usual it was also a great shame to see quite a few countries not being able to enter because of Avian Influenza restrictions imposed by their governments or ministries. Hopefully, things will improve for the 2012 SCMDPR. It should also be mentioned that for the first ten years the actual race distance had been from 632km (393 miles) but the Race Organisers and Race Committee decided to reduce the race distance to give more pigeons a chance to make it back to the lofts on the day of liberation and that has been generally accepted by pigeon fanciers as a good move.
After the basketing had been completed in record time and the pigeons had been fed and watered, they were then loaded onto the transported in the Superbowl so they would be ready for their early start towards the race point early on Friday morning. The transported was sealed with special numbered seals and then left to have a rest in the Superbowl guarded by special security guards from Falcon Security. We then all departed, the lights were switched off and the pigeons could rest and think about what was in front of them. It was then back to the Vista Bar in the Cascades Hotel which was buzzing and everybody was talking about the race and what they thought their chances were, after some considerable time and a few drinks everybody said their goodbyes and made their way to bed in the early hours of the morning.
Friday soon dawned and was a day for me of meeting people, meetings and setting up the SCMDPR Trade Stand and after a few hectic hours and meeting scores of old friends it was soon time to get ready for The Welcome Reception at the spectacular Valley Of The Waves in the grounds of the fantastic Palace Hotel, which started at 20-00, which as usual had a fantastic barbecue (braai) and buffet for everybody to enjoy, the presentation of the food was outstanding and once again Sun International did us proud, just as they usually do. This was only the second time in the 15 years this race has been running that we able to have this event outside under a full moon and as usual this was a casual function and was attended by about 500 fanciers. Zandy Meyer (Race Director) then told everybody present about the weather forecast for the Saturday plus he informed everybody in attendance that the pigeons would be liberated Hopetown, near Kimberley. Zandy also stated that the race distance was 559km (348 miles). He wished everybody good luck and that it looked good for a great race and he thought it would be a fairly tough event and in his speech he also welcomed everybody to Sun City and told us all that Sun International were once again very proud to be hosting the 15th Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race and once again wished everybody good luck for the race tomorrow and said he looked forward to congratulating the 2011 SCMDPR winner tomorrow evening and hoped he would be seeing us all again next year. All the Country Race Shippers that were present were then called to the stage and presented with a gift from ASI for their efforts throughout the year, plus all the sponsors were called up and presented with a framed diploma for their support in the race. Zandy Meyer and Joan-e Holt then handed over all the awards and each person that was present then was called up to the stage and were all greeted with great applause. The function finally finished about 22-30 and people made their way back to the various bars to round off their day and once again the Vista Bar was packed to the hilt with pigeon fanciers and friends all hoping that tomorrow was going to be their special day. As the International Race Co-ordinator and one of the Official Shippers, I would like to personally thank all the Country and Regional Race Shippers for all their hard work and efforts over the years because without your help and assistance the race would never have got off the ground and would not be the fantastic success it is today. Everybody I spoke to about this function thought it was outstanding in every way, so let us hope the weather is good enough again next year to have this event in such fabulous surroundings.
I finally surfaced on Saturday morning and as I went down for breakfast and was informed that the convoy of pigeons were liberated at 07-35 in overcast and clear conditions, light head wind at the race point and a temperature of 22c or 72f, rising as the day progressed to around 30c or around 98f by mid afternoon. However, because of early morning rain at the race point the pigeons were immediately pulled out of Hopetown and brought back about 33km (21 miles) and they were then liberated in dry conditions. It is always a great shame not to be able to get the pigeons liberated at 05-30/06-00 as this gives them more hours on the wing to make base camp. As the day progressed the head wind slightly increased to and the other good news was that only the weather forecast only showed about a 25% chance of scattered thundershowers during the afternoon. So a reasonable race was anticipated and the Zandy Meyer (Race Director) and Corrie Naude (Trainer) Andre van Wyk, Dave van der Merwe (Loft Managers) thought the first pigeons would take about nine to nine and a half hours to complete their journey. The atmosphere at breakfast was electric and almost everybody I spoke to said how long do you think they will take and my response was between nine and nine and a half hours. My actual predicated arrival time was 16-27. The nine hour mark seemed to be a favourite with most fanciers and with breakfast over, it was now over to the Superbowl to see what was happening there and as usual it was packed and fanciers were all around the trade stands and buying products and gifts. On the two massive screens you could watch the liberation of the pigeons near to Hopetown earlier in the day and this of course created a lot of interest, also the screens were showing Google Earth and this showed the route the pigeons should be taking and this was the fifth time in Sun City that pigeon fanciers and guests could see what was actually happening on the two massive screens. THE SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR PIGEON RACE IS THE ONLY ONE LOFT RACE IN THE WORLD THAT OFFERS SUCH INFORMATION TO ITS ENTRANTS AND AS ANYBODY WILL TELL WHO WAS PRESENT, IT REALLY DOES ADD TO THE EXCITEMENT ON THE DAY. It was also great to see that the transporter staff had taken video clips of a small group of pigeons battling against the wind, just above the ground and transmitted it back to the Superbowl so fanciers could view it. In between all these clips and information, Alan Jordaan was updating people with the current weather forecasts and news that had been telephoned back to the organisers from the Convoyer on the returning transporter and Corrie Naude (Trainer) in the back up vehicle. KEEPING FANCIERS/ENTRANTS INFORMED HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE OBJECT OF THIS GREAT RACE. Before I left the Superbowl fanciers and guests were allowed to their tables where they could sit down and enjoy a superb lunch with some music and entertainment laid on, plus of course regular updates from Alan Jordaan on what was happening on route.
