Middle-distance pigeon races kick off
At the time of going to print, on the unofficial GPU results, Blackie Swart was placed second in the union
THE middle-distance pigeon racing season kicked off on Saturday with Riverpark Pigeon Club flying from Smithfield.
It was the first middle-distance race of eight on the GPU race programme and it was a more easterly race for the birds.
There were clear skies with a slight southwesterly wind when the young birds were liberated at 7.30am and the old birds at 8.15am. The nett flying time for the young birds was five hours 40 minutes with the old birds having a nett flying time of five hours 39 minutes and 52 seconds – a very evenly matched race between the old and young birds.
The top 30 positions for the young birds were filled in 16 minutes 33 seconds with a winning margin of one minute 19 seconds between first place Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha, also 3rd, 13th, 18th, 23rd, 25th, 29th and 30th) and second place Pine Pienaar (also 16th).
The rest of the results for the young birds were:
Pieter van den Broeck 4th, 8th, 15th, 16th and 28th; G & E Lofts 5th; Hilton Pitout 7th and 10th; Nollie de Villiers 9th; Sky Lofts 11th and 17th; Tallies Loft 12th, 20th, 22nd, 24th and 27th; Reinhold Brichta 14th; Albert Neilson 19th; Holtzhausen Hokke 21st; Flip van Staden 26th.
The old birds took 22 minutes and 19 seconds to fill the sheet and the winning margin between first place Blackie Swart (also 6th and 26th) and second place Reinhold Brichta (also 7th, 8th, 15th and 30th) was four minutes 31 seconds.
At the time of going to print, on the unofficial GPU results, Blackie Swart was placed second in the union.
The balance of the old birds results were:
Holtzhausen Hokke 3rd and 20th; Albert Neilson 4th, 5th and 24th; Nollie de Villiers 9th 22nd and 29th; Pieter van den Broeck 10th and 25th; Connie Coertse 11th; Doves Nest Guest House 12th, 13th 14th and 27th; G & E Lofts 16th; Tallies Loft 17th; Hilton Pitout 18th and 19th; Pine Pienaar 21st; Knoesen Lofts 23rd and Sky Lofts 28th.
