by George Wheatman

For a spell on Sunday it looked as if there was going to be an incredible long-distance double completed this season in the North Road Championship Club race from Thurso..

Frank Bristow, of Horbling, in Lincolnshire, winner of the recent Blue Riband race from Lerwick, was the third fancier to verify, and for a long time held the lead. But his velocity of 1375ypm was eventually beaten by two yards by those excellent fanciers from Peterborough, GV and W Britton.

These two pigeons had obviously got away from the rest of the convoy, and the third verified pigeon was doing 1335ypm.

It is always a pleasure to talk to winners of NRCC races and so often it takes time for the successful fanciers to realise what they have achieved.

This is exactly how it is with father and son Graham and Michael Britton. They are still coming to terms with their outstanding performance or, as they would prefer to say, their pigeon's outstanding performance.

It was a Spring-bred yearling blue hen that did the trick for them. She was one of ten bred specially and later than normal.

She had flown Fraserburgh this year and, in general, had been a very consistent bird, and at basketting she was feeding two-to-three-day-old youngsters, her first of the summer.

She was so keen on these babies that she would not leave her nest box, and had to be fed in the box.

Graham missed her arrival, but Michael was on hand to time in.

Sire of the winner is a full brother to their Diploma of Merit winner, Shetland Britannia, and was put to stock after damaging its wing as a young bird.

Dam is another stock bird the same way bred as the 1st section, 2nd open Midlands National Flying Club race from Bergerac.

The Brittons, flying 430 miles from Thurso, sent eight birds, had six home on the day and another the next day.

Their team included a hen and a cock which they felt were not in the right condition to send to the earlier Lerwick race, and six yearlings.

Graham fancied the hen that won because she was so attached to her babies.

Graham, now 64, started in pigeons in 1959, and was later joined by his dad Walter whose name is still honoured in the title of GV and W Britton partnership name.

 

 

 

 

Son Michael (30) is an active partner and they share the work between them.
  

They always fly their birds on the natural system.

A great admirer of the late legendary John Lovell, a lot of their pigeons are descended from pigeons obtained from John. They have also had good pigeons from Terry Welby, another Lerwick enthusiast, the hard-working secretary of Swineshead and District RPC.

The Brittons' main target every year is NRCC Lerwick, and all their racing and preparation is geared to getting birds ready for the ultimate test from the Shetland Islands.

Nearest they have come to landing the King's Cup is being fifth open, but they have consistently been well placed in the results.

Among their proudest achievements are winning seven NRCC Diplomas of Merit, for pigeons that have finished in the first 200 open in the Lerwick race three times. Two of them were clinched this year. They have four more birds poised for a diploma next year if everything goes to plan. All the diploma winners have been retired from racing.

It is a long time since anyone from the Peterborough area won an NRCC race, and both Graham and Michael are hoping that their success will be encouragement for other fanciers in the area.

Certainly the wins have gone around the club area this year, and not been dominated by any one particular section.

The sections saw some well-known names in leading positions, and some newcomers making their mark on NRCC results.

Roger Hallsworth, of Selston, winner of the Lerwick race in 2006, has been the shining star this old bird season, and won section one from Thurso, to add to his second Perth open and section win from Lerwick this summer.

Dave Henry, who has been flying a good pigeon in Boston over the past season or two, was winner of section two to make his biggest impact yet on the NRCC. In his slipstream was the prolific winning partnership of Frank and Ann Tasker, of Wainfleet, suprising a few people with a good second section from the distance. Their major successes with the NRCC have been in the young bird national where they have an outstanding record.

It was a Britton-Bristow one-two in section three.

Section four was won by Naughton and Somerton, of Kings Lynn, while in second place was WG Mellett, also of Kings Lynn, winner of this section from Fraserburgh, and other good positions this year.

Another former section winner, E Baker and Son, of Huntingdon, won section five.

Winner of this season's Fraserburgh race, Rocky Dolby, of Chatteris, has maintained his excellent form to clinch section six.

Brian Woodhouse and Son - Brian is the well-known pigeon racing scribe - clocked a good bird to their London loft to win section seven.

Another good long distance fancier, W Hall, of Felixstowe, won section eight.

For the first time, members could watch the race unfold on the NRCC website although secretary Steve Spinks had not publicised this, preferring to wait to see how it turned out. Reports have, apparently, been favourable.

The entry was 2, 298 birds and convoyer Phil Ringe, still basking in the recent Lerwick liberation which he described as "outstanding, the finest liberation I have ever seen in my life", released the Ayrshire Federation and the Notts Fed pigeons at 6-45am and 7am respectively, cut the strings at 7-25am.

In all three cases, he said, the birds cleared instantly, although conditions at the racepoint were not as good as this perfectionist would have liked.

From his contacts along the line of flight, however, he knew there was good, clear weather only a few miles ahead - and for the rest of the journey. Returns were excellent.

"Ideally I would have liked to have waited another hour," he said. "but you always have to have the longer flying members in mind and give them the best chance possible."

What thrilled Phil particularly was the help he received from local fanciers at the stopover at Ecclefechan on Thursday night. Undeterred by the torrential rain, they donned their wet weather gear and were waiting for the transporter to arrive and immediately set about making sure the birds were fed and watered while good light existed. Phil said: "I cannot speak too highly of these people. They are pigeon fanciers of the highest order and never let us down. Their help is invaluable."