Section A

First place went to D Matthews & Mark Culverhouse who would like to congratulate all the winners. Their section winner was a Cattrase x Bernard Morsnowski cock sent sitting which was also their first bird from St Philbert.

Dave would like to thank Mark for all his help with the birds. M Sallis & son were second with a very consistent hen bred from Alwyn Hill x Mark Gilbert bloodlines.

She has previously been 30th SCF Truro, 113th Hexham BICC, 2nd section 30th Open Blaydon BICC, 3rd section 57th Open Thurso BBC and now 1st section 14th open BBC Tarbes as well as 2nd sect A 61st Open NFC Tarbes. David Bacon was there again in third place with a dark chequer pied yearling well-bred for Tarbes as the grandparents on both sides are NFC Merit Award winners. The sire is from David’s own “Early Dawn” bloodlines and the dam is via Mr & Mrs Bill Lewis “Freelands Gem” winner of two Merit Awards in the NFC Grand National. Fourth and fifth was Fred Hall and daughters who wrote “Our first pigeon was 1st Ace pigeon in section A last year and has been a consistent pigeon for us again this season. He had lost half his tail at St Philbert and again at Tarbes, so he’s been in the wars.

His breeding is Carteus x a daughter of “Warrle Cock” Syndicate lofts, our second pigeon is a two year old cock whose sire is a GG/son of Euro Diamond and his dam a daughter of our Foxgrove Carteus 1st BICC AGEN 63rd International, our third pigeon that was 12th section is the Blue cock that was 3rd section St Philbert his breeding is Carteus x Syndicate Lofts. I would like to say how pleased we were with our returns sending 5 and having 4 by Monday lunchtime the fifth one a 9 year old cock coming on the Wednesday all these cocks are flown on the widowhood system and all carry the George Carteus blood”.

Section B

Many thanks to Bill Edwards who sent the following report “Leading the way in Section B with a fantastic loft performance is the K & J Zarafa partnership and Kevin has named his Section Winner “Johnny’s Angel”, in respect of his Dad John who we lost last year.

This is what Kevin had to say about his fantastic loft performance which saw him have 13 of his 30 entries in the result. “Firstly, can we congratulate the overall winner, Mr Pendleton on a great performance, what a super bird getting all the way up to Liverpool in that time and also Nigel Shaw with another fantastic bird into Crew. Great flying lads. It was a shame to hear of the unfortunate Martin Williams. I have to say that I am not a massive fan of late liberations, as I think that the birds are still fresh when it is time to rest for the night. That said, we had a fantastic race, timing 10 of our 30 entries on the winning day, Provisionally taking, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 11th, 12th , 13th, 14th etc in Section B, and 6th, 22nd, 33rd, 56th, 57th, 64th, 72nd etc in the Open with nearly 2,200 birds. A race that can only be dreamed about. Our Section winner is 50% Wim Kooreman with her sire being directly out of 2nd National Dax and 50% House of Arden on the Dam’s side which has a bit of a back story. In 2017 when Dad and I won the NFC Fougeres race, we also won a House of Arden voucher. After studying the performances of Padfields Blue Badge we were really impressed and wanted to bring something in from him, so we spoke to Steve at H of A and told him what we were interested in. On our arrival, a little pied hen directly out of Blue Badge was already in a box waiting for us. We asked if we could handle a few others and decided to buy a little Blue white flight cock which went on to breed last years, 1st Section, 14th Open Thurso, 547 miles on the day and the pied hen is now dam to 1st Section Tarbes. Not a bad strike rate, so thanks to Steve and Lesley for the quality at House of Arden. Our 2nd bird for 3rd Section, 22nd Open was bred by good friend, Dean Childs of Essex and is a grand child of Chalice King, sire of 2 National winners and Chalice Darcy, 1st National, Mont De Marson (Pau). Our 3rd bird, 5th Section, 32nd Open is a special pigeon, now named “Johnny Consistant”, bred in the purple, his sire won 1st Open NFC Saintes for Bill Edwards of Gosport and his Dam won 1st Open NFC Fougeres for Dad and myself. This is his 4th time at 500+ miles, previously being 90th Open Pau NFC, now 32nd Open Tarbes NFC. These races are flown in conjunction with CSCFC and he has qualified for a Blue Ribbon Certificate of Merit Award in that club being 18th Open Pau, 14th Open Thurso and 5th Open Tarbes. This first season without Dad has been very challenging at times and I would like to dedicate this performance to him. The Section winner will be named “Johnny’s Angel” in his memory. At the beginning of each season, this race is always our number one target and the birds have not disappointed. Good luck to everyone for the Young Bird season. Taking 2nd Section B, 14th Open, also 6th Section is no stranger to these results, Andy Parsons of Salsbury.

