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Emerald Classic
LOFT MANAGERS REPORT - 10th
February 2012
"Irelands Premier International One Loft Race"
1st PRIZE £20,000.00 GUARANTEED
Welcome to the 5th Emerald Classic
International One Loft Race recognised by many as the most successful One Loft Race
in the United Kingdom and Europe when you compare our overall percentages in particular
our final race returns.
The loft opened on the 4th of February and already the first entries in this year's
exciting event have arrived and are settled into their new surroundings in preparation
of this year's series of races cumulating with the Grand Final on 9th September
where the 1st Prize is a
GARANTEED £20,000.00 yes
GUARANTEED
It has been a busy period since last year's final, between organising the auctions
for the disposal of the birds that completed the 2011 programme, attending the various
shows to promote this year's race, and putting thing in place for this year's event.
One of which is a sponsorship deal with one of Northern Ireland longest established
feed companies Samuel McCausland Ltd (founded in 1825) to supply the Emerald Classic
with a full range of top quality mixtures for the coming season.
Having also been appointed their agent for East Antrim this full range of mixtures
will be available to the public from the Emerald Classic Lofts Ballyclare.
APPOINTMENTS
We are also proud to announce
the appointment of Ivan Willockx www.pitts.be
as our agent for Belgium & France and Rui Emidio www.goldenracealgarve.com
as our agent for Portugal & Spain and we are hope to announce several new appointments
over the next week.
The Emerald Classic has been appointed the agent for the Golden Race in the
Portuguese Algarve www.goldenracealgarve.com
which will take place on 28th September entries will be shipped during the months
of March April & May anyone interested in competing in this exciting new event
or visiting the final race please do not hesitate to contact us at admin@emeraldclassic.co.uk
or telephone 0044 (0) 2893 340175 for further details.
We will also be shipping birds to races in Germany, Romania, Moldova, Belgium and
Thailand.
The response to this year's event have been over whelming however there are still
a few spaces available these will be allocated on a first come first served basis
please do not hesitate to contact us. May I take this opportunity
to thank our existing customers for their continued support and welcome all our
new customers to what is going to be an exciting International event in 2012.
Looking forward to another successful race in 2012
Best wishes to all
John H Boyd - Race Director
LOFT
MANAGERS REPORT - 7th October 2011
"Irelands Premier International One Loft Race"
FINAL RACE REPORT:
It gives me great pleasure to open this year's final race report with the exciting
news that next year's 1st PRIZE of £20.000 is GUARANTEED, "YES GUARANTEED".
Having been the most successful one loft race in the UK, Ireland, and perhaps even
in Europe (based on this year's results) for the 4th consecutive year.
London may be hosting the 2012 Olympics but we hope to have our own Olympic event
here in Northern Ireland by growing the current International participation, which
consisted of no less than 14 countries this year, space to be allocated by receipt
of deposit on a first come first served basis.
It seems like only yesterday since
we opened the loft to accept the first arrivals for this year's Emerald Classic
International One Loft Race, and like most others the current global recession had
its effect resulting in numbers being down from last year, however we still managed
to take in 658 birds from 14 different nationalities, 627 of which received ETS
rings in June. After numerous training tosses 486 birds were race marked for
the first Hotspot race and in addition to that we still had another 21 birds in
the recovery bay, some may ask why? The answer is simple, here at the
Emerald Classic we will not basket birds if we do not think they are capable of
getting home, I didn't do it with my own birds whenever I raced and I certainly
will not do it with someone else's birds, which after all were entered to compete
in the grand final. I have received numerous compliments for this -
never a complaint!
Again for the 4th year in succession our percentages have been unequalled - after
a total of five hotspot races up to 225km and numerous daily training tosses 381
birds were race marked for this year's final which represents 58% of our intake
and 75% of the birds prior to HS1. With 331 birds recorded we had an 87% return
from what many regard to be the toughest 410km route in the One Loft calendar.
Although the numbers were down the quality of entry was not. Again we received
numerous entries from around Europe, the biggest coming from Team Germany, a professional
syndicate comprising some of the country's best fanciers, along with Teams from
Belgium, Romania, Moldova and Malta and entries from Alex Allemeersch & Corry
Van Parys Belgium, Boscheind Flyers Netherlands, to name but a few.
