NRCC Fraserburgh 2011
By George Wheatman
The toughest race of the North Road Championship Club 2011 programme was won by 53-year-old Lincolnshire farmer, Martin Sharpe, with an impressive velocity of 1472 yards per minute, and a clear 15ypm margin from the runner-up, on a day when it is estimated that 40 per cent of the entry did not make it home in race time from Fraserburgh.
This was a win waiting to happen, for Martin had been third yearling classic Perth, 13th open Perth and ninth open Dunbar this year, and for the past 15 years or so has been one of the top sprint contenders in Peterborough and District Federation, with something like 17 Federation wins to his credit.
He says he set out on the pigeon racing scene 15 years ago with the ambition of winning “one of the Big Five” – by which he meant one of the NRCC old bird races.
It was always likely to be one of the shorter races if he was to achieve this aim. As it happened, after those near misses in the early races, it was from middle distance Fraserburgh – 322 miles to his Hogsthorpe left – that his ambition was realised, and on a day when many members were left waiting in frustration, and in vain.
A total of 342 members sent 3151 birds, and 98 members never verified.
The pigeon that beat the rest of the convoy and, it seems, the bad weather so many hit, was a two-year-old pencil blue Staf Van Reet widowhood cock bird described by NRCC vice-President, Geoff Clare, who verified the bird, as “a really lovely pigeon, with silky feathering.”
Martin agreed with this description, saying it was very good in the hand. It had never won anything before, but had often been up with the leaders, sometimes being beaten on the trap.
It was purchased as a young bird from Keith Arnold, and Martin still also has the hen out of the same nest.
He likes to try a few pigeons from different sources each year, and these have included Vandenabeele from John Whitaker, of Sheffield, while a fancier in Blackpool breeds him some good pigeons.
For a long time he raced Crowders dark Busschaerts, some of which are still in the loft, and he says fanciers from whom he has bought pigeons have always “steered me in the right direction.” He particularly acknowledges John Crowder in this respect.
One suspects, however, that there is a farmer’s natural stock sense coming in to play when Martin chooses a bird.
He works with his father and brother on the family beef and arable farm in the hamlet of Langham, but for many years they had a dairy herd which mean early morning, and late afternoon, milking for 365 days a year – and relentlessly year in, year out.
That sometimes gave him little time for the pigeons, but it might give more than a hint of where the stock sense comes from.
Despite this lack of time, Martin was always the man to beat in sprint racing, and he had some tremendous seasons with the Candlesby club. He now flies with the small Skegness club, who basket their birds with Alford North Road RPC, home of some of the top fanciers in the county, and one senses he would like to compete in this company – if they can be persuaded to open their radius to include him and his Skegness colleagues.
In the meantime, club racing enables him to aim for Federation and North Road Championship Club success.
Saturday’s win was the most satisfying yet.
Martin does not keep a lot of pigeons. He started the season with 19 widowhood cocks, and usually has about 30 young birds.
He sent five to Perth, and had four of them home on the day.
The national winner will have a rest from racing for the remainder of the season, and be allowed to raise a couple of rounds of youngsters. He will, however, says Martin, be brought back into action next year.
In fact, Martin will not have many more old bird races left this year for his team of two-year-olds and yearlings. His philosophy is not to push his pigeons too hard.
He did keep a few pigeons as a boy, but could not afford to go into racing them until much later, when he became established in life.
Martin saw two wishes achieved at the weekend. The first was, of course, to win the race from Fraserburgh. The second was to see some rain fall on the family farm which, like the rest of Lincolnshire, has been parched by the lack of rain for so long.
Not everyone, certainly not those competing with the NRCC alongside him, will be pleased his second wish came true on that particular day because, as it appears his winning pigeon got ahead of the bad weather, or avoided it, many were caught up in it, and members reported a lot of good birds missing at nightfall. Unfortunately much of Sunday was not good for birds, already exhausted, making their way home.
