Flying into the NW - Mullingar 28/07/12

[willie reynolds]

The second race of the young bird programme saw the birds at Mullingar, twenty miles shorter than the first race. Why twenty miles shorter? Who knows, only the powers that be at the NIPA. Speculation has it that the Section H birds that were released first last week somehow dragged or split the rest of the convoy by hanging around at the release point. So what you might ask as the Section H birds have been getting up the teeth for years and no one seemed to care much about them. Others say that the birds up the country hadn’t got enough training because of the poor weather and Tullamore was just too far. If that’s the case, don’t send your birds until they are ready to race, it’s too easy always point the finger of blame at the NIPA. And anyway, what happened to the two Mullingar’s that always started the racing off for the young birds; I didn’t hear too many people asking this question. I’m sure there are a lot of factors that have to be taken into account but surely the first priority must be the young birds themselves. If the consensus is that a lot of birds haven’t been trained properly, and you must admit the weather hasn’t been great for training, then why couldn’t the first race have been put back a week. I know this would have suited a lot of the fanciers up here. At just over a hundred miles, Mullingar is far enough, and many would say too far for our first young bird race. Maybe we should have three or four from Mullingar to give our young birds a good grounding before we race the you know what out of them later on. This would give a lot of fanciers the opportunity to catch up if training didn’t go according to plan and would be great schooling for the rest. Why are we always in such a hurry to flog the guts out of them?

Anyway, on to this week’s results and with west winds and torrential showers en route and at the home end, this week’s race was not going to be a stroll in the park if you were unlucky enough to get caught in the heavy rain.

I have to start this week in the Foyle where the old men, and I mean old, are back on top again. My very old friend Teddy Millar scales the heady heights to pick up his first red card for a very long time. Teddy who is in and out of pigeons that often that he’s hard to keep track of at times, works really hard at the Foyle club and will be a very popular winner indeed. The only problem now is that I will have to avoid him for a while. Well done Teddy and I hope you can keep it going for the rest of the year. In second place this week, we have Paul Maxwell senior who is inching his way back to the top and also takes a handful of other positions in the top ten. Good consistent flying from Paul. In third spot another of the oldies, Raymond O Reilly who also has another in the result in fifth. Top flying all round.
The full result for the Foyle club looks like this then; 1st Millar and Doherty 1283, 2nd P Maxwell Snr 1276, 3rd and 5th R O Reilly 1275, 1269, 4th S Mc Grotty 1273.

Up in Limavady this week, that man Ronnie Witherow is at it again, taking the first three positions for the second week. Ronnie is proving to be a hard man to catch this year, never mind beat. Willie Mc Ilmoyle is holding on in there with fourth place while Henderson Crawford makes up the top five.
The full result for the Limavady club was as follows, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ronnie Witherow 1273, 1193, 1186, 4th Willie Mc Ilmoyle 1167, 5th Henderson Crawford 1160.

On then to the Maiden City club, where Coyle brothers Micky and Don take their first red card of the year. The win was a long time coming for a partnership that have always been in the mix and have had many good wins over the last couple of years. Things just haven’t been going their recently but this win will surely spur them on for the rest of the young bird season. Close on their heels this week in second spot is Seamus Morrison, who is always a bit of a dark horse. Also close in third were Mc Gettigan Bros who also take a good fifth, while making up the top five is Kieran Quigley.
The result then looks like this, 1st Coyle Bros 1270, 2nd Seamus Morrison 1267, 3rd and 5th Mc Gettigan Bros 1266, 1260, 4th Dunne and Quigley 1260.

Another new name tops the Rock club this week, with Gerry Toner taking the honours ahead of Jim and Ray Mc Monagle. In fact, they fill the top five positions between them. Gerry has a super race with first and fourth, while Jim and Ray take second, third and fifth. The result then is this,
1st and 4th Gerry Toner 1272, 1252, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Jim and ray Mc Monagle 1264, 1259, 1246.
Next to the Derry and District where this week again, Kieran Reid gives a master class in racing and trapping. Kieran takes the first seven positions in the club, also the first seven birds in Derry and to top off an extraordinary result, he also takes seven of the top eight positions in Section H as well. Congratulations to Kieran on an exceptional performance.
The result then 1st to 7th, Bonnie and Kieran Reid 1295,1291, 1291, 1290, 1290, 1290, 1290.
Over in the Londonderry club this week, Leo Flannagan shows everyone how to do it again. Leo has another super week taking the first four positions in the club for the second week running. Fifth spot this week goes to Noel Murray. Great flying again by Leo and the full result looks like this; 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, Leo Flannagan 1286, 1282, 1278, 1272, 5th Noel Murray 1255.

One man dominates the Omagh club this week and also takes the Section honours. Kenny Armstrong, who has been flying well all year, takes the first five positions in Omagh and as we said, tops Section H as well. Well done Kenny, another outstanding fly this week.
The result was 1st to 5th, Kenny Armstrong, 1300, 1286, 1284, 1193, and 1184.
Last but not least this week we have Strabane. J Gamble takes two of the first five with first and fourth spots. R Mc Ateer takes second, while G Mc Gavigan rounds out the first five with a third and fifth.
The full result then was 1st and 4th J Gamble 1230, 1211, 2nd R Mc Ateer 1220, 3rd and 5th G Mc Gavigan 1212, 1206.

Anyone who wants to send photos of any club members please do so. As I have said many times before, it is always nice to have a face to put with the name. It would be good to have all the club winners photographs included in the report every week.
And finally, I called in to see Paddy Mc Manus in Ahoghil recently. Paddy as many of you will know is one of the top flyers in that part of the country. The set up is fantastic and Paddy has some truly super pigeons from some of the top lofts throughout Europe. I took a few photos while I was there and told Paddy I would fit them in whenever I was putting my next report together. Thanks Paddy for the gift, and let’s hope I will be ringing you next year.

billyknox@btinternet.com