Secretary’s Weekly Report

Bob McKie with Brian Shackleton of Pennine Heights fame at the Saintes marking at Sheffield

The season is simply rushing by and here we are at the 4th National race of the season upon us. Saintes is a marathon event for all Sportsman members with competing lofts flying between 600 to 640 miles.

We knew that historically race entries are small and it was no surprise that when we met up on Wednesday there were only 5 members sending a total of 13 birds. With the birds safely loaded and clocks etc sorted we had a quick presentation of the Vanrobaey Sponsorship to John Best who waltzed up with his second win on the trot when capturing 1st Ancenis.

Jeff and I travelled down to the Sheffield marking station on Thursday morning. We had a trouble free journey in glorious weather and on reaching the Greyhound Stadium it was extremely quiet and the birds were quickly marked. In Section N the total birds entered was 19 from 6 members and in the Open 3270 birds were entered by 553 members.

After sorting out the delivery and collection of a couple of strays there was time for a chat with several of the Yorkshire lads. Firstly we congratulated Ron Dennett and his son on winning Section K in the Ancenis race. This was the second time this bird had won the Section and she has gone back to Saintes with confidence.

Later we also had a chat with Brian Shackleton of Pennine Heights fame. He also had an excellent 1st Section K earlier this year from Messac another brilliant performance.

Everyone we spoke to had experienced a difficult season and were struggling to put teams together for the Blue Riband race in three week from Tarbes.

STOP PRESS

Saintes birds liberated at 9.00am. Very difficult to see anything getting through to North East tonight, lets remain positive though!

Bob Mckie/Jeff Walton

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Very quiet week all round. Ancenis result and documentation sent off to NFC Secretary in good order. From what I can gauge the returns from Ancenis were around the 35 to 40% mark with very few more birds making it home after Sunday. Sounds as if a lot did not make it across the Channel.

Big well done to Sportsman FC member Davy Clark of Spennymoor for what looks to be a tremendous result in winning the WDA race from Tours on Saturday. Excellent win given the difficult racing conditions which had a National twist with a 10am mid-morning liberation. Well done Dave. Also Tom Riddle had excellent returns taking 1st and 3rd Tyne and Derwent Fed. with good Open positions.

Enquiries about Sportsman FC membership for 2017 continue to be received as fanciers turn their attention to the National scene.

Next up is the Saintes race which lifts us towards the marathon status as all lofts will be flying over 600 miles.

Bob Mckie/Jeff Walton

Secretary’s Weekly Report

NFC transporter Ancenis bound

Ancenis National

Jeff and I have been busy all week with the Ancenis National. As expected the race entry was considerably reduced with 9 club members sending 42 birds. In the Open 5062 birds were entered by 651 members and in Section N 57 birds from 12 members.

Liberated on Saturday at 6.30 am into clear sky and no wind the birds cleared quickly. Nevertheless it was clear that this would be a stiff test and unfortunately there were no day birds in the club.

John Best receiving the Vanrobaeys sponsorship for the Messac race from Bob McKie

There was a trickle of birds on Sunday morning with John & Steven Best grabbing the honours of 1st Club and 2nd Section N when they timed at 6.29 am. Doing 838.19 ypm for the 498 miles was a smashing effort.

I understand that this is a very experienced bird with a proven track record of success at UNC level and she is now being retired to the stock loft.

Bob Mckie timed a 2 year old cock at 8.13 am to be second. Flying 523 miles and doing 799.82 ypm.

Close behind in third place was Driver, Dawson & Dawson with a well fancied yearling cock doing 791 ypm and flying 525 miles.

Next timing at 9.28 am came the ever popular Jim Nicholson taking 4th place with yet another yearling which was also timed out of Fougeres. Flying 526 miles and doing 754.65 ypm it is great to see Sunny Jim getting back to his old self after his recent illness.

In 5th place with their second bird doing 722 ypm were John & Steven Best.

Crates & drinking system on the NFC transporter

So another National has passed by. Returns are still disappointing with around 25% back. Hopefully more will follow. Next up in 2 weeks is the Saintes race which lifts us towards the marathon status as all lofts will be flying over 600 miles.

