GAUTENG Pigeon Union (GPU) liberated the pigeons from Springfontein in the Free State on Saturday.
When the pigeons were liberated at 7.15am (young birds) and 8am (open birds), the skies were clear and the wind blowing a light north westerly. On the way back to the lofts the winds were blowing north easterly and south easterly in places.
This race was also the GPU’s second last middle distance race of the season.
Springfontein is an average distance of 518km for Riverpark which had 13 members flying 156 pigeons in the young bird race. The young bird race winning pigeon had a nett flying time of six hours 33 minutes and 33 seconds, which is 80km/h.
With his fourth young bird win under his hat, Blackie Swart’s Dark Check cock GPU 2016 12502 beat Doves Nest Guest House’s (Gawie Botha) Blue Bar cock GPU 2016 12438 by a margin of only 19 seconds. There were only five seconds between Doves Nest Guest House and Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) in the third position.
The top 30 positions on the result sheet took 20 minutes and 19 seconds to fill up:
Blackie Swart 1st, 8th, 13th, 14th, 27th; Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 2nd, 4th, 12th, 23rd, 24th, 26th; Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 3rd, 6th, 17th; Hilton Pitout 5th; Reinhold Brichta 7th, 20th, 22nd, 29th; Fred van Rensburg 9th, 25th, 30th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 10th, 11th, 16th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 15th, 21st; Bakgat Lofts (Danalien Snyman) 18th, 19th, and 28th.
In the open race, the club had 17 members flying 261 pigeons. The winning pigeon had a nett flying time of six hours 32 minutes and 22 seconds. With his second old bird win for the season Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) pipped Hilton Pitout by two minutes and 54 seconds. Tallies Lofts and Hilton Pitout have now each won two of the open bird races this season.
The top 30 positions took only 14 minutes and 47 seconds to fill:
Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 1st, 10th, 19th, 23rd; Hilton Pitout 2nd, 8th; Albert Neilson 3rd, 20th; Beano Daschner 4th, 29th; Pine Pienaar 5th, 15th, 21st, 26th; Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 6th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 22nd; Henry Mostert 7th, 18th; Sky Lofts 9th, 27th; Blackie Swart 12th; Connie Coertse 13th, 14th, 25th,, 28th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 24th and Fred van Rensburg 30th.
On Saturday the GPU will liberate the pigeons from Hanover in the Northern Cape. This is the last middle distance race of the season, about 660km for Riverpark members, and is also the derby race for the young birds.
This is the last race of the season for the young bird scheme as the balance of the races, long distance, are open bird races. Technically, Springfontein was the last young bird race for the season as the points from the derby race are allocated to the open bird scheme.
Riverpark will also have the second and last leg of their hat draw competition during this race.
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