This is what Andy had to say. “First of all, congratulations to the winner and to all who clocked birds on the winning day with a special mention for my good friend Keith Bush who took the first 3 positions in his section in what turned out to be a difficult race. I am still trying to work out why; still it was great to compete from Tarbes again. In preparation my 2nd Section winner had 3 races from the North up to 180 miles, then a Guernsey race and finally St Philbert where she took 3 days to return. I then allowed her to pair and rest before sending her sitting 15 day eggs. She returned in great condition. Her sire was 15th and 43rd Tarbes with her G’sire flying Tarbes 5 times. Her Great G’dam was 1st Section, 5th Open San Sebastian, with her uncles being, “Big Sam” my 1st Merit award winner and “700”, who was 1st Section, 5th Open NFC Tarbes. The Dam of my winning hen was 10th and 44th NFC Tarbes and is from a half -brother to my “Dancer” who is responsible for so many good birds for me and others. It has given me great pleasure to develop and race this family of birds over the last 30 years. The bird winning 4th Section, 26th Open is a 4 year old cock bird, amazingly having only its 4th race of its life, raced by Dudley Lever of Alton. This is what Dudley had to say. Firstly, my sympathy to Mr Williams on what must be a “gutting” experience, but a well done to all winners. My four year old cock was bred by Crammond and Langstaff and was only having the fourth race of his life and was not raced for 2 years until the last NFC St Philbert race where he had six and a half hours on the wing.

He is bred for the job being a mix of Brockamp/Gilbert/Meirlaen/Koopman and will hopefully go to Pau International in 2023, raced on my teasing system”. Bill also mentioned to me that it would be a good time to remind all members to clearly mark their baskets and ETS clocks with their name before the young bird National in September. Now that we have fewer marking stations and flyers are travelling from outside the area of the marking stations, not all the fanciers are familiar faces to the busy markers. Often one member will bring multiple flyers birds and with many baskets/clocks looking similar it is difficult to rematch them for the return journey. A good point well made as marking stations are much busier now.

Section C

First and third section was Danny Lanahan & John Gerard who have had a great old bird season.

The first pigeon to arrive was a red cock which John bought in as part of a racing team of Jelle Jellema’s pigeons. This red cock was also their first pigeon from St Philbert with the CSCFC finishing 8th section 50th open. Their second pigeon, arriving early Sunday morning was a 4 year old chequer cock from Johns Zwarte Louders pigeons. This was his 2nd time flying Tarbes and he has also flown Pau and Berwick. They were both raced on a natural system with the red being sent sitting on 10 day eggs and the chequer feeding 1 large youngster. Second was Neville & Diana Spracklen who said “Firstly we would like to congratulate all the winners of this Tarbes race. Our 2nd section winner is a 2017 widowhood cock who flew Tarbes in 2020.

We are very pleased to have him home as he returned with a very badly damaged wing, and it is amazing how he made it. He is from a son of Southfield Darkie paired to a granddaughter of Southfield Treble. He will probably be retired having been a very reliable prize winner”.

