Sorry about the delay in reporting the race results. I was very actively involved in most of the
planning and execution of the race and convention. As it was, I spent about 40 of the last 48 hours at the
convention hotel working in some capacity for the event. All in al, the convention was a huge
success!!
We had ~480 birds in the race from 31 lofts. I was able to enter 21 birds. There were about 6 lofts with no reports. There were only 133 day birds. Although still unofficial, Picks and Pools went down to about 35th place. Payouts will probably go down to 70 places or so, with the top 20 places taking about 35K.
The race was a pretty tough one. We released on time, Friday 10/12/2007. The wind wasn't really a factor, only a slight breeze. I took 34th and 55th as a breeder, and 48th 51st, 61st, 85th, 93rd, 94th and 103rd as a handler. Not as good as I would have hoped, but much better than the large handful of lofts that no bird was clocked. I should have three birds in the money, as I believe 85th place is out.
I will send another email when the official results are posted, but I wanted to get everyone a heads up.
The birds were trained hard his week. Three 45-mile tosses and a 100-mile toss. I did lose a couple of birds on a difficult toss early in the week. I had one of my own birds come back with a broken/bruised leg, so maybe it was a wire that took its toll. I also lost one of my own birds that had been in 5 races and was in race time every race.
Be sure to check out the race and training results on the web.
http://home.comcast.net/~edrenckh/PigeonArea/2007/2007-RaceResults/2007Training.htm
These birds were EVOL 11 and NPK 714. I apologize for the losses. EVOL 11 had been in 4 races, but in it’s most recent race it was 4 hours out. Even after a weeks rest, it appeared that it could not make it home. NPK 714 was out overnight in its last race several weeks ago.
I pretty much ship the whole loft on the training tosses, even though the season is over for my birds. It does them good to fly together as there is less chance a hawk will grab a convention bird when there are many more birds in the air. Although I have not seen as many hawks lately, they are still around, and will become more plentiful next week when the weather turns a bit colder. The migration will be starting soon, if it has not already. The race is predicted to be a high of only 65 degrees.
While I hate to lose any birds, neither these birds had shown much through the season. It was probably a foregone conclusion that they were not going to make it in the race. But maybe it was the wires or hawks.
Given the choice, I hope they return but I do not have high expectations. Both breeders that lost these birds still have other birds in my loft.
I won a few hundred points in the club nomination race last weekend. I did not take first prize, but I did take multiple prizes. This may be the way the convention race will go.
I hope the winds switch to the NW by the convention race. They are predicting ESE winds this far in advance, but that is better than SW – I hope. The NE winds race I flew earlier in the season seemed pretty good. The northern lofts seem to beat the southern lofts by 100 - 200 YPM. Since I am on the south side, I get beat a bit more than I should. I generally take a few good places in the club, but I am the southern most loft in the club. If I was a bit further north, I believe I would have done better.