Good day the pigeons have been scanned and are ready for the final race on Friday 28 January 2022 from Springfontein (488km), this means a jump of very close to 230kms from the last hot spot to the final race. Early weather predictions are for a headwind of about 15kmh and for the first time this season the temperatures on route will be above 30 degrees at midday.
I am happy with the amount of work we got in with all the rain etc. this last two months and have even learned something for the future summer races, I would have been more confident if the pigeons could have had another 210km or another 260km training flight or so to better prepare them but due to the late intake and the heavy persistent rains we did the best we could. When we scanned them this morning I handled some of the pigeons and the feather condition is better than previous seasons and here I think Dr. Piet van Zyl’ s input helped a lot I must say that many of the local pigeons feathering are far better than any year before in the summer races.
This is also the highest percentage of pigeons going to a summer final for a number of years let’s have a look at some of the finals the last couple of years:
2017 we basketed 177 pigeons and the winner was clocked at 16h17 from 451km
2018 we basketed 145 pigeons and the winner was clocked at 15h50 from 451km
2019 we did not have a summer race due to the problems with imports and AI
2020 we basketed 89 South African pigeons to the final and the winner was clocked at 15h12 from 386km
2021 we basketed 270 pigeons to the final and the winner clocked at 13h20 from 460km
I am confident the kit will work well as a unit till about 10am by which time the main 40 or 50 pigeons will break from the group and as every half an hour pass so they will drop down to drink water which there is plenty of this year, once the temps hit 28 degrees no more than 10 pigeons will keep on racing home and then it will be the best of the best on the day and who is in the best form and condition that will be home first.
All the best of luck to every pigeon on Friday and Saturday to the breeders and entrants the same!
Who will be the winner /ace pigeon that is now the only questions that still needs answering thank you to all who shipped pigeons I know this is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea as it will be very tough going but at least it won’t be a clocking competition like it is in the winter races.
All the best to the pigeons and the owners and hope to see all of you win or lose next year again and perhaps next year we will have 500 plus to the final!!
