Vryheid’s ‘athletes of the sky’ take flight
From the destination, these athletes of the sky raced to their home lofts, each one with a chance of being the first to return to their lofts in Vryheid.
VRYHEID’S pigeon fanciers were watching the skies last week, with the weekend’s weather conditions in mind.
With Saturday’s forecast predicting inclement weather for the scheduled flight, it was decided that the race would be postponed until Sunday morning instead.
Basketing of the pigeons scheduled to participate in the weekend races usually takes place on a Thursday evening, however, due to the delayed start on Sunday, it was a chilly Friday evening when members of Vryheid Pigeon Club gathered at their clubhouse at Cecil Emmett Park for the task of basketing their pigeons.
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Basketing refers to the process by which the pigeons are registered for the upcoming race and placed in numbered baskets before being collected and transported by truck to their starting point. This procedure ensures that each pigeon, bearing a unique identification tag on one leg and either a rubber ring or an electronic tag on the other, can be accounted for.
Chairman of Vryheid Pigeon Club and proud pigeon fancier since 1969, Dirk Norval, assisted those who utilise the more modern method of electronic tagging, while Robin and Joey Symes saw to the tagging and documenting of the club members pigeons who still use the older rubber ring system.
Once the basketing was done, the panniers were collected and transported to Ladysmith, where they would be collected by a truck and delivered to their destination. From the destination, these athletes of the sky raced to their home lofts, each one with a chance of being the first to return to their lofts in Vryheid.
According to the submitted report on the weekend’s results, two of these lofts are quite close to each other and neighbouring fanciers, Ruan and Piet Senekal and Frikkie Marx, stay just around the corner from each other.
“When they see a pigeon in the sky, they surely hope that it’s one of theirs…” states the Vryheid Pigeon Club report.
Sunday’s results may have been somewhat exhilarating for the neighbouring handlers then, as Frikkie Marx enjoyed first place in the 252km Middelburg race, while father and son team, Ruan and Piet Senekal took top spot in the 504km Dealesville race.
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The following results were submitted by Vryheid Pigeon Racing Club for the weekend races:
Middelburg: Distance: 252km, Speed: 1515m/s: Frikkie Marx: 1, 4, 18, 25, 26, 27; Dirk and Mariska Norval: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14; Robin Symes: 9, 11, 12, 17, 24, 28, 29, 30; Ruan and Piet Senekal: 10, 15, 21 and Willie Meyers: 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23.
Dealesville: Distance: 504km, Speed: 1340m/s: Ruan and Piet Senekal: 1, 9, 11, 19, 21, 23; Frikkie Marx: 2, 4, 10, 13, 15, 24; Robin Symes: 3, 8, 20 and Dirk and Mariska Norval: 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22.
