Pigeons race home against head wind
On Saturday the birds will again be liberated from Winburg but this will not be a combined liberation
GAUTENG Pigeon Union (GPU) liberated pigeons from Winburg on Saturday for the second short-distance race of the season.
This was a combined liberation in conjunction with four other pigeon federations/unions. An estimated 8 000 pigeons featured in the old bird race.
A north easterly wind blew when they were set-free and according to weather reports, the winds remained consistent throughout the race.
North east winds are ‘head winds’ and compared to the Theunissen race the previous week which had ‘tail winds’, this was definitely the first tough race of the season.
Riverpark Pigeon Club (RPC) covers an average race distance of 290km and the results showed that the winds must have picked up along the way between the liberation of the young birds at 7.30am and the old birds at 8.15am.
The first clocked young bird took 3 hours 31 minutes and 23 seconds to get home and the first old bird took 3 hours 52 minutes and 11 seconds.
RPC had 14 members flying 200 young birds in the young bird race and the winner was Reinhold Brichta, whose pigeon clocked 41 seconds before that of Pieter van den Broeck.
The final results were:
Reinhold Brichta 1st, 17th, 21st, 26th and 30th; Pieter van den Broeck 2nd and 27th; Knoesen Lofts (Attie Knoesen) 3rd; Albert Neilson 4th; Tallies Lofts (Jan Taljaard) 5th, 12th and 13th; Flip van Staden 6th and 22nd; Fred van Rensburg 7th and 24th; Blackie Swart 8th and 11th; Pine Pienaar 9th; Bakgat Lofts (Danalien Snyman) 10th, 14th and 29th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 15th and 23rd; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 16th and 25th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Möller) 18th and 20th and Hilton Pitout 19th and 28th;
In the old bird race, 16 RPC members flew 233 pigeons . The winning place result was a very interesting result, which none of the members ever recall having seen since using electronic clocks.
The result sheet showed a time margin of 0:00:00 between the first and second place and the only way the winner was determined was by the velocity flown. Hilton Pitout won the race with a velocity of 1 287.677 metres per minute (mpm) and Blackie Swart was second with a velocity of 1 287.662mpm, a difference of .015 in the velocity.
The final results were:
Hilton Pitout 1st; Blackie Swart 2nd, 6th, 19th and 25th; Henry Mostert 3rd, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 29th; Pine Pienaar 4th, 5th, 8th, 13th, 23rd, 24th and 28th; Beano Daschner 7th; Albert Neilson 9th and 11th; Tallies Lofts (Jan Taljaard) 10th, 20th and 26th; Connie Coertse 12th and 21st; Knoesen Lofts (Attie Knoesen) 18th; Fred van Rensburg 22nd and 30th and G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 27th.
On Saturday the birds will again be liberated from Winburg but this will not be a combined liberation. The current weather predictions are showing that there will again be north east winds.
Kosmos Pigeon Club
Hans de Noon of Kosmos Pigeon Club did it again when he won both the young bird and open series races from Winburg on Saturday.
The full race results were:
Young birds: Hans de Noon 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 12th, 22nd, 23rd; Hannes Maree (team 1) 6th, 8th, 11th, 16th ,27th, 30th; Hannes Maree (team 2) 15th, 19th, 25th; Stander Lofts 7th, 17th, 20th, 21st; JK Lofts 9th, 13th, 29th; Jaco van der Westhuizen 14th, 24th; Lucas Klopper 18th, 28th; K & L Meintjies 26th.
Open series: Hans de Noon 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 19th, 22nd, 24th; Stander Lofts 2nd, 10th, 29th; Tielie Kotze 3rd, 9th, 14th; Hannes Maree 6th, 12th, 15th, 21st, 23rd; Essie’s Lofts 11th; Lucas Klopper 16th, 28th; Jaco van der Westhuizen 17th, 25th; AM Wilken 18th, 20th, 27th; Van Heerden Hokke 26th.
Macdee Lofts 30.
