Pigeon racers ready to fly
Pigeon racing is the ideal family hobby since it is done in the backyard and everyone can participate.
The Dundee racing pigeon owners (called fanciers) are getting ready for the racing season which starts at the end of May.
They will be racing against the Newcastle members from the end of May up to September.
Pat Human is expecting a good racing season with his pigeon family that has been built up through many years. He introduced birds from the American Houben pigeon family that is renowned for outperforming most birds in South African conditions.
Pat’s experienced old bird team will be hard to beat and must be favourites to win the 2015 season.
Guy Devereux’s young racing team from his family of Piet Schoeman Putteries has had training runs as far as 35km already which makes them an experienced team of youngsters who are already setting the pace. Guy will also be testing some Western Cape bred birds out of Oscar, Catrysse and Jansen families.
Dries Boshoff’s young racing team from Flor Engels, Gaby van deNabeele and Clausings families are enjoying the relaxing time off and should be ready for training by the Easter Weekend.
Thomas Narian from Dannhauser and his old bird team from his family of mainly 1801 Jansens performed very well in 2014 and will again be hard to beat.
On August 16, out of 350 racing birds from Dundee and Newcastle, Thomas’ birds came first, second, sixth, seventh, sixteenth, and twenty-ninth over a distance of 546km.
The racing season commences at the end of May when the cooler, cloudless winter skies provide the racers with the ideal surroundings to race in.
The first race will tentatively be from 250 km and it should take the birds roughly 3 hours to complete the race. The liberation time is normally 8am and by 11am the first birds should be back on their perches or having a bath. Fit pigeons fly for hours around their homes for fun and the first races over the short distances will be a speed test.
Juniors also have their own races in the club and Bill Boshoff from Dundee won the Junior race from Klerksdorp over a distance of 366km in 2014 against all the Newcastle Juniors.
Pigeon racing is the ideal family hobby since it is done in the backyard and everyone can participate.
Interested newcomers and past fanciers who would like to take up the hobby again should contact the numbers Pat Human – 072 368 7655, Guy Devereux – 082 853 5913, Dries Boshoff – 071 676 4313 or Thomas Narian (Dannhauser) – 083 703 9868.