We would like to say a very well done to the Section N winner John Rumney who timed a real star at 20.36 pm on Saturday to record a velocity of 1077.93 and will be high up in the final Open result. This pigeon was a Section winner in the first race of the BICC programme from Falaise, earlier this year. This just shows what can be achieved in the National races when you have a plan and the right birds to work with. It does take time and a great deal of hard work and self-discipline to achieve this high standard.

Finally before signing off Jeff & I will not be available to do the Sheffield run for the Old Hens/YB race in September. Could we have some volunteers to do the run? Just give me or Jeff a call/text if you can take this task forward.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

John & Steven Best 1st & 2nd NFC Section N Messac

Messac National

Initially we thought there was little chance of birds making it into the North East on the day. Whereas it looked good for the west side of the country. Towards the East of the country there had been a troublesome north east wind for around a week which would make the going tough. As the day progressed there were increasing signs that perhaps something may get through on the night especially when the cloud broke up and the sun broke through. The visibility improved immensely and it became very warm. Alas, despite this surge of optimism, it was not to be and the alarms were set for an early start on Monday morning.

Monday morning the weather was glorious and it was not long before word came through of birds arriving albeit at a trickle.

Taking 1st and 2nd Sportsman FC, 1st and 2nd Section N & the Premier Stud sponsorship of a £200 voucher to spend at the stud are new NFC members John Best and son Steven flying 471 miles into Stockton. They timed at 5.19 and 6.03am so these birds must have been pretty close to home at nightfall on Sunday. Both were hen’s flying on roundabout, their first a 2013 late bred called “Gem Stone” was previously 4th club 5th Section N from Fougeres two weeks earlier, that’s 900 miles in two weeks.

Their second bird comes from the Crehan & O’Connor bloodlines of RIP & Mystique. These have proved very successful for the partnership. John was telling me that he really fancied this hen which also takes 1st in the club Show Race winning £150 prize money. They also timed a 3rd bird at 8.57am to take 8th Section.

At 3rd club 3rd Section comes the very consistent Barrie Blackett of Butterknowle who timed a very promising yearling at 6.13am Barrie is always keen to push his yearlings along if fit and timed a second at 10.46am. to take 13th Section. The ever popular and consistent loft of Driver, Dawson & Dawson from Greenside flying 492 miles take 4th club 4th Section timing at 7.08am. Speaking to Robert Dawson, they were extremely disappointed at the ratio of returns both in this and the previous race and are missing some very experienced birds.

Making a strong show taking 5th club 6th Section comes the partnership of Malcolm, Heslington & Jones. These guys are quite new to National racing and full of enthusiasm for the Sport in general, their efforts earned them 2nd in the Show Race and £75 prize money.

Taking 6th and 7th club 7th and 8th Section is Bob Mckie his first bird being a 3 year old hen through his Peter Virtue stock. And his second a Cheq Pied cock being a direct son of “Dawson” who won this race and 30th Section K last season. Bob has high hopes for this bird who like the hen was sent sitting a 4 day baby. These two birds take 3rd and 4th in the Show Race along with £75 prize money the second bird also won the £10 single Nomination. In 8th club 9th Section were the consistent lofts of McSween & Sexton who timed at 9.40am.

The lofts of Mr and Mrs Murphy, Tommy & Wayne Johnson, Terry Unsworth, Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson & Moon all timed on Monday morning. Nevertheless at 8.00pm returns were poor with less than 35% back.

We now move on to the Ancenis National, but are not expecting significant levels of entry. Big well done to the race Open winners Mr & Mrs Pym & R Pym, and all Section winners hopefully we will see a positive shift in the weather in the next weeks with improved racing conditions.

Finally I just want to say a big “Thank You” to the Sid and Karen our NFC Secretaries for all their help in recent months. I know how busy they have been lately with a great deal on their plates and they deserve all our support at what is a very busy and indeed stressful time of the year.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Sportsman club members Bob McKie & Gary Heslington with Nick Adshead at Messac marking at Sheffield Tommy Johnson presenting Robert Dawson with the Vanrobaeys sponsorship for the Fougeres race

Another busy week with everything focussed on the Messac National. It came as no surprise that the club entry levels significantly dropped for the second race of the season. After a difficult first race and poor Saturday club racing there has been some major impacts across the UK racing scene. The lack of sunshine and the continued cold edge to prevailing Northerly winds has caused real problems even more so when associated and aggravated by unpredictable atmospheric disturbances. Our little gladiators when managed professionally do perform unbelievably well but “mother nature” can be devastating as we have experienced once again.