Closer to home, we had support from some of the top lofts in the UK and Ireland
for example Mr & Mrs Bill Lewis winners of the Europa One Loft Race, three RPRA
one loft race winners Peter Robinson (2009), Richard Owen & Ken Hogarth (2010),
Phil Bond (2011), Peter Fox of the world renowned Syndicate Lofts partnership Colijn/Gannus/Fox
who have won numerous OL races around the world. Danny Dixon winner
of 4 Nationals and one of the top section B lofts in the mighty NIPA, W Gray &
Son winners of the SNFC one loft race & Emerald Classic (2009), Hennie
& Anette Kallmeyer winners of the 2010 Emerald Classic. This is just a
small example of the quality that competes with the Emerald Classic and trusts us
with their best!
As soon as the 5th and final hotspot was over the bird were given a 2 week break
during this time they were trained daily which proved very difficult this year due
to the heavy rain and high winds which dominated the UK weather throughout the month
of September. Having been in consultation with our Race Controller Alan
Darragh for a number of days leading up to this year's final, it was decided to
race mark the birds on Thursday in case we would have to bring the race forward
to Saturday. Race marking was carried out swiftly and efficiently as usual under
the supervision of Leslie, Fred, David and our Convoyer Billy Bisset. As soon
as the birds were race marked and wing stamped they were returned to the aviaries
and the loft was securely locked. I am deeply indebted to Gerard & Colin
who looked after the security of the birds during the Thursday and Friday night.
Saturday morning dawned with little
change in the weather but a decision was made that we would proceed with the race
as scheduled, however there was a "but", if a window was not available on
Sunday morning the birds would be brought home again - a decision I was hoping
would not have to be made! Just after lunch time the birds were
hampered and loaded onto the transporter under the supervision of Billy and assistance
from some of our many overseas visitors who had arrived from England, Scotland,
Wales, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. As soon as the transporter was loaded
and the water tanks filled, the release mechanism was locked and the keys were handed
over to Billy who left for Ross Carberry at 3pm.
It was then time to relax and entertain
our guests, the general topic of discussion over the many beers consumed was how
well the birds were looking, some commenting that they had never seen birds in any
one loft race look so well and they had attended many! Along with some
of our German visitors I had birds competing that afternoon in the German Ostseereennen
a 402km one loft race which had an entry of over 1600 bird mainly from some of the
country's top lofts. Logging on to the live result showed that due to bad
weather, the birds had not been liberated in Apeldoorn until 11.45 and presently
no birds had been clocked. The afternoon passed quickly with the Scots
and English holding up the bar and the Germans watching the computer, then all of
a sudden a shout went up from Werner - "3rd John" - it transpired that 5 birds had
arrived together and I had just won 3rd Open & 1st UK.!!
That gave me something to celebrate later that evening as we socialised with our
many overnight guests in the comfortable surroundings of Corrs Corner Hotel, the
attentiveness of the staff and high standard of accommodation and food was commented
on by all.
Sunday morning arrived and it was not
taking time to rain and the wind was turning the leaves on the trees I thought my
worst fears were going to be realised and the birds would be coming home again,
no one will ever realise what a weight was lifted off my shoulders when I received
a call from Alan Darragh who confirmed the weather in Ross Carbery was near perfect,
however rain was on its way. In preparation for an early release the
birds were taken out to the liberation site at 6:45am and the drinkers were filled,
following numerous weather checks by Alan, a decision was made to liberate at 9.00
am. Billy phoned after 9.00am to confirm that the birds were "up" and had
cleared without turning.
The atmosphere at the loft was buzzing, with the brisk west/south west wind making
it colder than previous years, the skies were heavy and the thick cloud was moving
fast. With a mixture of different accents around the tables you could have been
enjoying lunch in any typical European city! Temperatures were raised even
further with a menu of Irish stew, chilli and baked potatoes, washed down with a
wide selection of beverages including the traditional Guinness.
I had just finished making the necessary preparations whenever a shout went up "there
are two birds" at first I thought they were returning from a previous outing as
it was only 12:30, it was not until they flashed up on the plasma screen suspended
over the bar and confirmation from Leslie who was overseeing the Mega Electronic
Timing System, that they were in fact race birds. Several minutes then passed
before a constant stream of birds started to arrive, this continued throughout the
afternoon and by 20:05pm a total of 303 birds had been timed.
Winner of this year's Emerald Classic International One Loft Race.