Section D

Winning the section was Mike Underhill & Robbie Prettejohn and Mike wrote “Firstly I would like to congratulate Ron Pendleton for brilliant performance in being 1st Open and commiserate with Martin Williams for not verifying his pigeon in time. Along with those mentioned above there were several notable performances in the race, sadly mine was not one of them. Although I was very happy to eventually time in to win section “D” with a velocity of 265ypm, it is difficult to take too much pleasure or credit from such a performance when the winner was doing 1,245ypm. That is not taking anything away from my fellow competitors in section D and I would like to think that I speak for them all when I say that due to the raptor problem here in the West-country it is so hard for anyone to build a team to compete in a race like Tarbes. Whether exercising around the loft, training, or racing every day our birds have to run the gauntlet of the peregrine. The little Blue Pied hen that I timed, I ought to call “The Survivor” as she has found a way to survive. Regularly coming in her own time, I think if she sees anything that resembles a peregrine she lays up until the coast is clear. She arrived in splendid condition having taken time out to rest and recuperate on her long journey from Tarbes”. Terry Lee and Terry Dyer were second who would like to congratulate the final winner of the Tarbes race Mr Pendleton from Liverpool showing age and a back garden loft is no disadvantage when it comes to racing pigeons.

Also well done to Mike & Roby on winning the section. They timed a four year old hen sent sitting 7 day old eggs for the race. She has been very consistent over the four years that they have raced her, and was an exchange pigeon from their friend in Holland Alex Koelewijn. They have timed this pigeon from every race she had been sent to and never had a night out until this race. The preparation was not the best as they could only get the birds to Guernsey which is 91 miles, but this was still very pleasing to time this hen to win 2nd section Tarbes, as this is the second year running that they have won the 2nd section in the last two years that the NFC raced there. Terry Dyer had been on holiday for the race and would like to thank partner Terry Lee for clocking this hen. Third was John & Gill McClements with a bird which was bred from a direct son of Bill Stribling's 2016 2nd national Barcelona winner paired to a direct daughter to Ron Dove's 1st Barcelona 2016 Open winner.

They had the honour of introducing these two great distance enthusiasts to each other at the BICC presentation that year, sadly now both passed away. Hopefully this cock will be going to Barcelona next year. Fourth was NFC Chairman Paul Naum with a four year old dark chequer hen which began her racing career at two years old.

Her breed is Ko Nipius / Padfield / Jan Aarden / Mark Gilbert; 'Padfield' is from Pete Clarke, and 'Mark Gilbert' is from Peter & Eddie Riley of Barnstaple. To date she has won a 4th, 8th and 15th Section in the NFC; her dam won a 14th Section NFC section. Her g/sire on the Padfield side has bred to win 7th Section and 11th Section NFC, the g/dam, a Ko Nipius, went on to win on 3 top ten positions in the NFC Section - they are good, hard, day birds. “Well done to all who timed in from a very difficult race and thanks to our team of convoyers for their care of our birds”.

Section E

First section was the ever present John Haynes who is always up there in the results but will shy away from any form of recognition.

