Swart wins first long distance race

ON Saturday, Gauteng Pigeon Union (GPU) liberated the pigeons from Middelburg in the Eastern Cape for the first long distance race of the season.

Middelburg is an average distance of 672km for Riverpark Pigeon Club members.

Now that we are in long distance races, there are no young bird races as the South African National Pigeon Union (SANPO), the pigeon governing body in South Africa, limits the distance young birds are allowed to fly.

There was a light easterly wind at liberation but on the way home there were winds of 28km/h north-easterly, which was a head wind for the birds. This was not an easy race for the pigeons as once again it was an overnight race.

Riverpark’s winning pigeon clocked in at 5.14pm and 40 seconds later the second pigeon was in.

In the first position was Blackie Swart and second was Reinhold Brichta. Swart’s pigeon (GPU 15 3860 Blue Bar hen) had a nett flying time of nine hours 59 minutes and it took 43 minutes to fill the top 30 positions in the club.

The hours of darkness (clock closing time) was from 6.20pm and the clocks ‘opened’ again at 6.18am. However, all the birds in the top 30 were home before the clocks closed, which was a good thing because of the mist in Kempton Park on Sunday morning.

The full results were:

Blackie Swart 1st; Reinhold Brichta 2nd, 9th, 12th, 25th; Albert Neilson 3rd, 7th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 20th; Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 4th, 19th; Connie Coertse 5th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 6th, 14th, 18th, 28th, 29th; Hilton Pitout 8th, 23rd, 26th; Beano Daschner 15th, 16th; Pine Pienaar 17th, 21st; Doves Nest Guest House 22nd, 24th; Knoesen Lofts (Attie Knoesen) 27th and Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 30th.

The club’s middle distance winners were:

Single bird averages, young birds: Hilton Pitout

Single bird averages open birds: Hilton Pitout

All bird averages, young birds: Blackie Swart

All bird averages, open birds: Hilton Pitout

On Saturday the pigeons will be liberated from Richmond in a combined liberation.