On Wednesday the 1st June members met up at our HQ with their entries for transporting early Thursday morning to Sheffield.

We ended up with 14 member’s sending 89 birds and overall there were 118 birds entered by 16 members in Section N. In the Open there were 6304 birds entered by 737 members. Once the birds were loaded we made the presentation of Vanrobaey sponsorship prizes to Driver, Dawson & Dawson who won 1st Sportsman FC and 1st Section N in the Fougeres National. Many congratulations again to the partnership. Everyone was also keen to congratulate club member Tommy Johnson, from Newton Aycliffe who topped the Durham Combine from Eastbourne. An excellent performance by Tommy and his son Wayne whose birds have already topped their Federation several times in Saturday racing this season.

Back to the Messac National which is also our Club Show race and although we had 59 birds in the show from 17 members many of the birds entered have fallen foul of the tough racing. I estimate that no more than 35 show birds have made it to the starting line.

There is some excellent prize monies to fly for:

1st £150. 2nd £75. 3rd £45. 4th £30
Single £10 Nom. winner takes all £140

So anyone lucky enough to still have birds competing we will try to keep you appraised of how this aspect of the race shapes up in real time.

Looks like another hard race today Sunday 5th June with the birds liberated at 0940am in no wind after a one day holdover. They cleared the race point well. Best of luck to everyone.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National flown 22nd May

Well after a long wait the first National of the programme has come and gone and what a tester it proved to be for North East lofts.

A total of 184 birds were sent by 20 members to the race. It was disappointing that we faced a one day holdover yet given the prevailing weather it was to be expected. Personally I was slightly surprised that the birds were liberated at 9.30 am in a North West wind on the Sunday thinking Monday looked a better flying day. However I have every confidence in the Race Controllers and fully understood their decision. The MNFC who were flying a few miles less than the NFC did hold until the Monday and it seems they had a stinking race with many empty perches on the night. As Sunday progressed and after speaking with contacts further down the country it quickly became obvious that it would take something special to make it on the day. It was therefore great news when word came through that last season’s top loft in the Sportsman, Driver, Dawson & Dawson had timed at 20.48pm to not only win the club but 1st Section N.

Then shortly after I learnt that new members Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson & Moon had timed a cracker at 21.16pm to take the Second spot in the club, 3rd Section N. Great flying by both lofts.

With plenty to play for next morning it meant an early start and we soon had arrivals being reported across the North East:

• Allan Walker - Stockton just after 5.15am
• John Best - Stockton just after 5.30am
• Bob Mckie - Chopwell 6.26am
• Followed by Gordon Braban, Mcsween & Sexton, Mr & Mrs Jeff Murphy, Fred Mcluskey, Terry Unsworth, Jim Nicholson, Barrie Blackett, Tom Riddle, Malcolm, Heslington & Jones & John Fellows

Several of the above members timed in more than one bird. However overall returns were disappointing with less than 40% back home at clocks and not a lot back since.

Messac National scheduled for the 4th June

Once again the weather forecast is pointing towards unpredictable conditions with exaggerated solar activity likely to aggravate matters.

Nevertheless let’s hope we see a good entry and with this being the Show race there is plenty at stake financially. Best of luck to everyone.

Jim Nicholson

Members may not be aware that “Sunny” Jim has been very poorly and last week and ended up in hospital with Pneumonia. I understand that he is on the mend and on behalf of the members I wish you a speedy recovery. Similarly Ann Murphy has been under the weather and ended up in hospital last Saturday on the eve of the race. Hope you feel better Ann and get well soon.

NFC Website

There has been considerable criticism voiced over the failures/problems encountered with the current system. This is not without some foundation but I would ask members to give Sid and our IT provider some leeway to improve performance. There are a vast amount of changes this season and you cannot really perform realistic stress testing until we are in a live testing environment ie. racing season. The capacity of the server has already been addressed the system needs running time to iron-out the wrinkles!

