Sennen Cove Race No1 Sunday 6th June
On the weekend of the 5th & 6th June the NFC raced their first race of the season from Sennen Cove with around 5,700 birds entered. The Sportsman FC members entered 96 birds which were flying for £161 pools & a club prize money & a superb package of sponsorship ofrom Vanrobaeys corn & supplements. The race winner wins the Owen Shaw Trophy plus £100 kindly donated by Owen Shaw of Winlaton. Many thanks from our members to both sponsors.
After a days holdover the birds were liberated at 11am on Sunday morning in a light North West wind. With high hopes of a good race into the North East it was a case of which route would the birds take. Would they go along the south coast before breaking North or would the leading birds head North towards the Bristol area. The NFC website soon revealed where the leading birds were at with early verifications in the Bristol area. Congratulations to Steve Moseley on winning 1st NFC Open Sennen Cove.
As early evening approached the Sportsman FC members waited patiently & for two they had an amazing evening. The winner of the Sportsman FC & NFC Section N was Tony Lyons of Eston, Middlesbrough with a 2yo Red Cock of Brian Denney x Martin VinkenBorg breeding & timed at 8:21pm flying 364 miles. At 8:32 Tony clocked his second arrival, a 3yo hen to secure 2nd club, 2nd Section. One hour later Tony was to clock two birds in a minute to take 3rd & 4th club, 3rd & 4th Section N. By now we were on the edge of darkness & for 5th club & 5th Section N we have Jeff & Matthew Walton of Coxhoe timed in at 10:08pm, 17 minutes after the clocks closed. Back at Tony Lyons’ loft he clocked his fifth bird at 10:14 to win 6th club 6th Section N. For Tony, what an outstanding race he had, first four & 6th in the Section N, again well done. His 1st 2nd & 4th birds are all children of the same cock & all his first four birds are grandchildren of a Brian Denney hen he purchased from Brian some years ago. To breed his current team of birds he introduced some Martin Vinkenborg birds from Louella Pigeon World blended with the Brian Denney birds to give him some exciting races from the distance, including last years Sportsman FC Messac race which he won. The winner, a 2yo Red Cock was on the the Up North Combine result from Gien last year as a yearling. His 2nd bird, a 3yo hen, also has previous form at the distance having been to Bourges as a yearling winning 75th UNC & also on the combine sheet from Gien. A 2yo cock took 3rd club, 3rd Section, while nest mate to the winner secured 4th club, 4th Section. All four winning birds are a blend of his Denney & Vinkenborg birds & all were flying celibate. His 5th bird, arriving in the dark was a Vandenabeele which was definitely not going to have a night out.
Also timing in on the night, in the almost dark was Jeff & Matthew Walton of Coxhoe to take 5th club, 5th section. Their 7yo hen, ’722 timed at 10:08pm, 17 minutes after the clocks closed. Sitting 12 day old eggs she has previous section wins, 2nd Fougeres 441 miles, 5th Coutances 392 miles, 6th Coutances 392 miles, 7th Messac 477 miles, Cholet 530 miles & now 5th Sennen Cove 366 miles. She’s from their Jos Thone’ stock with a touch of the late Ron Strong’s of Hexham who timed in for fun from the 500 mile races in the West Durham Amal. The minor positions in the club were taken by Bob McKie, McSween & Sexton and Garnett and Son.
Many congratulations to all members who timed in what turned out to be a tough gig for Sportsman members. Let’s hope we see a better outcome for Sennen Cove 2 on the 19th June.
Paul Kitching