I finally left the Superbowl at about 13-00 to go to the lofts with Michael and Pieter to greet a few other Country Race Shippers and media that were going to watch the race transpire at the loft location in the hot afternoon sun. The UNIKON ELECTRONIC CLOCKING SYSTEM (DEISTER) had been checked and the battery back-up system was connected and in place just in case we had a power cut or a big electrical storm. The camera crew were all set up and in position to film the winning pigeons arriving and all of this was being relayed direct into the Superbowl for the five to six thousands fanciers/guests/friends to watch live as the pigeons arrived at the lofts. A superb lunch was laid on for everybody at the lofts which was just what we all needed as most of us would be at the lofts until darkness fell and then as usual the excitement started to build as the predicted time of arrival got closer.
All the people at the lofts decided to have a R50 bet on “GUESS THE CLOCKING TIME OF THE WINNING PIGEON”, they asked me to go first and I put down 16-27, quite a few others put down earlier times from 16-07 and others of course put down much later times right up to nightfall. This always adds to the fun during the long day and we all had a laugh as each person passed the anticipated time of arrival and were then crossed off the list.
The tension was building up as anything in the sky moved, then just after a few hours looking into the empty sky, all of a sudden I spotted two pigeons approaching the lofts at about 16-37 (9 hours 2 minutes), slightly later than I expected and amidst great excitement the cameraman in the lookout tower zoomed in on the pigeons that were approaching the lofts and they hit the loft, now everybody was hoping that one of these pigeons was theirs, one landed close to the traps and the other one also made its way to the traps, then one actually trapped and was finally officially clocked at 16-37-03.80 and the computer screen in the control office at the lofts and the Superbowl very quickly revealed that the CONGRATULATIONS for winning the coveted 1st OPEN position belonged to KITCHENBRAND LOFTS representing SOUTH AFRICA with their pigeon named VICTOR, which recorded a winning velocity of 1062ypm (approx. 36 mph) and won a staggering US$200,000 (approx. £129,000), it was fantastic that the owners of this great pigeon MARK & NAOMI KITCHENBRAND were present in the Superbowl as their pigeon trapped first to win the most prestigious international pigeon race in the world today and to be crowned as the current “WORLD CHAMPIONS” and they were also very quickly being congratulated by all the fanciers, entrants and competitors around them. This winning pigeon was actually bred in Germany by ALFONS & HELMUT KLAAS and was rung with a South African ring. These great German fanciers also bred KONSTANTIN which won 1st OPEN in the 2007 SCMDPR, which was then purchased after the race by MARK & NAOMI KITCHENBRAND. This lovely partnership have spent a small fortune over the past few years on purchasing the best pigeons in the world, including numerous past SCMDPR winners and prize winners. They also purchased CHAMPION BIRDY that was the SUN CITY OVERALL ACE PIGEON winner in 2008 and they duly purchased this fantastic racing machine for a WORLD RECORD price of nearly £54,000. It was interesting to note that this winning pigeon named VICTOR had won the following OPEN positions throughout the 2010/11 race series:- 4087th, 2654th, 1407th, 2848th, 1365th, 1993rd, 1023rd, 1923rd, 1271st, 1390th, 2252nd, NOT CLOCKED, 2342nd, 1181st, 721st, 894th, 1585th, 2264th, 124th, 2386th, 1899th and now 1st OPEN in the 22 races during this campaign. WELL DESERVED WINNERS AFTER ALL THEIR GREAT PURCHASES OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. 2nd OPEN and runner-up went to BENDT NIELSEN also from DENMARK with pigeon named HELLE N which was clocked at 16-37-37.85 just 34.05 seconds behind the race winner and won US$120,000 (approx. £77,420), 3rd OPEN went to MYRTLE LOFTS – EVANS + WALKER from UNITED KINGDOM with their pigeon named MYRTLE VENTURE which was clocked at 16-41-03.14 and won US$75,000 (approx. £48,400), it should also be mentioned that both parents of the pigeon that came 2nd OPEN for THE POMPEY BOYS in 2009 were bred by these outstanding fanciers, plus also GABY VANDENABEELE from BELGIUM also came 2nd OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR, 4th OPEN went to JUERGEN DREIS from GERMANY with pigeon named BACCHUS which was clocked at 16-57-38.80 and won US$50,000 (approx. £32,258), 5th OPEN went to FENLANDS LOFTS from UNITED KINGDOM with pigeon named FENLAND LYNDISE which was clocked at 16-57-57.40 and won US$25,000 (approx. £16,130), 6th OPEN went to RUNE RASMUSSEN from DENMARK with pigeon named MELPJEVSEN which was clocked 17-02-47.09 and won US$20,000 (approx. £12,905), 7th OPEN went to RACING TEAM ILLUSION from GERMANY with pigeon named SYLT ELINE which was clocked at 17-06-08.96 to win US$17,500 (approx. £11,290), 8th OPEN went to GALLO & PLACETA LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with their pigeon named HOT CHOCO which was clocked at 17-06-11.76 to win US$15,000 (approx. £9,678), 9th OPEN went to KAREL KLEMENS from CZECH REPUBLIC with pigeon named MIRY which was clocked at 17-07-27.61 and won US$12,500 (approx. £8,065), this pigeon also won THE KNOCKOUT COMPETITION and US$25,000 CASH PRIZE (approx. £16,130). It should also be mentioned that this outstanding fancier also win 1st OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR with pigeon named ALI, then 10th OPEN went to SUNSWIFT LOFTS from AUSTRALIA with pigeon named SUNSWIFT PERSISTENT which was clocked at 17-12-07.41 to win US$10,000 (approx. £6,452). These top 10 pigeons all won one of the superb SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR PIGEON RACE GOLD MEDAL and had 35 minutes 04 seconds between them and the top ten pigeons were from 