THE Gauteng Pigeon Union (GPU) liberated the pigeons in a combined liberation from Cradock in the Eastern Cape on Saturday.
The weather was partly cloudy with no wind at 6.30am when the pigeons were liberated.
This race was also a car nomination race where members of the various unions and federations could nominate pigeons at R150 each with the chance of either winning a car/bakkie or receiving a cash payout, depending on how many fanciers participated.
The results of the car race will only be known in a couple of weeks, once all the results have been verified.
Riverpark Pigeon Club had 16 members flying 180 pigeons in this race. Cradock is an average distance of 714km for club members. The winds on the way home for the pigeons were mild north-westerly in places and the temperatures in the Free State were in the mid to late 20s, making for a better race than the previous week.
Winning by a margin of five minutes and five seconds, and his first win of the season, was Connie Coertse. Connie also earned bragging rights as he only basketed the one pigeon for this race.
The time margin difference for second and third places was the same (0:05:05) and the only way the computer system could calculate these two positions was on the velocity of the pigeons.
In second place, by only 18mm, was Beano Daschner, followed by Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard). This is the second time this season that the club has had such a close margin between two positions on the result sheet.
Coertse’s Blue Bar White Flight hen GPU 15 1591 had a nett flying time of eight hours 58 minutes and 11 seconds and it took 36 minutes and 29 seconds to fill the top 30 positions. The rest of the results were:
Connie Coertse 1st; Beano Daschner 2nd, 10th; Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th; Flip van Staden 4th, 21st, 29th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 5th, 23rd; Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 6th, 14th, 19th, 24th, 30th; Blackie Swart 7th, 9th, 11th, 26th; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 12th; Hilton Pitout 15th; Pieter van den Broeck 16th, 25th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 17th, 20th; Fred van Rensburg 22nd, 27th and Reinhold Brichta 28th.
On Saturday the GPU will liberate the pigeons from Richmond in the Northern Cape for the Old Bird National in a combined liberation.
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