Believe me having worked on the largest IT systems in Europe nothing is straightforward when upgrading processes.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National 21/5/16

Bob McKie & Robert Dawson with Phil Curtis NFC Chairman at Sheffield marking for Fougeres

On Wednesday night everyone met up at the Sportsman at Toft Hill where the race entry sheets were checked, clocks collected and birds loaded for transporting to Sheffield early next morning.

Thanks to Robert Dawson who provided additional transport and to Jeff Walton and John Fellows who accompanied us to the marking station. 20 members sent in total 182 birds although the total entry in Section N was 204 birds by 22 members. Overall in the Open 929 members entered 8648 birds.

Brian Denney & Barry Winter at the Sheffield marking for Fougeres

At Sheffield it was very busy indeed and all four of us were kept busy and everything went reasonably smoothly despite the odd system problems with the marking station equipment.

We had a chance to speak briefly with friends from Yorkshire and also to give the transporter a quick “once over”. It is some piece of equipment, expensive yes but the birds are really well catered for. It was then back to the North East and as expected we ran a little late due to the continued road works and imposed speed limits.

Constant water on three sides of the crates from leaving Shefield marking

Best of luck to everyone who has birds away. Remember we have excellent Sponsorship from Vanrobaeys for the race winner and let us hope we can kick off with a Section N winner in this inaugural race.

The holdover of birds today Saturday, was not a surprise given the prevailing weather. Sunday looks a lot better in the UK however France and the Channel could be unsatisfactory and everything points to a Monday liberation.

Cooling fans in the NFC transporter

Clock checking

Remember to verify your first arrival within one hour of timing and to fill in your verification sheet including the verification number you are given when recording your first arrival. This sheet must be handed in with your clock at checking. This point cannot be stressed enough failure to do so can and will lead to disqualification. 

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

NFC

By now you should all have received your copy of the 2016 Season Handbook. Take time to have a read of the handbook get to know the club rules, particularly those relating to baskets and clocks.

Any questions just give me a call or drop me an email.

Fougeres National 21st May - Club Sponsor Vanrobaey Feeds

Now less than a week away so I hope you have everything in order.

Must say a big thank you to Sid and Karen Barkel for all their help and support this last couple of weeks. You can imagine how difficult a time it has been for our NFC Secretaries with Handbook printing chaos, IT system changes and sheer volume of telephone traffic that these issues generated. It can’t have been easy with such a massive membership and let’s hope next weekend goes smoothly. Don’t forget there are always going to be some irritations with the computers at the beginning of a new season until the amended programme has settled.

Back to the racing. Don’t forget that Part A entry forms must be with Sid by Monday AM at the latest. No exceptions.

Section pools should be entered and paid for on the part A of your entry form. Remember there is no club pooling!

Don’t forget to bring Part B of the entry form with your birds on Wednesday night.

Your baskets should clearly display your name and NFC membership number & cocks or hens.

ETS clocks go down to Sheffield with the birds. Arrangements to return these and baskets will be confirmed on Wednesday night. I will have spare verification sheets with me on Wednesday if anyone needs them.

We will look to have T3 clocks set and struck by 8.30pm at latest.

As discussed at last meeting could members please let Jeff or I know how many birds your sending by no later than Noon on Monday. This will assist in deciding transport arrangements.

I anticipate that we will need 4 members down at Sheffield and I am grateful to Jeff, John Fellows and Robert Dawson who have stepped forward to go. It will be busy and there will be quite a bit to co-ordinate at the marking station.

Weather Forecast for Next Weekend

Depending which web-site you look at, I would say that the wind is likely to be variable possibly some South in it to start with which will give the birds a good start. In the latter part of race the wind appears to be more west north west. Always going to be a chance of showers, the concern I have is cloud cover and atmospheric conditions. Remember this is a personal view and things can change dramatically in a week!

Best of luck to everyone competing next weekend. Hopefully we will have a strong club showing and possibly the first NFC Section N victor. Whatever happens the winner is sure of a big “well done” from everyone.

Bob Mckie

Email: bmckie@tiscali.co.uk

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National

Be on your marks the first National of the season is 2 weeks from today and there is everything to play for in the Sportsman Flying Club. Could we have the 1st Section N winner in the Club? What a fantastic start that would be to the new season.