7 different countries represented. Then taking 11th OPEN went to ALI MUTLAQ AL-MAIEA from KUWAIT with NIXON 1 which was clocked at 17-30-44.39 and won US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 12th OPEN to TEAM TOLLISAN from GERMANY with PODOLSKI which was clocked at 17-30-50.40 and won US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 13th OPEN went to HELMUT u ALFONS KLAAS and was named MAXII which was clocked at 17-31-01.51 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), these great fanciers also bred the pigeon that won 1st OPEN in this 2011 SCMDPR, 14th OPEN for FROH TEAM - WEITSTRECKENCLUB from GERMANY with FRANZATOMIC which was clocked at 17-35-05.06 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 15th OPEN for MARC VERSAVEL from BELGIUM with MARIETE V which was clocked at 17-40-41.16 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 16th OPEN for RUDOLF COSSMAN from GERMANY with ALINA 3 and clocked at 17-40-54.96 to win US$5,000 (approx. $3,226), 17th OPEN for BROUGH – DR MEYER from SOUTH AFRICA with CLIFF clocked at 17-49-10.36 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226), 18th OPEN for TEAM SCHUESCHUE from GERMANY with pigeon FLOP clocked at 17-49-13.21 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226), 19th OPEN for IVAN DIMITROV from BULGARIA with RESORT clocked at 17-49-40.41 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226) and then 20th OPEN went to GIGABYTE SYNDICATE from SOUTH AFRICA with SLUM DOG clocked at 17-54-09.57 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226). 21st OPEN for NOVA CLUB from the BELGIUM, 22nd OPEN for TEAM GERMANY - STEFANESCU from the ROMANIA, 23rd OPEN another for KAREL KLEMENS from CZECH REPUBLIC, 24th OPEN for PREMIER STUD UK SYNDICATE from the UNITED KINGDOM, 25th OPEN for RAIKO+RAINER MARIEN from GERMANY, 26th OPEN another for ALI MUTLAQ AL-MAIEA from KUWAIT, 27th OPEN for TEAM SYLT 2000 from GERMANY, 28th OPEN for FAYEZ Q8 from KUWAIT, 29th OPEN for JONES - WINDLE from SOUTH AFRICA and then 30th OPEN for GABY VANDENABEELE from BELGIUM who won 2nd OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR. All these last ten competitors won $3,500 each (£2,260).
Then we had 31st OPEN for HENRIK MELDGAARD from DENMARK, 32nd OPEN for NEMELKA RACING PIGEON LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 33rd OPEN for HOK JIMMY BRANDS from BELGIUM, 34th OPEN for MATHIAS u OTMAR THEISEN from GERMANY, 35th OPEN for SAM SYNDICATE from NETHERLANDS, 36th OPEN for ARKADIUSZ BUTTNER from POLAND, 37th OPEN another for SAM SYNDICATE from NETHERLANDS which just happened to be the same way bred to the 35th OPEN, apparently these were the only 2 pigeons this fancier entered, 38th OPEN for HANS SCHOUGAARD from DENMARK, 39th OPEN for HLOZEK from CZECH REPUBLIC, 40th OPEN for LLOYD and KELLY from UNITED KINGDOM, 41st OPEN for ZG HELIOS, B BUCHER + O GEHRKEN from SWITZERLAND, 42nd OPEN for GUENTER GOETZ from SLOVAKIA, 43rd OPEN for HORST WELLER from GERMANY, 44th OPEN for KOOPMAN RACING PIGEONS from NETHERLANDS, 45th OPEN for AMERICAS DREAM LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NOT ACTIVATED for ITALIAN CHAMPIONS GROUP from ITALY, 46th OPEN another for TEAM SYLT 2000 from the GERMANY, 47th OPEN for KARL ZIEFLE from GERMANY, 48th OPEN for MANFRED TIHEN from the GERMANY, 49th OPEN for LION GATE LOFTS from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and then 50th OPEN for DON and JUDY HART from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. This American pigeon was actually clocked at 22-18-30.13 and in fact all the last 4 gallant pigeons were recorded between 21-56 and 22-18. All these last twenty competitors won $2,500 each (£1,613) with the exception of the NON ACTIVATED pigeon. I also think the next 5 pigeons are worthy of a special mention as these were all clocked between 12-02 and 03-08 and they belonged to UWE NEABAUER from GERMANY with FINISH TIME who took 51st OPEN at 00-02-55, PATTI GIUSEPPE from ITALY with SOVRANA taking 52nd OPEN at 00-16-27, then another for LION GATE LOFTS from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with MY MAIN GUY taking 53rd OPEN at 00-33-27 which really is fantastic flying guys, then FLUIT FLUIT SYNDICATE from SOUTH AFRICA with RISE TO GLORY taking 55th OPEN at 02-41-04 and then finally GEORG OSWALD from GERMANY with GEORGE taking 55th OPEN and being clocked at 03-08-52. It was interested to see that 7 different countries were represented in the top 10, then 11 countries in the top 20, then 12 in the top 30, then 14 in the top 40 and a total of 17 different countries represented in the top 50, which just goes to show that it really was a truly international race result.
As there was a total of 300 cash prizes on offer in this race that meant that pigeons from 51st right through to 300th OPEN would still win a good cash prize for making it home and a grand total of US$225,000 (approx. £145,162) was still to be won with 51st to 75th positions would all win US$2,000 (approx. £1,290 each), 76th to 100th OPEN positions would all win US$1,500 (approx. £968 each), 101st to 150th OPEN positions would all win US$1,250 (approx. £806 each), 151st to 250th OPEN positions would all win US$1,000 (approx. £645 each), plus 251st to 300th OPEN positions would all win US$500 (approx. £323 each), plus numerous other pools and nominations and I would just love to print the whole race result but of course space and time does not permit to publish all the gallant pigeons that were officially clocked, however if you want to see the full race result then please just log onto www.scmdpr.com and you can view every pigeon that was officially clocked in during this race. Another amazing fact was that from the 36 different countries that originally entered pigeons into the race only 13 actually failed to get a pigeon in the top 300 cash prizes and most of these were with very small entries.