Well done once again John and I hope to see you at the presentation. Second was Mr & Mrs P J Wells with a 2016 late bred via Simon Schofield in Leeds. Now retired to stock she is bred from Jansen x M Vink bloodlines and topped the fed from Poole, 9th sect 22nd open NFC Sigogne, 31st Sect 184th Open NFC Sigogne and 3rd sect 10th Open NFC Fougeres. Pete first met Simon as a very young fancier in the 80’s when Simon bought a direct youngster of Super Lou from Pete. Now they regularly trade latebreds the racing of which is a bit of a specialty for Pete. Mark Gilbert was third, fourth and fifth with his first bird being from a Son of Cas (De Sneyter Restiaen). Cas was 1st International Pau 2015 the only pigeon home in Belgium on the day of liberation. He is grandsire to 1st Nat Marsellie and 5th International, Dam of Marks first pigeon is a daughter of Golden Barcelona when Golden Barcelona was paired to a daughter of Naomi, when Naomi was paired to a brother of Blue Dream (C.deHeijde). Golden Barcelona is the superstar breeder at Southfield Lofts, sire of Southfield Hugo 1st Nat BICC Barcelona 104th International 15700 birds 2018 he was also 1st Nat BICC Perpignan 2017, Golden Barcelona is also sire of Southfield Gold Lady, 1st Nat BICC Barcelona 151st International 12315 birds in 2020 and she was also 1st Sect 5th Open BICC Marseille. His second pigeon is from Son of Don Michel (C.de Heijde) which was 24th Nat Barcelona 31st International Barcelona 30669 birds x Naomi 6th National Barcelona 5423 birds and 6th International 20699 birds. The dam is Barca 2 Twang Bongers hen, which was 17th International Barcelona 2014 21169 birds, plus 8th International hens 5550 birds. She is 50% Aarden v Wanroy and 50% Jelle Jellema. Marks third Pigeon is nest mate of Provisional 5th CS Section 12th Open BICC Agen 2022 and is from a Son of Zwart Goud when Zwart Goud was paired to a Daughter of Snelle Jelle (Zwart Goud father to 1st 3285 birds 2nd 2234 birds 6th 4588 birds etc etc Snelle Jelle 2nd Nat Perpignan 5608 birds) x Daughter of Golden Barcelona when he was paired to a Daughter of Special One x Romee. Special One 1st National 1st International Barcelona 19,083 birds 2015, Romee Mother of 3rd National Barcelona 2019 29th Perpignan 2018 Romee and also won 3rd National Bergerac 10327 birds 3rd Nat Orange 4302 3rd NPO St Vincent 1365 birds 5th National Brive 7241 birds. Eighth section 27th open was Buzi & Villarino from with a yearling hen now named Robin flying 577 miles. The partnership also clocked two more yearlings to take 67th and 106th Open against 2,172 Pigeons.

Section F

First was R J Goddard & Son and Dave said “Winning section F gave me great satisfaction my team being thin on the ground with little racing and retiring some truly great pigeons.

Harry 2nd BICC Pau, Lady Gaga 2nd BICC Barcelona, Lily 3rd & 13th Barcelona, Darcy 4th Barcelona so with only a small team this leaves a big hole, but once again I unearthed a top class pigeon in this blue bar hen Cam's Choice. She contains the blood of my great friends Neil Bush, Mick Parish and John Wills. Her sire from 99 Dam of 2nd Pau BICC, her Dam 87 half sister to Darcy 4th open Barcelona. Cam's Choice had 5 inland races, St Philbert having her first night out, two 18 miles tosses and sitting 10 days on eggs, job done. Well done to all who timed in and thank you everyone who worked so hard to get us proper pigeon racing 2022 fingers crossed for 2023”. Second was Dave Clark with one from a family of birds he has had for years, winning Thurso many times on the day in the Portsmouth Federation, adding a few distance birds from other fanciers from time to time.

He feeds any corn going, with cod liver oil, brewer’s yeast, grit and minerals added and the birds go with no excuses. The Rostrons were third who wrote “We would like to start this off by saying a massive congratulations to the overall winner and all the section winners.

The cock we timed to win 3rd section was a Sticklebout with the sire from Allan Mull and the dam from Ponderosa Stud. This cock has been quite consistent for us this season being our second pigeon from the tough St Philbert and our 3rd bird from the second St Philbert. Our second pigeon to finish 7th section is mum (Suzannas) favourite “Lonesome” who got this name after being chucked up at a marking station in Southampton due to his ets chip not working and had to fly home on his own. The sire is from Tumley Loft Stud “Serran 11” lines and the dam is a Sticklebout from Allan Mull”. Still racing in his mid 80’s Malcolm Gaiter was fourth with a blue bar bred by Geoff & Catherine Cooper.

