We have sent 10 of our best to the NFC, Rain is predicted for tomorrow for wales and is clearing around 4pm. We could have a tough race but hope for a Sunday race with lighter winds and less rain.
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We had a tough race in the west and the 6 we sent have not been to many races in their lives and struggled with the wind today, Most have 50% home but there has been a problem with birds coming home in a dehydrated state. a number of fanciers have called to say their birds were totally exhausted and drank lots of water on return, more than a race of double that distance. One fancier sent 2 cocks that had been over the channel 4 times all ready this year and he is devastated with the condition his bird came home in.
We are very lucky we have kept our main channel team at home and have these ready for the NFC next week. The birds have been liberated at 7am in to light south west wind, The wind in the channel is 20 to 35 mph westerly. Lets hope the birds do not end up in Belgium or Holland, maybe we should have stayed on the west side of France for all races, ;-) wind map for today - The wind station at Guernsey is showing 26 mph now. Isle of Wight is showing 30 to 35 at 10am also.. Equality is essential when liberating birds where the members are spread out over a large area. We have sent 6 birds to the WSRNFC Falaise race, we have not sent the channel team and these are entered next week for the NFC Messac race.
We sent 1 x 2 year old and 5 x yearlings. We expect a liberation early tomorrow but we will see what the federation decide to do. This could be the making or breaking of the federation. Time to reflect on what has happened so far this year.
Inland racing - This has been a disaster and most birds have been lost at under 100 miles. We have lost over 30 of our distance birds at Frome and Salisbury. Will we learn, I doubt it. but we have a plan for the future. Channel racing with the classics - well what can we say , we have sent to 9 channel races with the classic clubs and have lost 4 birds , this is exceptional racing. The BICC, BBC and NFC should be applauded for their excellent service and care of the birds. Many welsh fanciers will be watching the fantastic performances by Welsh fanciers in 2012 and follow them in to the classic racing scene. Dennis Ford, John Ludlam, Spencer Jones, Preece Bros, C Bradshaw jnr, Bradshaw & Family, Adrian Ware and many more are setting the standard for Welsh channel racing. The Welsh are holding their own and before too long I expect specialist clubs taking a firm hold in Wales, The west are toying with a new distance club as we speak. The welsh are here to stay and will be a major force in classic racing for the foreseeable future. We sent our injured birds to Bedhampton with the federation and are pleased all bar 1 made it home. this was to see if they had recovered enough to race again this year.
NFC - we sent 2 to the Alencon race which was 350 miles. We clocked one on the day for 6th section J, 61st open . we are very pleased with this cock as it is his 4th channel race of the year all ready. We got the both home and are happy with their progress. We have 2 races today .
NFC Cholet - 2 birds sent - liberated at 6.15am.. WSRF Bedhampton - 5 birds sent, all injured birds from past weeks, no news on lib yet, maybe too much east in the wind, lets hope for a liberation today. What a bad race, many many birds missing in the west. Why oh Why did they hold yesterday when others liberated.
The national and federation will suffer from their mistakes. Well we had 1 race yesterday and 1 race held over,
BICC were liberated at 5.45 and we got 7 from 12 last night but returns were good all round in the locality. We finished prov 11th BICC from 1900 birds competing , WSRNFC - These birds were held over, a crazy decision in my opinion, many fanciers will soon act with their feet and stop sending to these organisations due to the poor actions by the people involved in liberating the birds. I have been told this morning that the propaganda is saying that the BICC had a bad race, Well let me tell all the WSRF and WSRNFC generals the BICC had a very good race with Welsh fanciers all through the race result. I do think that the people in charge should be doing their own ground work and not ringing other conveyors to try and get our birds home behind other liberation's. We sent 22 to Salisbury and clocked 19 on the day. We finished 6th club from 216 birds sent.
We are happy enough with the birds and the channel team were left in the loft for the BICC race this weekend. Well done to Fishlock & Roberts on a fantastic bird today to win and to Glyn Jones on two very good birds so high up the valley in a north west wind. |
AuthorB Williams & son, south wales, Archives
March 2015
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