When Sunday morning dawned the first pigeon clocked was an Belgium pigeon at 05-41-35 and the pigeons just fell out of the sky for most of the day with all the 300 cash prizes being taken by 10-35-21 and by 12-41 a total of 425 pigeons had actually been officially clocked by the end of Sunday a grand total of over 590 had been officially clocked and the general condition was excellent and by nightfall on Monday 24th January a total of 740 had been officially recorded and then by Monday 14th February a grand total of 920 had returned back to the lofts in Sun City and this total included 83 UNITED KINGDOM and 9 IRISH pigeons. Quite a few more pigeons will of course home during the next few days which should take the total to just over 1,000. As usual the loft staff will leave the Unikon Clocking System on and this will still record late arrivals. Of course numerous more updates will be available for all to see on the SCMDPR web site. Anybody wanting to study the Race Result in more depth can log onto www.scmdpr.com and hit the “RESULTS & LISTINGS” section and get all the information they require.
The team of auditors from E. COETZEE & KIE led by JAKKIE VAN NIEKERK are present at the lofts to make sure everything is done correctly and then after the pigeons have homed and had time to of had some food and of course a drink, the loft staff then catch them and basket them and then they are brought to the auditors to check the ring numbers but before this can be done the sticky plastic ring cover that is put on at the race marking to hide the identity of the country ring is removed so that they can read the ring number and confirm with the database this pigeon actually was basketed and competed in the Final Race plus of course they also make sure they are all carrying the auditors wing stamp that was put on when they were basketed in the Superbowl. At the same time this checking is being done the first 100 pigeons home have a new plastic numbered (1 to 100) ring put on their leg to state which position each pigeon had taken in the Final Race. This of course also helps early on Sunday morning when the pigeons have to be basketed again for the auction, all that happens then is you just look at the number on the plastic ring and that shows which auction pen it has to be put into, which of course saves a lot of valuable time. The auditors have to stay at the lofts until dark as every pigeon that make it home in the top 300 has to be checked against the database before any prize money is actually handed over to fanciers or entrants. This year resulted in them having to return to the lofts early next morning to finish off their task. Also CORNAY SMITH (ATTORNEY) places the first three pigeons home in the race in show pens with a paper base and early the next morning the droppings from each of these pigeons is collected and put into special glass files and then sent off for dope testing. ALL THIS IS DONE, SO THAT FANCIERS/COMPETITORS and ENTRANTS know that everything is above board with all aspects of this great race. WELL DONE LADS, YOU REALLY DO A GREAT JOB.
THE 15th SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR
(THE GREATEST PIGEON RACE IN THE WORLD)
“NEWSLETTER”
“FINAL RACE”
Near HOPETOWN 526km (327 miles)
held on Saturday 22nd January 2011.
The UNITED KINGDOM TEAM had a fantastic “FINAL RACE” result and had 4 pigeons on the day and won 3rd, 5th, 24th, 40th then 65th, 66th, 77th, 100th, 102nd, 118th, 124th, 128th, 129th, 141st, 144th, 161st, 162nd, 173rd, 198th, 199th, 202nd, 206th, 217th, 223rd, 228th, 239th, 246th, 249th, 264th, 274th, 285th, 286th & 298th OPEN. The IRISH TEAM also had a good race and had 1 pigeon on the day which took 78th then 116th, 160th & 293rd OPEN. Only 51 gallant pigeons were officially clocked on the day in this extremely tough race and this also included
1 x Non-Activated pigeon. Plus also 5 more pigeons were clocked during darkness.
The actual weather conditions in South Africa throughout this 2010/11 race series have been a dominant factor, at times it has been incredibly hot and dry and then extremely wet and unsettled for prolonged periods with 100mm (4 inches) of rain falling in a 12 hour period. In fact a few of the training tosses had to be cancelled or rearranged because of inclement weather during the race programme, with the Race Director and Loft Manager always thinking about the pigeons first rather than just getting another training toss under their belts.
Once again it was great to finally meet Craig Boord and his team who is the owner of Fearless Films (Streamline Media) an Australian film company who had been given permission to shoot footage of anything to do with the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race which would be eventually shown on worldwide television documentary. They filmed the arrival of the pigeons in the penultimate Training Race, basketing for the Final Race, Welcome Function, liberation of the pigeons in the Final Race, arrival of the winning pigeons, coverage in the Superbowl, Celebratory Dinner and Prize Presentations, plus the auction of the top 100 pigeons in the Superbowl on the Sunday morning. They also did numerous interviews with top fanciers from all over the world which will also be included in this documentary. These guys were also given permission to film areas around Sun City which when included in this documentary will make it a wonderful film for the whole world to see. I for one am really looking forward to see this very special extravaganza, which eventually will be shown all over the world.
However after numerous months of hard work and about 80 training tosses and twenty-two (22) official races, which was made up by 16 Training Races and 5 Hot Spot Races plus two short non-qualifying training tosses and over 7,000km (approx. 4,350 miles) on the road, Thursday 20th January 2011 finally arrived for the basketing of the pigeons that were due to go to this truly prestigious International Pigeon Race. This outstanding team of pigeons supplied by some of the best fanciers in the world today had already undergone five testing Hot Spot Races from the end of November 2010 and were now ready for their twenty second race. Fanciers and competitors were invited to the race lofts to enjoy a barbecue (braai) in the very warm conditions and watch the pigeons being basketed. All the pigeons in the four lofts were finally loaded into the crates at the lofts by the loft staff and loaded onto the transporter on Thursday morning and were then ready to be taken to the massive air conditioned Superbowl for the Race marking procedure. All the lofts were checked to make sure they were empty before the transporter left. The transporter arrived at the Superbowl at about 13-00, the crates of pigeons were unloaded and then Zandy Meyer (Race Director) told everybody present what to do and what was expected from them. The race marking started at 13-15 and is run by a team of four independent auditors who are from E. COETZEE & KIE and nothing is left to chance, with every encapsulating ring carefully being removed for the first time since the pigeons arrived in Sun City, thus revealing the pigeon’s official ring number. The pigeon’s electronic ring is then scanned and the marker then reads the ring number out to the person who is operating the computer, it is double checked against the computers database and if all is correct, it then moves onto the next process which is having its official ring covered again by a special sticky label, which is supplied by the Auditors, then it is wing stamped and placed into one of the race crates. As the pigeons are scanned, the computer operator is also told by the computer when sixteen (16) pigeons have been race marked, that is checked with another person who is also doing a separate manual count, plus the sticky labels are also cut into the correct amount for each basket. So in essence there are three different checks before each basket is closed and sealed with sixteen (16) pigeons in each, which gives the pigeons plenty of room. With a great team of markers and four different marking tables, the actual race marking only took about four hours and the complete race marking was finally completed just before 17-15 with very few problems arising. A fantastic achievement and thanks of course must go to all the fanciers concerned as without your help to basket these pigeons this massive task would have taken the Race Committee much longer to achieve. The general opinion of most of the fanciers I spoke to that had assisted us with race basketing in previous years was that the pigeons being basketed today were all in excellent condition and were ready for the task before them.