1st Prize, The Boyd Memorial Cup and 1st Country trophy goes to Danny Dixon from
Dunloy in Co. Antrim, Danny needs no introduction, having been the most successful
loft in Section B of the mighty NIPA in 2010 and his winner now named "NINE ELEVEN"
brings the total of National winners bred by him to four. Danny couldn't believe
that we had a race as the weather in Dunloy was horrendous and visibility zero whenever
I phoned to congratulate him, let alone he had won it!
2nd & 3rd Prize, the Trophies,
1st Country Trophy and the Lakeside Trophy for the best 2
bird average in this year's final goes to Corn Direct with pigeons bred by Brendan
Mc Cann & Sons and entered by Connor Whelan from Bray in Co Wicklow although
not present for the race, Connor and his father managed to make it up for the dinner
and presentation. Sixty one seconds covered the next twenty five birds
4th 7th & 2nd Ace Pigeon going to Team Germany with an entry bred by Heinz
Missey & Annette Gessner closely followed by 5th Boscheind Flyers Andre van
de Weil & Jan Schreuder from the Netherlands. 6th Wilhelm Linke from Germany
who also took 14th & 22nd, 8th Team Romania D Mihai & Bibi Stefanescu, 9th
Reinhard & Sebastian Rolff from Germany, 10th Tom Laskey & Brian Robinson
from Gateshead in Tyne & Wear, with their super little hen "Layel Girl" who
came so close to winning this year's newly introduced "Declared to Win" competition
which has accumulated £1500 over the six races and will now rollover to Hotspot
1 in 2012.
That rounds up the top ten in this
year's final which saw six different nationalities being represented.
The accolade for having the Ace Pigeon in this year's series goes to brothers Brian
& Peter Fox of Syndicate Lofts UK from Bangor in North Wales. Peter
needs no introduction being one of the partners in the world renowned Colijn Ganus
Fox Syndicate with lofts in Indiana and Netherlands housing countless champions.
The Gala Dinner took place later that night and following an excellent 4 course
meal in the Mulberry Suite, of Corrs Corner Hotel, the presentation of prizes by
our guest of honour, Jeff Greenaway from Universal Pigeon Products, took place.
With the presentation over, dancing continued into the early hours to a wide selection
of music provided by the "Mighty Quinn".
Although the music ended at 1.00am, the party continued into the wee small hours,
it seemed like a good idea at the time - but having to entertain numerous visitors
at the loft on Monday morning - it certainly wasn't!
A big thank you goes to the following people who have helped make the Emerald Classic
the resounding and world recognised International success it has become over the
past four years:-
Our very generous sponsors: Mr & Mrs Brian Wall of Gem Supplements, Alan Bamford
of Top Flight Pigeon Corn, Frederic Basch & Leslie Madden of Mega Systems, Dr
O J Botha of Avio Med, Simon Carr of Carr's, Derek Parr of Lakeside Lofts for the
Beautiful 2 Bird Trophy, Jeff Greenaway Universal Pigeon Products, John Millar logistics
who delivers birds to us through rain, hail, sleet and snow (of which we had plenty
this year) and last but not least the most competent and professional Billy
Reynolds for his press coverage over the year.
Race Controller: Alan Darragh who has made the Emerald Classic over the past 4 years.
Training & Convoyer: Billy Bissett
Race Marking: Leslie, Audrey, Fred, David, and Billy
Race Day: The Caterers, The Bar Staff, Waitresses and everyone else who helped
The management and staff of Corrs Corner Hotel who provided an excellent meal, accommodation
and made all our guests most welcome and to Valerie for co-ordinating everything
and ferrying everyone around before, during and after race day.
Finally a "Big Thank You" to everyone who has supported us and have helped to make
us the
No. 1 "INTERNATIONAL ONE LOFT RACE" in EUROPE
I hope that many old and new faces will join us again next year where the 1st Prize
will be a guaranteed £20000. We will continue with what we know best and that
is running a professional one loft race, keeping our clients informed and getting
as many of our entries to that all important final race. Rules and regulations
for 2012 can be downloaded from our web site. www.emeraldclassic.co.uk
, perch space will be allocated on a first come first served basis so please don't
be disappointed as we expect to be oversubscribed for the 2012 "Olympic" event.
A big congratulation goes to ALL this year's prize winners.
Best wishes,
John H Boyd - Race Director
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