Martin said that there was no sign that his winner had been through bad weather. Other fanciers reported birds arriving home with brown wattles, and very tired, obviously having encountered some rain, seemingly heavy, en route.
This, however, was a good win by an excellent fancier, and a bird that showed how it could be done.
It will also win Section Two and the Peterborough Federation.
Second in the race was a partnership formed for this season between John Hardy and John Burt, of Boston, both good fanciers in their own right, and now combining their talents to set the pace in Boston and District Flying Club.
The third pigeon was also into Boston, and was fitting reward for all the hard work carried out by NRCC chairman Brian Garnham and his wife Angie. These two lofts are also from Section Two, but there was no domination by one loft. In fact the results were like a scattergun firing in to all sections, and following no pattern.
NRCC Fraserburgh Race – Convoyer’s Report
It is Monday pm, and I write this article in the knowledge that we have had a difficult race, with 50% of the entries missing. I don’t take decisions that I make lightly, especially with our pigeons’ well being in mind, and also especially for the premier club on the north road.
I want you all to understand that it is the convoyers’ decision to liberate our pigeons at all races, no one else’s! We have information given to us from various sources, but the decision to liberate is firmly with the man in charge of the pigeons, who is in the best position at the race-point to make that important decision.
Saturday morning, I awoke at 4.30am to find no rain or low mist as was forecast the previous evening. We had clear skies over the sea to the east with the sun glistening on the water towards the horizon. Above we had high level grey sky with spots of blue, but to the south we had a dark sky, but visibility was unlimited. There was little or no wind. I consulted the met office website, which gave dry conditions below us for the whole of the country at 7.00am, with a possibility of some light rain affecting the Edinburgh area in the late morning.
I spoke to our chairman at 5.00am, who advised of a surprise package out to the east of Scotland, a weather front with varying amounts of rain that “may” be heading west over the land, and therefore affecting our birds’ flight home. Otherwise, the forecast included mainly bright skies with a few rain showers in places along the route home, but nothing south of Scotland that would seriously affect our birds’ journeys back. Winds would be northerly in the main, veering westerly, and possibly lying in the south west at the bottom of the organisation.
Within the next half hour I spoke with contacts in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, who confirmed that conditions were dry and fair, with a light northerly air flow. We discussed the rain lying out at sea, but it was their understanding locally, that this would not affect us until late morning, as the Met Office predicted. I consulted the rainfall radar on the web, and sure thing, this blob of rain was out at sea, with the possibility of some light rain lapping the coast. Aberdeen then confirmed that there was a little light rain in the air, but nothing serious, and the sky remained high and bright and visibility remained unlimited. Another contact at Portlethan, to the south of Aberdeen reported clear dry conditions.
After speaking with convoyers at other race-points en-route, and double checking my other contacts, and with the local skies improving all the time, I made the decision just after 6.10am to prepare for a liberation. It took us approximately 25 minutes to cut the strings and level the crates.
At 6.45am we liberated the convoy, and all our audience will verify, the birds cleared over the hills to the south without hesitation and were out of sight within a few minutes.
The wind was light NE, and my prediction was for a first verification at around 13.00hrs, and when that was confirmed to me on our journey home, I was pleased in the first instance, but after a couple of hours and reports of no “quantities” of birds homing to their lofts then it was obvious that something had gone wrong. I can confirm that our birds were sighted over Aberdeen and Portlethan within the first hour after liberation, so the first 40-50 miles appear to have been successful.
The rain did hit the land with a vengeance, we can confirm that as from Dundee, through Perth towards Glasgow, we witnessed heavy rain, but this was between 12.00 to 15.00 hrs, well after the birds would have cleared through.
Did the majority try to navigate inland of the rain out at sea, and possibly come down the wrong side of the pennines? We shall never know, but few birds homed the next day, so something went badly wrong.
I do hope more birds return safely over the next few days.