His performances are 2016 356th YB Coutances NFC, 2017 flown Agen 508 miles and Perpignan 639 miles, 2018 went to Falaise, Poiters, Pau, Perpignan. 2019 Fourges, then to Pau BICC feeding 14 day youngster’s coming 9th Open & Section plus 1st Greater Distance Single bird Pau. Fifth was Ven Segesdy in Didcot.

Section G

1st 2nd 3rd, 5th & 9th Section G were Dave & John Staddon in Ditcheat, also winning 4th, 7th, 51st, 88th & 125th Open. Dave wrote “Firstly we would like to say we are absolutely thrilled to win 1st 2nd & 3rd and 5th & 9th Section G in the prestigious Tarbes Grand National as well as the very prominent open positions listed above.

This compares favourably with the last Pau Grand National in 2020 where we won 1st 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th Section G & 7th, 45th, 108th, 124th, 172nd, 175th, 184th, 239th Open. It was absolutely amazing to be racing the NFC Tarbes race again after all the troubles with EU Animal Health Laws. We would like to congratulate all the section winners and especially acknowledge Martin Williams and his amazing pigeon. We would also like the thank the marking team at Steventon on our first visit to this venue, we were looked after very well. We had an amazing race timing 5 pigeons on the winning day from our 10 entries sent at a distance of 560 miles. At the time of writing, we now have 8/10 home. Our first pigeon is a 3yo Chaos Widowhood cock bred from our best distance lines who we have now called Gemini.

The sire is Winters Gem bred by Barry & Pete Winter (Sadly Pete Winter passed away last week, so our condolences and thoughts go out to Barry and his family at this very sad time), he is from Pearler a full brother of Little Gem 1st & 14th NFC Tarbes Grand National 724 miles and Image a daughter of Little Gem, this pair also bred 8th & 42nd Tarbes at 724 miles. The dam Blue Gem was bred by Mr and Mrs Bill & Beryl Lewis from their Tarbes champion Freelands Gem who is the only pigeon in history to win two coveted NFC certificates of merit. This makes Gemini a full brother to our great cock Fahrenheit who won 64th Nat Agen as a yearling, then the following season 4th Sec 23rd Nat Pau and 1st Sec 2nd Nat Rieux Minervois at 592 miles. Gemini was prepared with a few inland races with the WOESRC before 3 Guernsey races and two St Philbert races. He was then exercised once per day for an hour. In the lead-up to the Tarbes race, I had a mad idea that some of the Tarbes pigeons would benefit from a WOESRC race from Ramsgate, in effect a 172-mile training toss on the Saturday before basketing for Tarbes. I discussed this with Dad and we both agreed to go for it. It was a risk of course, but 4 of the 5 birds we timed from Tarbes all went to Ramsgate so we certainly don't think it harmed their condition. We don't show the cocks and the hens together before a channel race as we like to send them calm and collected especially for long-distance events.

Our second pigeon was timed just 23 minutes later and is also a fantastic hen as she scored 2nd Section 18th National Agen International on the 2nd July 2022. We have now named her Stardust. She is only a 2yo bred by Dean Pallatt at the Pallatt Elite Breeding Centre. She was one of a group of ybs Dean sent us down to race in 2020. As you might expect she is a 100% Jelle Jellema pigeon. Her blood includes Blackpool Romee, Romee, Snelle Jelle, Zwart Goude, Jochem & MG430. Last year as a yearling she raced east to west with the WOESRC to Ramsgate before switching north road, where she won 16th Section 47th Open CSCFC Thurso at 518 miles. This year she has again raced east to west with the combine and also had 3 Guernsey races and the very difficult St Philbert BICC National, which really brought her fitness on for Agen. Following the Agen race, she recovered quickly and was flying one hour with the others after only 3 days. Like all our pigeons, she is raced on chaos widowhood for the entire season and she was not shown to her cock on the basketing day. We feed Versele Laga Superstar Plus, Champion Plus and Energy Plus. Finally, we would like to thank all our many friends in the sport who have taken the trouble to ring, text or use social media to send their congratulations on our race, it means an awful lot to Dad and me. Joe Raeburn was fourth “I would like to offer my congratulations to Kieran Pendleton and family for winning the Kings Cup and all the section winners.