NFC News

It has been a hectic 10 days for the Officials and Secretaries of the NFC. The Print Co. responsible for publishing the Annual Handbook went into Liquidation without warning. However after some pressure from Officials the Company has agreed to do a print run as mentioned by Jeff in his Group Text and the handbook should be with you shortly. In the meantime you should have received copies of the necessary entry forms and verification cards for the first 2 National races in the post Friday or Saturday. Remember though that you can as an alternative send your entry in on-line.

Also you should have received in a separate communication your new NFC code number. This should be used on your race entry forms, to log into the website and on all correspondence with the club.

Well done to everyone involved for acting so swiftly and averting a possible farce.

Next I thought it would be helpful just to recap on the new:

Champion of Champions League!

Sponsored by Hartwell Car Dealers

Entry is free and the rules are:

• A minimum of 4 out the first 5 races must be entered to qualify.

• Each participating member is allowed to nominate 5 birds per race

• The Top 5 on the race sheet will be the nominated birds, ETS users will be the Top 5 on the ETS sheet, unless Part B of the entry sheet is filled in with the Top 5 again, on that sheet.

• The nominated birds have to finish in the top 10% in the Section result to get points. E.g. 463 birds in your section, equals, in the top 47 in Section to qualify.

• Any number above the whole number will be rounded up for Section Qualification.

• Points are allocated from 10 down to 1 per nominated bird, per Section.

• Each Section Champion, at the end of the 5 races will receive £150 Prize Money.

• The member with the most points will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie then the member with the most 1st places will be declared the winner. If this is the same then it will go down to 2nd places, and so on until a winner is declared.

• The overall Champion of Champions, will be the Member with the most points and beaten all other Section winners, will Win a New Car sponsored by Hartwell Car Dealers.

BICC

The first BICC race of the season took place on Saturday 30th April and what a great performance by John Rumney. Flying from Falaise a distance of 416 miles, the birds were liberated mid-morning into a cold, brisk North wind. When the news came through that Mark Gilbert had timed the probable 1st Open doing 1219 ypm it was clear that the handful of north east birds entered were in for a tough race. John, clocked at just after 9:00pm as the light was rapidly fading to record a brilliant velocity of 1135.809.ypm to win 1st NC Section from 198 birds entered by 26 lofts. This bird should be very high up in the Open result and is a real credit to its owner who is earning a strong reputation as a National flier. Well done again John.

Bob Mckie

Email: bmckie@tiscali.co.uk

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National 21st May - Countdown

Yes the first NFC race of the season from Fougeres is only 21 days away so countdown has started. There are a few key dates which you need to put in your diary. These are:

Saturday 14th May: Deadline for posting Part A race entry forms with numbers of entry and along with Fees and your Section /Open pools. These should be sent to Sid Barkel the NFC Secretary, remember if you miss the deadline then your entries will not be accepted. You can if you prefer to enter your birds and pay by card on line. (I have used this method for last two seasons and it is simple and straight-forward once you get used to it. It saves a lot of hassle!)

Sunday 15th May: Members to text Sportsman FC secretary with their entry numbers. This will help determine what transport needs to be arranged.

Monday 16st May: Sportsman FC secretary to finalise transport arrangements.

Wednesday 18th May: Birds picked up at Sportsman, Toft Hill. T3 clocks will be set that night (8:00pm). ETS clocks go with birds to Sheffield along with your Part B entry forms. All baskets to be labelled with members full name.

Saturday 21st May: Fougeres Race Day. We will be sending out updates/prompts by group text as race day approaches.

Vanrobaeys

Once again a massive thank you to Vanrobaeys who are again sponsoring all Sportsman Club races this season. Remember that the race winner will receive 2 bags of corn as well as a range of their racing products. An excellent gesture and well worth winning. If you want to see a full range of their products just pop in to Terry Knox’s warehouse at Swalwell. You will be made very welcome and there are always bargains to be had as well as the mandatory cup of coffee.

I would personally recommend you have a look at Vanrobaeys “Premium Power Range” which is the first choice of many top distance lofts not only in the UK but also Germany and the Netherlands.

Any news just drop me an email.

Bob Mckie 07828 96 14 42 Email bmckie@tiscali.co.uk