Pigeons in full f light

Horsham’s racing pigeon club had two mid-week races with the opening of rural Victoria after the most recent three-week lockdown due to COVID-19.

Members entered two different race teams, one from Portland and another from Coonalpyn the following day.

Results from the two race points were markedly different.

The Portland race was the second for the season in the club’s championship program. The club has nominated 11 races on the program for inclusion in a championship aggregate for 2021.

Fourteen members entered 304 pigeons in the 172-kilometre race from Portland.

Despite being aided by a southerly breeze, the leading pigeons were about 15 minutes slower than expected.

Eight members had entries in the leading mob into the home region.

Dennis Smith scored his first victory for the 2021 season when his leading entry averaged 77kmh to win by 51 seconds from the Mcphee family. Third was John Muszkieta.

The second mid-week race featured 360 different pigeons to those that raced the day before in a 240-kilometre event from Coonalpyn, South Australia.

A modest four to 8km south, southeasterly breeze led to predictions of a sub-70kmh an hour race. But leading pigeons only averaged 58kmh. Four of the 14 members had an entry in the leading batch into Horsham in marked contrast to double that for the leaders from Portland.

The underlying reason for this contrast is unknown, however most members would be inclined to suspect peregrine attacks occurred on the Coonalpyn entries as opposed to a clear flight from Portland the day before.

Both Smith and Muszkieta won their sections again, making it two in a row from the two mid-week events.

In racing from Coonalpyn the previous week, about 12 of 575 pigeons released led the main batch by up to 30 minutes on their flight to their home lofts.

Eighteen members entered race teams after a three-week break from COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The club arranged racing with help from Central Highlands Pigeon Combine with authorised freight arrangements.

The club intends to continue racing from locations in South Australia in conjunction with the Ballarat combine.

Likely race-release points will be from Murray Bridge, Port Pirie, Pimba and Glendambo.

The club will also race from Victorian release points including Portland, Mortlake, Bannockburn and Wonthaggi.

Muszkieta and the Mcphee family continued to enjoy success in their respective sections, adding to previous wins. They won first and second placings in the club championship respectively, with Bruce Rentsch third.

The next race will be from Terowrie, in South Australia.

Results –

Portland: Section one for small race teams, 1, Dennis Smith 1290.47 metres a minute; 2, Mcphee family 1282.28mm; 3, Bruce Rentsch 1277.47mm. Section two for large race teams: 1, John Muszkieta 1280.99mm; 2, Brian Watts at 1266.46mm; 3, Graham Elbourne 1263.41mm. Elbourne’s leading pigeon was the first home to its loft in this race, however being located to the south of Horsham and after allowing for overfly for lofts north of his loft, the average velocity was not sufficient to take out victory overall. Coonalypn two: Section one, 1, Dennis Smith 841.42mm; 2, Mcphee family 841.24mm; 3, Peter Robertson 670.36mm. Section two: 1, John Muszkieta 963.08mm; 2, John Aisbett 945.05mm; 3, Graham Elbourne 1943.29mm. Coonalpyn one: Section one, 1, Mcphee family 1601.32mm; 2, Bruce Rentsch 1596.76mm; 3, John Arnott 1594.9mm. Section two: 1, John Muszkieta 1622.76mm; 2, Rob Nelson 1587.74mm; 3, Brian Watts 1557.17mm.