I timed a 4 year old red cock who has been a consistent pigeon. He started the season on widowhood and was sent twice to Exeter and three times to Guernsey and St Philbert with BICC. Winning 60th open 8th sec BBC Guernsey and 14th open 3rd west sec St Philbert. I then repaired him and was sent to Tarbes on a 20 day old youngster and sitting 9 days. His performances are Pau national winning 283rd 18th 2020 sent North in 2021 winning 19th open, 10th NW sec CSCFC Berwick. His Sire is West Bound who has flown Tarbes Grand National 3 times, best performance being 26th open 4th sec G. Also my single entry to Barcelona 2014 winning 3rd Open 1st west sec truly a outstanding racer and now a breeder already sire and gran sire of many section winners. West bound was bred from son of Jimmy Sheppard’s Nobel Lad (1st Open Pau) When pair to a double G/daughter of Champion Gwen (1st Open San Sebastian Grand National) Gwen is also responsible for many open and section winners for myself and others, 1st L&SE National Tarbes 1st Open CSCFC Pau. The most pleasurable of them all is the two certificate of merit awards over 600 miles that my very good mate Steve Redfern of Derby has won. Dam of the Red Cock is Champion Juile bred and raced by good mate Steve Slade. Juile was champion pigeon in CSCFC winning 5th open Messac and 13th open Pau in 2017 she has flown Pau 3 times Juile is another brilliant dam for Steve and other local fanciers. Her breeding is from John Halstead Nyland Ashley x Coppenolle x E W Froggatt birds.

Section H

First section once again is C Crick & Son with a 3 year old chequer hen whose sire is a Cooreman cock which also won section H as a yearling from Coutances.

The dam was purchased from Mark Gilbert at the Old Comrades show a few years ago from his New Laureet lines. Her sister topped section H and was 13th open from St Philberts in the last NFC race. She had raced widowhood for the first 6 weeks of the season and was then paired up and was racing back to 10 day old eggs for this race. They were very pleased to see her turn up early on Sunday evening. Second was Mr & Mrs R Auker who said “Before giving details of our pigeon which won 2nd section H in the Tarbes race, we would like to thank all the officials of the NFC who were involved in the decision to liberate the pigeons at 4pm on the Saturday, it was a brave decision and in my lowly opinion a good one saving the birds having another night in the basket in very hot conditions.

Our pigeon timed just before 7pm on the Sunday had been to several land races up to 180 miles, and had also been in the clock from Guernsey 240 miles and St Philbert 350 miles. He was sent to Tarbes sitting 10 days and had several training tosses up to 100 miles in the two weeks before the race. He is bred from a good cock who has scored in a couple of races with the MNFC including including the Bordeaux race. Raced naturally having an open loft for most of the day, and fed traditionally on our own made up mixture which includes a good proportion of Peas and Tic beans”. Third was John Black with a four year old blue pied hen raced on Roundabout.

Being September bred she was not raced as a young bird but trained through the winter and raced as a yearling scoring 3rd Section Fougeres NFC 23rd Section Messac and 24 Section Cholet 2019. 2020 no racings as she was hawked in an early training flight, 2021 no channel racing. 2022 four prep races then Tarbes and John is well pleased with her progress and is destined for Barcelona next year. Sire is a Grandson of John Chipperfield Lady Tresa 1st International Perpignan and 2nd International Pau, Dam is a Granddaughter of Dave Albon Tours MNFC winner. “Well done to all the Section winners” Fourth was Barber & Wilkinson in Great Yarmouth and fifth was Jonathan Palmer started back up with pigeons in 2019 after having few years off, with the intention of competing in the long distance races. No sprinters or middle distance birds are kept with him just focusing on the long distance races. His birds were located at his dad's for three years which involved a daily round trip of 18 miles but that's no longer the case as Jon and partner Sarah bought their first house together in Stowmarket and moved in February this year with their baby son Mason. They soon had the new loft up "second hand" and managed to eventually settle the team of old birds to their new home. The bird clocked from Tarbes was originally gifted as a mature youngster by Paul Hacker of South Ockendon in the autumn of 2019 as he was packing up. It had been trained but not raced. His breeding details are not great but he goes back to Alan Ritchie of Banff Scotland. He's something special though as he's been his first bird on four occasions from five national races now and seems to like the new location even more than the last. Prior to this race his best result was 3rd section 2nd club BICC St Philberts where he flew 11 hours on the wing. It was Jonathans first time sending to the NFC Grand National race and he looks forward to trying again next year. The pigeon was flown natural up until the first channel race which was the third race of the season and then he was separated, having two more races on widowhood then into Tarbes.