From an original record breaking entry of 6,611 pigeons from 36 different countries, a total of 2,575 pigeons were finally basketed for “FINAL RACE” and the race was due to take place on Saturday 22nd January 2011 from Hopetown 559km (348 miles) and this total included 245 United Kingdom pigeons and 37 Irish pigeons. In this final total there were 29 pigeons that were “Not-Activated” and these would not be competing for any of the prize money. Also unfortunately, about 26 pigeons were deemed not fit enough to be sent to the race by the veterinary officer Dr. Marthinus Hartman, either because of injuries or smashed identity rings which of course meant they were not eligible to compete in the race. These owners would all get a US$1,000 refund as their pigeon/s were not actually entered for the race. For the second time ever we had two inspectors in attendance from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and they seemed to be very happy with the way the race basketing went.
It was also a great pleasure to see that all bar 3 of the 36 countries that originally entered pigeons still had pigeons left in the race, which in itself is a remarkable achievement and these were made up as follows:- INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES totalled a record breaking 2,202 and the host country SOUTH AFRICA had 373 entries and this is a breakdown of actual original entries per country and in brackets what was actually sent to the Final Race AUSTRALIA 271 (88), AUSTRIA 78 (22), BAHRAIN 15 (10), BELGIUM 521 (233), BULGARIA 6 (2), CANADA 169 (61), CHINA 9 (3), CZECH REPUBLIC 114 (50), DENMARK 128 (67), GERMANY 1636 (717), HONG KONG 9 (0), HUNGARY 3 (1), IRAQ 3 (2), IRELAND 87 (37), ITALY 30 (15), KUWAIT 243 (83), MEXICO 6 (1), NAMIBIA 9 (5), NETHERLANDS 422 (177), POLAND 51 (23), PUERTO RICO 3 (0), QATAR 21 (7), REPUBLIC OF KOREA 12 (1), ROMANIA 81 (41), SAUDI ARABIA 3 (0), SLOVAKIA 90 (31), SLOVENIA 6 (1), SOUTH AFRICA 978 (373), SPAIN 24 (16), SWEDEN 15 (7), SWITZERLAND 33 (18), TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 6 (1), UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 15 (6), UNITED KINGDOM 609 (245), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 890 (226) and ZIMBABWE 15 (12). Once again it was great to see quite a few new countries competing for the first time but as usual it was also a great shame to see quite a few countries not being able to enter because of Avian Influenza restrictions imposed by their governments or ministries. Hopefully, things will improve for the 2012 SCMDPR. It should also be mentioned that for the first ten years the actual race distance had been from 632km (393 miles) but the Race Organisers and Race Committee decided to reduce the race distance to give more pigeons a chance to make it back to the lofts on the day of liberation and that has been generally accepted by pigeon fanciers as a good move.
After the basketing had been completed in record time and the pigeons had been fed and watered, they were then loaded onto the transported in the Superbowl so they would be ready for their early start towards the race point early on Friday morning. The transported was sealed with special numbered seals and then left to have a rest in the Superbowl guarded by special security guards from Falcon Security. We then all departed, the lights were switched off and the pigeons could rest and think about what was in front of them. It was then back to the Vista Bar in the Cascades Hotel which was buzzing and everybody was talking about the race and what they thought their chances were, after some considerable time and a few drinks everybody said their goodbyes and made their way to bed in the early hours of the morning.
Friday soon dawned and was a day for me of meeting people, meetings and setting up the SCMDPR Trade Stand and after a few hectic hours and meeting scores of old friends it was soon time to get ready for The Welcome Reception at the spectacular Valley Of The Waves in the grounds of the fantastic Palace Hotel, which started at 20-00, which as usual had a fantastic barbecue (braai) and buffet for everybody to enjoy, the presentation of the food was outstanding and once again Sun International did us proud, just as they usually do. This was only the second time in the 15 years this race has been running that we able to have this event outside under a full moon and as usual this was a casual function and was attended by about 500 fanciers. Zandy Meyer (Race Director) then told everybody present about the weather forecast for the Saturday plus he informed everybody in attendance that the pigeons would be liberated Hopetown, near Kimberley. Zandy also stated that the race distance was 559km (348 miles). He wished everybody good luck and that it looked good for a great race and he thought it would be a fairly tough event and in his speech he also welcomed everybody to Sun City and told us all that Sun International were once again very proud to be hosting the 15th Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race and once again wished everybody good luck for the race tomorrow and said he looked forward to congratulating the 2011 SCMDPR winner tomorrow evening and hoped he would be seeing us all again next year. All the Country Race Shippers that were present were then called to the stage and presented with a gift from ASI for their efforts throughout the year, plus all the sponsors were called up and presented with a framed diploma for their support in the race. Zandy Meyer and Joan-e Holt then handed over all the awards and each person that was present then was called up to the stage and were all greeted with great applause. The function finally finished about 22-30 and people made their way back to the various bars to round off their day and once again the Vista Bar was packed to the hilt with pigeon fanciers and friends all hoping that tomorrow was going to be their special day. As the International Race Co-ordinator and one of the Official Shippers, I would like to personally thank all the Country and Regional Race Shippers for all their hard work and efforts over the years because without your help and assistance the race would never have got off the ground and would not be the fantastic success it is today. Everybody I spoke to about this function thought it was outstanding in every way, so let us hope the weather is good enough again next year to have this event in such fabulous surroundings.