Stephen Spinks
NRCC Fraserburgh 2011
By George Wheatman
The toughest race of the North Road Championship Club 2011 programme was won by 53-year-old Lincolnshire farmer, Martin Sharpe, with an impressive velocity of 1472 yards per minute, and a clear 15ypm margin from the runner-up, on a day when it is estimated that 40 per cent of the entry did not make it home in race time from Fraserburgh.
This was a win waiting to happen, for Martin had been third yearling classic Perth, 13th open Perth and ninth open Dunbar this year, and for the past 15 years or so has been one of the top sprint contenders in Peterborough and District Federation, with something like 17 Federation wins to his credit.
He says he set out on the pigeon racing scene 15 years ago with the ambition of winning “one of the Big Five” – by which he meant one of the NRCC old bird races.
It was always likely to be one of the shorter races if he was to achieve this aim. As it happened, after those near misses in the early races, it was from middle distance Fraserburgh – 322 miles to his Hogsthorpe left – that his ambition was realised, and on a day when many members were left waiting in frustration, and in vain.
A total of 342 members sent 3151 birds, and 98 members never verified.
The pigeon that beat the rest of the convoy and, it seems, the bad weather so many hit, was a two-year-old pencil blue Staf Van Reet widowhood cock bird described by NRCC vice-President, Geoff Clare, who verified the bird, as “a really lovely pigeon, with silky feathering.”
Martin agreed with this description, saying it was very good in the hand. It had never won anything before, but had often been up with the leaders, sometimes being beaten on the trap.
It was purchased as a young bird from Keith Arnold, and Martin still also has the hen out of the same nest.
He likes to try a few pigeons from different sources each year, and these have included Vandenabeele from John Whitaker, of Sheffield, while a fancier in Blackpool breeds him some good pigeons.
For a long time he raced Crowders dark Busschaerts, some of which are still in the loft, and he says fanciers from whom he has bought pigeons have always “steered me in the right direction.” He particularly acknowledges John Crowder in this respect.
One suspects, however, that there is a farmer’s natural stock sense coming in to play when Martin chooses a bird.
He works with his father and brother on the family beef and arable farm in the hamlet of Langham, but for many years they had a dairy herd which mean early morning, and late afternoon, milking for 365 days a year – and relentlessly year in, year out.
That sometimes gave him little time for the pigeons, but it might give more than a hint of where the stock sense comes from.
Despite this lack of time, Martin was always the man to beat in sprint racing, and he had some tremendous seasons with the Candlesby club. He now flies with the small Skegness club, who basket their birds with Alford North Road RPC, home of some of the top fanciers in the county, and one senses he would like to compete in this company – if they can be persuaded to open their radius to include him and his Skegness colleagues.
In the meantime, club racing enables him to aim for Federation and North Road Championship Club success.
Saturday’s win was the most satisfying yet.
Martin does not keep a lot of pigeons. He started the season with 19 widowhood cocks, and usually has about 30 young birds.
He sent five to Perth, and had four of them home on the day.
The national winner will have a rest from racing for the remainder of the season, and be allowed to raise a couple of rounds of youngsters. He will, however, says Martin, be brought back into action next year.
In fact, Martin will not have many more old bird races left this year for his team of two-year-olds and yearlings. His philosophy is not to push his pigeons too hard.
He did keep a few pigeons as a boy, but could not afford to go into racing them until much later, when he became established in life.
Martin saw two wishes achieved at the weekend. The first was, of course, to win the race from Fraserburgh. The second was to see some rain fall on the family farm which, like the rest of Lincolnshire, has been parched by the lack of rain for so long.
Not everyone, certainly not those competing with the NRCC alongside him, will be pleased his second wish came true on that particular day because, as it appears his winning pigeon got ahead of the bad weather, or avoided it, many were caught up in it, and members reported a lot of good birds missing at nightfall. Unfortunately much of Sunday was not good for birds, already exhausted, making their way home.