He got his hen, nesting material, and a darkened nest box for a few nights before shipping any other pigeons that were not competing were also removed from his section. Jonathan would like to thank David Fisher of Ipswich for taking his and lots of other people's birds down to Southampton multiple times this season.

Section I

Once again the Bush brothers dominated the section from the Grand National with their shared family of birds inherited from their father.Keith took the first three positions as well as fifth and wrote “My first four from Tarbes are from my old family with the second bird out of a son of my good friend Andy Parsons five times Tarbes cock which Andy kindly gifted me, we regularly exchange birds from our best. I have been in an avian flu zone all season only lifted just before Tarbes so the birds have only been trained, but in 2020 they only went to Salisbury approx 130 miles and were fine. I fly natural and all four were on week old babies with a hopper of beans then peas wheat and maize two or three times a day. The longest shortest season for me, one race saved a fortune”. Colin Bush was fourth with one of their old family of distance pigeons which goes back to 1930. They were mainly Osman based family. Dad won the Kings Cup twice from Banff in 1944 and Lerwick 1948. The five sons were set up with these as they got married, with Neal, Keith and Colin still racing this family of pigeons today. They have had very few crosses, and these are tested very severely before entering the family. The brothers keep each other’s lofts updated with youngsters out of the best performers. This family of pigeon fanciers have devoted their pigeon racing to the longest races and Colin said there is no secret “everything over two years old goes to the NFC Grand National and only the best are kept”

Section J

First section and second open was Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw flying 690 miles.

They timed a three year old hen sent on a four day old baby. She was raced very lightly then sent to St Philbert at 406 mile for some time on the wing being 11th sect J 198th open just over 8 hrs on wing. After that the three week build up was just training with the young birds then sent to Tarbes where she is 1st section 2nd open pooled heavy. She flew Pau as a yearling 681 mile where she was 2nd sect J 20th open NFC. Second and third was Graham Clift and George Harding and Graham wrote “I am positive for Covid at present so I am keeping clear of my race partner George Harding but it is great to be competing in distance channel racing again.

The three birds we clocked had little preparation given no channel racing last year and this year just inland plus one hen had Guernsey and St Philbert the other two St Philbert with the NFC. Really sorry for our club mate Martin Williams who found his pigeon in the loft and verified just out of time and we would like to thank the convoyer for the care of the birds, they returned in excellent condition and were flying out the next day. Our first bird at 5th Open is from a double grandson of Southfield Supreme x the dam from a son of Forrest Junior 1st Int Pau for Freialdenhoffen & Sons x daughter of Melissa 1st Int hens Bordeaux when paired to her own sire. The second winning 20th Open is from a brother to Southfield Junior 1st BICC Pau for Mark Gilbert x daughter of Melissa [above] the third pigeon from a grandson of Perpignan 06 x Montali when paired to a daughter of Southfield Supreme. The birds are raced on the chaos system never paired from the first race to the last which helps them hold their flights, they are fed Verselle Laga Superstar plus with fats added a few days before basketing. Finally well done to all the section and open winners, our thanks to Mark Gilbert for providing some excellent pigeons also to Paul Hyatt for stepping in and taking our pigeons and Martin William's birds to the marking station when I tested positive for Covid” Fourth was Craig Gough in Shrewsbury with a two year old hen sent on a six day old youngster which was her first of the year.

