This was no ‘blow home’ race for the pigeons
On Saturday the pigeons are off to Springfontein for another combined liberation race
THE races from Colesberg on Saturday were real races for Riverpark Pigeon Club and Gauteng Pigeon Union (GPU) as this was one of the few races this season that was not a blow home for the pigeons.
There was no old bird race on the weekend, only a normal young bird race and the GPU Yearling National Race (the points scored in this race were allocated to the old bird scheme).
The GPU also had a car race, for which you could nominate a bird or birds for, and a GPU R200 ring nomination race for which the ring numbers for this race were submitted to the GPU on the first basketing night of the season on June 2.
A fancier really has to know his pigeons when selecting yearlings for nominations before the season begins. For Riverpark, Doves Nest Guest House’s Gawie Botha was the first member to have a GPU R200 nomination bird home with a clocking time of 15:03:25. The first car nomination was Holtzhausen Hokke (Riaan Holtzhausen) at 15:18:21. Unfortunately, neither of these times were good enough to win in the GPU.
Pieter van den Broeck had his second young bird race win in a row this weekend (also 17th and 23rd), winning by 6 minutes and 20 seconds from Holtzhausen Hokke (also 14th and 29th). The young birds had a nett flying time of 7 hours 32 minutes and 16 seconds and the top 30 positions were filled in 53 minutes 42 seconds.
The rest of the young bird results were: Flip van Staden 3rd and 9th; Doves Nest Guest House 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 12th; G & E Lofts 10th and 19th; Reinhold Brichta 13th and 15th; Hilton Pitout 16th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 26th and 28th; Nollie de Villiers 20th and 27th; Fred van Rensburg 24th and Pine Pienaar 25th and 30th.
In the Yearling National, Blackie Swart was Riverpark’s winner (also 3rd, 8th, 12th, 13th, 21st & 23rd) by 7 minutes 37 seconds from Doves Nest Guest House (also 7th, 17th, 20th & 26th). This race had a nett flying time of 7 hours 30 minutes 08 seconds and the top 30 positions were filled in 53 minutes 59 seconds.
The rest of the Yearling National results were: Hilton Pitout 4th, 14th and 18th; G & E Lofts 5th, 11th and 25th; Holtzhausen Hokke 6th, 9th, 10th, 19th and 27th; Albert Neilson 15th and 30th; Connie Coertse 16th; Nollie de Villiers 22nd; Fred van Rensburg 24th and Pieter van den Broeck 28th and 29th.
Riverpark Pigeon Club also took part in another nomination race this weekend – a Jan Smuts Duiweklub nomination race, which the the clubs based in Kempton Park participated in, namely Jan Smuts, Kosmos and Riverpark. The first three Jan Smuts nomination pigeons home for Riverpark were Doves Nest Guest House, G & E Lofts and Holtzhausen Hokke.
On Saturday the pigeons are off to Springfontein for another combined liberation race and Riverpark will also be having its second coloured/pied/red race. After this race there is only one more race left on the calendar for the young bird races and that is the derby race which takes place on August 20 from Hanover.
