Direction change helps coastal lofts

A more balanced result as far as the coastal lofts (EL and the Kowie) were concerned was achieved when the recent pigeon race direction was changed. The birds flew from Graaff-Reinet to the west instead of from the east, as was the case in the first eight races on the 2020 programme.

The country lofts, however, still found themselves at a disadvantage, most likely because of the “pull” of the larger packs towards the coast.

Even though the Komani birds had almost 100km less to cover than their competitors from East London, the country lofts found themselves closing out the top-10 result sheet.

The race organisers decided on a joint liberation as the weather at the release point on Saturday morning was closing in fast.

Interestingly enough, the anyage birds posted winning speeds slightly faster than their yearling juniors; 86km/h as opposed to 84km/h.

The yearling event was won by a pigeon entered by Brian Richter of the Abbotsford Club at 84.5km/h, with the Northerns husband and wife pairing of Jackie and Helen Zheng taking second with an average flying speed of 83.5km/h.

Another Northerns flyer, Tinus Marais, took third spot at the same speed.

Modern electronic timing devices can clock pigeons with identical times but will still separate them in arrival order according to milliseconds, thus the Zheng bird taking second place.

The first Kowie pigeon was flown by Rob Avis (81.1km/h) and finished in 19th position. The Komani lofts were left to close out the sheet.

First arrival inland was clocked by Johan van der Mescht at 73.23km/h.

The any-age race produced slightly faster flying speeds with the fastest pigeon, flown by Colin and son Jason James (Northerns) registering 86.4km/h.

Second position saw Simon Amos Brown continue his loft’s run of good form at 86.1km/h, with Marais picking up his second third place of the day with a speed of 85.1km/h.

This race saw a better Kowie performance when Dave Tarrant “dropped” two pigeons together to take seventh and eighth positions at 83.1km/h.

It was left to Van der Mescht to also clock the first bird home in Komani at 73.3km/h.

The next race sees the birds move to Murraysburg for their release, a distance of just over 400km to East London.

The race organisers decided on a joint liberation as the weather at the release point on Saturday morning was closing in fast