TEAM RML
 
Loft:   LN7913
National Flying Club:  R389E
British Barcelona Club: D279
N.F.C. Messac
Training Race No. 3.


The N.F.C. race on 5th June will of course take place from the same liberation point as the earlier B.B.C. Race and so the TEAM RML entrants will be making a return trip to this pleasant little town. Messac is a small town on the eastern bank of the River Vilaine, which it shares with Guipry on the western bank, and while the towns are joined by a bridge the river itself, and the port they share, forms a stronger bond. This area boasts links back to the Bronze Age with several remnants in the vicinity including standing stones and rocks used by ancient tribes some of which can be seen in the port at low water.
The liberation site is within the railway station just a little upstream from the bridge. 
TEAM RML has made six entries to this race being the four Barcelona candidates plus the two yearlings that have not yet completed two races. Ideally the Barcelona candidates could have done with at least one more preparation race but choices have to be made from what is available. Fortunately the two races so far have provided a good work out and hopefully this third race will continue that process.  While perhaps the Poitiers race, with its slightly longer distance, might have provided a better third trainer it would also be that much closer to Barcelona marking and so, in order to ensure a good clear preparation period Messac seemed the best option.

Well I went to the N.F.C. Didcot Marking Station today, 3rd June, to take the entrants, as below, for the Messac race. The Station seems well run and user friendly. There was a hold up while a non-Unikon ETS problem was resolved but that apart things went well. The journey there and back was quite another thing with road widening in two places on the M25, and traffic restricted to 50 mph through them, but the trouble lies between the two where you are lucky to achieve 5 mph. I shall have to re-think for Tarbes. The TEAM RML entrants for this race are the Barcelona team, for which this is the last training race before their event, plus two yearlings which for differing reasons have only had one race so far, but if they manage to get back from this then they will remain for consideration in 2011. The times for this race will be recorded here, for interest, but they will not be timed in for racing purposes for two reasons firstly it is only a training race with little prospect of them being competitive and secondly I shall be making my weekly trip to Cambridge and taking the other cocks with me for a training toss and so I shall probably not be here at the right time anyway.

Barcelona Team
GB05N07222, GB05N07237, GB05N07249 and GB05N07250.

Two Yearlings.
GB09J31661 and GB09J31666


From the N.F.C. Web site

"Hello, its Saturday 5th June, The birds at Messac have been liberated at 7.00 hrs in a light South East wind and cleared immediately."

Steve Appleby's Weather for Pigeon Fanciers


UPDATED SATURDAY 5th JUNE AT 08:00 HOURS.

As we all know a fine dry sunny day is the forecast for today. Examining the various data this has proved to be the case as most of Northern Europe is under clear blue skies. The only concern was the development of sea fog over night as the temperatures droped. I am pleased to report that the flight path from France to the south coast of England is clear. This has been confirmed by the Met Office duty forecaster. Having said that some coastal mist/fog had developed along some coast lines which  should burn off.  St Malo in particular (See image below) where the cloud cover is preventing the sun acting on the mist.

Early liberations are advised to take advantage of the cool of the day before temperatures rise.  Winds are very light and difficult to determine direction in fact variable is the correct description. (See wind flow chart below ) This situation would of course create a level playing field. Visibility is good and temperatures will reach maximums of 29 C, over 80 F  by this afternoon, very warm.  So to conclude a good racing day before a break down in the weather over the south east tomorrow.


Well it turned out a more testing race than I thought the weather map indicated. I was quite right that the Barcelona team would not be competitive but I couldn’t account for the two yearlings. One, the one that got out of the basket at the first race and came very well in the strong headwind BBC Messac managed to beat the rest by an hour and as far as I can see, from the early times, would have been quite competitive for this area and makes himself one to look for next year. All managed to get home on the day but the surprise was 250 who is really the favourite for Barcelona.

Arrival times.

GB09J31666         15-00-45
GB05N07240        16-00-34
GB05N07222        16-04-37
GB05N07237        16-35-14
GB09J31661         17-58-42
GB05N07250        19-16-18



Two interesting comments, included below, made on the NFC web site Forum give some idea of the nature of this race. In view of this I think six from six on the day, especially the two yearlings, cannot be bad.

Mick McGrevy
"I have to say that all organisations which raced on Saturday experienced a difficult race with a lot of birds missing at night fall. Even the inland birds had a difficult time including the Up North Combine and the Scottish National, so I don't think it was anything to do with the number in the baskets, which was exactly the same for the previous race at St Malo and people were saying how good the birds were on return from that race.
I had 6 back on the day  ( 393 miles )out of 14 and yes they had a tough  race but by no means knackered, 6 the next morning and they new they had been."

Mark Gilbert
"Both races the birds returns were very erratic and I had birds returning with swollen eyes and red and pink wattles from both, they did look like they had been fighting in the basket, having said this I am sure this was  caused by the birds going though heavy showers."   


The 20 first early times shown HERE provide some idea of the race conditions.