I finally surfaced on Saturday morning and as I went down for breakfast and was informed that the convoy of pigeons were liberated at 07-35 in overcast and clear conditions, light head wind at the race point and a temperature of 22c or 72f, rising as the day progressed to around 30c or around 98f by mid afternoon. However, because of early morning rain at the race point the pigeons were immediately pulled out of Hopetown and brought back about 33km (21 miles) and they were then liberated in dry conditions. It is always a great shame not to be able to get the pigeons liberated at 05-30/06-00 as this gives them more hours on the wing to make base camp. As the day progressed the head wind slightly increased to and the other good news was that only the weather forecast only showed about a 25% chance of scattered thundershowers during the afternoon. So a reasonable race was anticipated and the Zandy Meyer (Race Director) and Corrie Naude (Trainer) Andre van Wyk, Dave van der Merwe (Loft Managers) thought the first pigeons would take about nine to nine and a half hours to complete their journey. The atmosphere at breakfast was electric and almost everybody I spoke to said how long do you think they will take and my response was between nine and nine and a half hours. My actual predicated arrival time was 16-27. The nine hour mark seemed to be a favourite with most fanciers and with breakfast over, it was now over to the Superbowl to see what was happening there and as usual it was packed and fanciers were all around the trade stands and buying products and gifts. On the two massive screens you could watch the liberation of the pigeons near to Hopetown earlier in the day and this of course created a lot of interest, also the screens were showing Google Earth and this showed the route the pigeons should be taking and this was the fifth time in Sun City that pigeon fanciers and guests could see what was actually happening on the two massive screens. THE SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR PIGEON RACE IS THE ONLY ONE LOFT RACE IN THE WORLD THAT OFFERS SUCH INFORMATION TO ITS ENTRANTS AND AS ANYBODY WILL TELL WHO WAS PRESENT, IT REALLY DOES ADD TO THE EXCITEMENT ON THE DAY. It was also great to see that the transporter staff had taken video clips of a small group of pigeons battling against the wind, just above the ground and transmitted it back to the Superbowl so fanciers could view it. In between all these clips and information, Alan Jordaan was updating people with the current weather forecasts and news that had been telephoned back to the organisers from the Convoyer on the returning transporter and Corrie Naude (Trainer) in the back up vehicle. KEEPING FANCIERS/ENTRANTS INFORMED HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE OBJECT OF THIS GREAT RACE. Before I left the Superbowl fanciers and guests were allowed to their tables where they could sit down and enjoy a superb lunch with some music and entertainment laid on, plus of course regular updates from Alan Jordaan on what was happening on route.
I finally left the Superbowl at about 13-00 to go to the lofts with Michael and Pieter to greet a few other Country Race Shippers and media that were going to watch the race transpire at the loft location in the hot afternoon sun. The UNIKON ELECTRONIC CLOCKING SYSTEM (DEISTER) had been checked and the battery back-up system was connected and in place just in case we had a power cut or a big electrical storm. The camera crew were all set up and in position to film the winning pigeons arriving and all of this was being relayed direct into the Superbowl for the five to six thousands fanciers/guests/friends to watch live as the pigeons arrived at the lofts. A superb lunch was laid on for everybody at the lofts which was just what we all needed as most of us would be at the lofts until darkness fell and then as usual the excitement started to build as the predicted time of arrival got closer.
All the people at the lofts decided to have a R50 bet on “GUESS THE CLOCKING TIME OF THE WINNING PIGEON”, they asked me to go first and I put down 16-27, quite a few others put down earlier times from 16-07 and others of course put down much later times right up to nightfall. This always adds to the fun during the long day and we all had a laugh as each person passed the anticipated time of arrival and were then crossed off the list.
