Muszkieta loft shines

John Muszkieta has rounded off an outstanding Horsham Racing Pigeon Club season with a win from Wonthaggi, the club’s final race for 2021.

Wonthaggi is more than 350 kilometres to most lofts in Horsham district and weather conditions featured a mild south-southwest breeze along the flight path.

The club had 21 races for the year, of which 10 counted towards a championship award.

Muszkieta won five of the 10 races to win the award convincingly.

In the final race for 2021, eight members entered 91 pigeons.

Sixteen arrived in the first batch after a five-and-a-half-hour flight.

The release was at 9.05am and the leading pigeons arrived at 2.40pm having flown together for much of the journey, averaging about 63kmh for the flight.

The race was in memory of the late Bob Arnott, a popular club lifemember renowned for helping other racers and newcomers to the sport.

Results – Section one for small teams: 1, Mcphee family at 1056.26 metres a minute; 2, Dennis Smith. Section two for large teams: 1, John Muszkieta 1058.7mm; 2, Rob Nelson 1,056.2mm; 3, Brian Watts, 1045.16mm.