Martin said that there was no sign that his winner had been through bad weather. Other fanciers reported birds arriving home with brown wattles, and very tired, obviously having encountered some rain, seemingly heavy, en route.
This, however, was a good win by an excellent fancier, and a bird that showed how it could be done.
It will also win Section Two and the Peterborough Federation.
Second in the race was a partnership formed for this season between John Hardy and John Burt, of Boston, both good fanciers in their own right, and now combining their talents to set the pace in Boston and District Flying Club.
The third pigeon was also into Boston, and was fitting reward for all the hard work carried out by NRCC chairman Brian Garnham and his wife Angie. These two lofts are also from Section Two, but there was no domination by one loft. In fact the results were like a scattergun firing in to all sections, and following no pattern.
NRCC Fraserburgh Race – Convoyer’s Report
It is Monday pm, and I write this article in the knowledge that we have had a difficult race, with 50% of the entries missing. I don’t take decisions that I make lightly, especially with our pigeons’ well being in mind, and also especially for the premier club on the north road.
I want you all to understand that it is the convoyers’ decision to liberate our pigeons at all races, no one else’s! We have information given to us from various sources, but the decision to liberate is firmly with the man in charge of the pigeons, who is in the best position at the race-point to make that important decision.
Saturday morning, I awoke at 4.30am to find no rain or low mist as was forecast the previous evening. We had clear skies over the sea to the east with the sun glistening on the water towards the horizon. Above we had high level grey sky with spots of blue, but to the south we had a dark sky, but visibility was unlimited. There was little or no wind. I consulted the met office website, which gave dry conditions below us for the whole of the country at 7.00am, with a possibility of some light rain affecting the Edinburgh area in the late morning.
I spoke to our chairman at 5.00am, who advised of a surprise package out to the east of Scotland, a weather front with varying amounts of rain that “may” be heading west over the land, and therefore affecting our birds’ flight home. Otherwise, the forecast included mainly bright skies with a few rain showers in places along the route home, but nothing south of Scotland that would seriously affect our birds’ journeys back. Winds would be northerly in the main, veering westerly, and possibly lying in the south west at the bottom of the organisation.
Within the next half hour I spoke with contacts in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, who confirmed that conditions were dry and fair, with a light northerly air flow. We discussed the rain lying out at sea, but it was their understanding locally, that this would not affect us until late morning, as the Met Office predicted. I consulted the rainfall radar on the web, and sure thing, this blob of rain was out at sea, with the possibility of some light rain lapping the coast. Aberdeen then confirmed that there was a little light rain in the air, but nothing serious, and the sky remained high and bright and visibility remained unlimited. Another contact at Portlethan, to the south of Aberdeen reported clear dry conditions.
After speaking with convoyers at other race-points en-route, and double checking my other contacts, and with the local skies improving all the time, I made the decision just after 6.10am to prepare for a liberation. It took us approximately 25 minutes to cut the strings and level the crates.
At 6.45am we liberated the convoy, and all our audience will verify, the birds cleared over the hills to the south without hesitation and were out of sight within a few minutes.
The wind was light NE, and my prediction was for a first verification at around 13.00hrs, and when that was confirmed to me on our journey home, I was pleased in the first instance, but after a couple of hours and reports of no “quantities” of birds homing to their lofts then it was obvious that something had gone wrong. I can confirm that our birds were sighted over Aberdeen and Portlethan within the first hour after liberation, so the first 40-50 miles appear to have been successful.
The rain did hit the land with a vengeance, we can confirm that as from Dundee, through Perth towards Glasgow, we witnessed heavy rain, but this was between 12.00 to 15.00 hrs, well after the birds would have cleared through.
Did the majority try to navigate inland of the rain out at sea, and possibly come down the wrong side of the pennines? We shall never know, but few birds homed the next day, so something went badly wrong.
I do hope more birds return safely over the next few days.
Stephen Spinks