The tension was building up as anything in the sky moved, then just after a few hours looking into the empty sky, all of a sudden I spotted two pigeons approaching the lofts at about 16-37 (9 hours 2 minutes), slightly later than I expected and amidst great excitement the cameraman in the lookout tower zoomed in on the pigeons that were approaching the lofts and they hit the loft, now everybody was hoping that one of these pigeons was theirs, one landed close to the traps and the other one also made its way to the traps, then one actually trapped and was finally officially clocked at 16-37-03.80 and the computer screen in the control office at the lofts and the Superbowl very quickly revealed that the CONGRATULATIONS for winning the coveted 1st OPEN position belonged to KITCHENBRAND LOFTS representing SOUTH AFRICA with their pigeon named VICTOR, which recorded a winning velocity of 1062ypm (approx. 36 mph) and won a staggering US$200,000 (approx. £129,000), it was fantastic that the owners of this great pigeon MARK & NAOMI KITCHENBRAND were present in the Superbowl as their pigeon trapped first to win the most prestigious international pigeon race in the world today and to be crowned as the current “WORLD CHAMPIONS” and they were also very quickly being congratulated by all the fanciers, entrants and competitors around them. This winning pigeon was actually bred in Germany by ALFONS & HELMUT KLAAS and was rung with a South African ring. These great German fanciers also bred KONSTANTIN which won 1st OPEN in the 2007 SCMDPR, which was then purchased after the race by MARK & NAOMI KITCHENBRAND. This lovely partnership have spent a small fortune over the past few years on purchasing the best pigeons in the world, including numerous past SCMDPR winners and prize winners. They also purchased CHAMPION BIRDY that was the SUN CITY OVERALL ACE PIGEON winner in 2008 and they duly purchased this fantastic racing machine for a WORLD RECORD price of nearly £54,000. It was interesting to note that this winning pigeon named VICTOR had won the following OPEN positions throughout the 2010/11 race series:- 4087th, 2654th, 1407th, 2848th, 1365th, 1993rd, 1023rd, 1923rd, 1271st, 1390th, 2252nd, NOT CLOCKED, 2342nd, 1181st, 721st, 894th, 1585th, 2264th, 124th, 2386th, 1899th and now 1st OPEN in the 22 races during this campaign. WELL DESERVED WINNERS AFTER ALL THEIR GREAT PURCHASES OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. 2nd OPEN and runner-up went to BENDT NIELSEN also from DENMARK with pigeon named HELLE N which was clocked at 16-37-37.85 just 34.05 seconds behind the race winner and won US$120,000 (approx. £77,420), 3rd OPEN went to MYRTLE LOFTS – EVANS + WALKER from UNITED KINGDOM with their pigeon named MYRTLE VENTURE which was clocked at 16-41-03.14 and won US$75,000 (approx. £48,400), it should also be mentioned that both parents of the pigeon that came 2nd OPEN for THE POMPEY BOYS in 2009 were bred by these outstanding fanciers, plus also GABY VANDENABEELE from BELGIUM also came 2nd OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR, 4th OPEN went to JUERGEN DREIS from GERMANY with pigeon named BACCHUS which was clocked at 16-57-38.80 and won US$50,000 (approx. £32,258), 5th OPEN went to FENLANDS LOFTS from UNITED KINGDOM with pigeon named FENLAND LYNDISE which was clocked at 16-57-57.40 and won US$25,000 (approx. £16,130), 6th OPEN went to RUNE RASMUSSEN from DENMARK with pigeon named MELPJEVSEN which was clocked 17-02-47.09 and won US$20,000 (approx. £12,905), 7th OPEN went to RACING TEAM ILLUSION from GERMANY with pigeon named SYLT ELINE which was clocked at 17-06-08.96 to win US$17,500 (approx. £11,290), 8th OPEN went to GALLO & PLACETA LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with their pigeon named HOT CHOCO which was clocked at 17-06-11.76 to win US$15,000 (approx. £9,678), 9th OPEN went to KAREL KLEMENS from CZECH REPUBLIC with pigeon named MIRY which was clocked at 17-07-27.61 and won US$12,500 (approx. £8,065), this pigeon also won THE KNOCKOUT COMPETITION and US$25,000 CASH PRIZE (approx. £16,130). It should also be mentioned that this outstanding fancier also win 1st OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR with pigeon named ALI, then 10th OPEN went to SUNSWIFT LOFTS from AUSTRALIA with pigeon named SUNSWIFT PERSISTENT which was clocked at 17-12-07.41 to win US$10,000 (approx. £6,452). These top 10 pigeons all won one of the superb SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR PIGEON RACE GOLD MEDAL and had 35 minutes 04 seconds between them and the top ten pigeons were from 7 different countries represented. Then taking 11th OPEN went to ALI MUTLAQ AL-MAIEA from KUWAIT with NIXON 1 which was clocked at 17-30-44.39 and won US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 12th OPEN to TEAM TOLLISAN from GERMANY with PODOLSKI which was clocked at 17-30-50.40 and won US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 13th OPEN went to HELMUT u ALFONS KLAAS and was named MAXII which was clocked at 17-31-01.51 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), these great fanciers also bred the pigeon that won 1st OPEN in this 2011 SCMDPR, 14th OPEN for FROH TEAM - WEITSTRECKENCLUB from GERMANY with FRANZATOMIC which was clocked at 17-35-05.06 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 15th OPEN for MARC VERSAVEL from BELGIUM with MARIETE V which was clocked at 17-40-41.16 to win US$7,500 (approx. £4,839), 16th OPEN for RUDOLF COSSMAN from GERMANY with ALINA 3 and clocked at 17-40-54.96 to win US$5,000 (approx. $3,226), 17th OPEN for BROUGH – DR MEYER from SOUTH AFRICA with CLIFF clocked at 17-49-10.36 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226), 18th OPEN for TEAM SCHUESCHUE from GERMANY with pigeon FLOP clocked at 17-49-13.21 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226), 19th OPEN for IVAN DIMITROV from BULGARIA with RESORT clocked at 17-49-40.41 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226) and then 20th OPEN went to GIGABYTE SYNDICATE from SOUTH AFRICA with SLUM DOG clocked at 17-54-09.57 to win US$5,000 (approx. £3,226). 21st OPEN for NOVA CLUB from the BELGIUM, 22nd OPEN for TEAM GERMANY - STEFANESCU from the ROMANIA, 23rd OPEN another for KAREL KLEMENS from CZECH REPUBLIC, 24th OPEN for PREMIER STUD UK SYNDICATE from the UNITED KINGDOM, 25th OPEN for RAIKO+RAINER MARIEN from GERMANY, 26th OPEN another for ALI MUTLAQ AL-MAIEA from KUWAIT, 27th OPEN for TEAM SYLT 2000 from GERMANY, 28th OPEN for FAYEZ Q8 from KUWAIT, 29th OPEN for JONES - WINDLE from SOUTH AFRICA and then 30th OPEN for GABY VANDENABEELE from BELGIUM who won 2nd OPEN in the 2010 SCMDPR. All these last ten competitors won $3,500 each (£2,260).
Then we had 31st OPEN for HENRIK MELDGAARD from DENMARK, 32nd OPEN for NEMELKA RACING PIGEON LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 33rd OPEN for HOK JIMMY BRANDS from BELGIUM, 34th OPEN for MATHIAS u OTMAR THEISEN from GERMANY, 35th OPEN for SAM SYNDICATE from NETHERLANDS, 36th OPEN for ARKADIUSZ BUTTNER from POLAND, 37th OPEN another for SAM SYNDICATE from NETHERLANDS which just happened to be the same way bred to the 35th OPEN, apparently these were the only 2 pigeons this fancier entered, 38th OPEN for HANS SCHOUGAARD from DENMARK, 39th OPEN for HLOZEK from CZECH REPUBLIC, 40th OPEN for LLOYD and KELLY from UNITED KINGDOM, 41st OPEN for ZG HELIOS, B BUCHER + O GEHRKEN from SWITZERLAND, 42nd OPEN for GUENTER GOETZ from SLOVAKIA, 43rd OPEN for HORST WELLER from GERMANY, 44th OPEN for KOOPMAN RACING PIGEONS from NETHERLANDS, 45th OPEN for AMERICAS DREAM LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NOT ACTIVATED for ITALIAN CHAMPIONS GROUP from ITALY, 46th OPEN another for TEAM SYLT 2000 from the GERMANY, 47th OPEN for KARL ZIEFLE from GERMANY, 48th OPEN for MANFRED TIHEN from the GERMANY, 49th OPEN for LION GATE LOFTS from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and then 50th OPEN for DON and JUDY HART from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. This American pigeon was actually clocked at 22-18-30.13 and in fact all the last 4 gallant pigeons were recorded between 21-56 and 22-18. All these last twenty competitors won $2,500 each (£1,613) with the exception of the NON ACTIVATED pigeon. I also think the next 5 pigeons are worthy of a special mention as these were all clocked between 12-02 and 03-08 and they belonged to UWE NEABAUER from GERMANY with FINISH TIME who took 51st OPEN at 00-02-55, PATTI GIUSEPPE from ITALY with SOVRANA taking 52nd OPEN at 00-16-27, then another for LION GATE LOFTS from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with MY MAIN GUY taking 53rd OPEN at 00-33-27 which really is fantastic flying guys, then FLUIT FLUIT SYNDICATE from SOUTH AFRICA with RISE TO GLORY taking 55th OPEN at 02-41-04 and then finally GEORG OSWALD from GERMANY with GEORGE taking 55th OPEN and being clocked at 03-08-52. It was interested to see that 7 different countries were represented in the top 10, then 11 countries in the top 20, then 12 in the top 30, then 14 in the top 40 and a total of 17 different countries represented in the top 50, which just goes to show that it really was a truly international race result.
As there was a total of 300 cash prizes on offer in this race that meant that pigeons from 51st right through to 300th OPEN would still win a good cash prize for making it home and a grand total of US$225,000 (approx. £145,162) was still to be won with 51st to 75th positions would all win US$2,000 (approx. £1,290 each), 76th to 100th OPEN positions would all win US$1,500 (approx. £968 each), 101st to 150th OPEN positions would all win US$1,250 (approx. £806 each), 151st to 250th OPEN positions would all win US$1,000 (approx. £645 each), plus 251st to 300th OPEN positions would all win US$500 (approx. £323 each), plus numerous other pools and nominations and I would just love to print the whole race result but of course space and time does not permit to publish all the gallant pigeons that were officially clocked, however if you want to see the full race result then please just log onto www.scmdpr.com and you can view every pigeon that was officially clocked in during this race. Another amazing fact was that from the 36 different countries that originally entered pigeons into the race only 13 actually failed to get a pigeon in the top 300 cash prizes and most of these were with very small entries.
When Sunday morning dawned the first pigeon clocked was an Belgium pigeon at 05-41-35 and the pigeons just fell out of the sky for most of the day with all the 300 cash prizes being taken by 10-35-21 and by 12-41 a total of 425 pigeons had actually been officially clocked by the end of Sunday a grand total of over 590 had been officially clocked and the general condition was excellent and by nightfall on Monday 24th January a total of 740 had been officially recorded and then by Monday 14th February a grand total of 920 had returned back to the lofts in Sun City and this total included 83 UNITED KINGDOM and 9 IRISH pigeons. Quite a few more pigeons will of course home during the next few days which should take the total to just over 1,000. As usual the loft staff will leave the Unikon Clocking System on and this will still record late arrivals. Of course numerous more updates will be available for all to see on the SCMDPR web site. Anybody wanting to study the Race Result in more depth can log onto www.scmdpr.com and hit the “RESULTS & LISTINGS” section and get all the information they require.
The team of auditors from E. COETZEE & KIE led by JAKKIE VAN NIEKERK are present at the lofts to make sure everything is done correctly and then after the pigeons have homed and had time to of had some food and of course a drink, the loft staff then catch them and basket them and then they are brought to the auditors to check the ring numbers but before this can be done the sticky plastic ring cover that is put on at the race marking to hide the identity of the country ring is removed so that they can read the ring number and confirm with the database this pigeon actually was basketed and competed in the Final Race plus of course they also make sure they are all carrying the auditors wing stamp that was put on when they were basketed in the Superbowl. At the same time this checking is being done the first 100 pigeons home have a new plastic numbered (1 to 100) ring put on their leg to state which position each pigeon had taken in the Final Race. This of course also helps early on Sunday morning when the pigeons have to be basketed again for the auction, all that happens then is you just look at the number on the plastic ring and that shows which auction pen it has to be put into, which of course saves a lot of valuable time. The auditors have to stay at the lofts until dark as every pigeon that make it home in the top 300 has to be checked against the database before any prize money is actually handed over to fanciers or entrants. This year resulted in them having to return to the lofts early next morning to finish off their task. Also CORNAY SMITH (ATTORNEY) places the first three pigeons home in the race in show pens with a paper base and early the next morning the droppings from each of these pigeons is collected and put into special glass files and then sent off for dope testing. ALL THIS IS DONE, SO THAT FANCIERS/COMPETITORS and ENTRANTS know that everything is above board with all aspects of this great race. WELL DONE LADS, YOU REALLY DO A GREAT JOB.