She went to St Philbert in preparation for Tarbes and is mainly Alwyn Hill bloodlines. Craig would like to thank Alan Shinton for taking his birds to the marking station. Fifth was Williams Bros in Oldbury and sixth Team Aurel with “Uninvited Lass” flying 662miles. Aurel wrote “What a race, our first Grand National! It certainly lived to its expectations, the twists and turns, the drama that came with it. We knew it would be a hard race, but it was a lot harder than we ever expected. We did not intend to send her to the race, but only the stubbornness of the loft manager Cristian was the deciding factor to send or not to send. Her name now is “Uninvited Lass” as she was never in the plan to be sent.

She is a very small pigeon and handling her it is like a dream: she oozes class and when you look at the pedigree she is a double granddaughter of our National Marathon Vasile (with one of the lowest ACE pigeons coefficient recorded), who is the foundation cock of our loft. I cannot go on without mentioning the performance of Nigel Shaw, what a game bird flying no less than 690miles. Other performances that stand out: Mr Nice Guy Zerafa, you smash it mate! DJ Staddon they made it look easy and the team of Mark Gilbert, Troy and Nigel that are relentless with great returns. Special thanks to my two friends Bob Besant, Duncan Goodchild and Cosmin Darda, your wisdom and calming influence was the decisive factor to send to National races”.

Section K

Topping the section once again and 13th Open was H A Rawson, Son & Towers with a cock now called “Eric” as he is bred by their friend Eric Higginbottom from a full bother of “All Alone” which won 1st section 3rd open from Tarbes and the dam is out of Euro Diamond and Jappie only bird on day from Saintes.

They have had three top ten positions in section K Grand National but they failed to clock in the last three so Eric supplied them with the birds which bred the Tarbes section winner. Eric said they will win Tarbes and he did their deram came true. He was sitting eggs at basketing and he also won 23rd section and 283th open from St Philbert. Andy Holland was second and fourth who said “ Firstly I would like to congratulate the winner and all the section winners. The three birds I sent to Tarbes this year all from my Brian Denney based family and I would like to thanks Brian for the quality stock that I have obtained from him over the years.

First on the clock is a three quarter Brian Denney, one quarter Hagen Brothers widowhood cock now named Blue Bob after my late father. Second pigeon is THE PIED COCK Denney x Menne & Daughters, who had been clocked 12 times in Section K winning various positions, including 4th Section K 65th Open Sigogne, 8th Section K 81st Open Pau and now 4th Section K, 41st open Tarbes and has now completed over 5000 clocked miles in The NFC races. Last but not least is the PAU cock a Denney x Auke Smid. I clocked him as my first bird in 2020 taking 4th Section K 25th Open PAU. I just race 16 widowhood cocks and a few spare yearling cocks to a separate section (no hens). All are fed on Versela Laga mixes and are loft exercised only twice a day. My three pigeons came back in great condition and I would like to thank the convoying team once again as this is the case with all the NFC races I have sent in. Lastly I would like to thank my friend Jim Crosby who is my lucky mascot and always comes down on race days to watch the pigeons”. Third was Will Curtis with a blue cock which is a grandson of Williams Boy 1st section K 7th Tarbes 2016.

The sire is a son of Nathan 16th international Barcelona for Carlo Gyselbrect. Neal Bush was fifth section with one of the Bush family Osmans.

Section L

First section L and first Open was Ron Pendleton with “Sheilas Wings” a great pigeon being timed after racing 714 miles, well done to all the family and here’s looking forward to a great reception at the NFC presentation in December.

Second was F Kay with one of the Kay’s Marathon Pigeons.

“My first pigeon from Pau Tarbes was a 3 year old with the name The Lockerbie Cock, so called because I sent all my yearlings with my grandson Jack to be liberated at the farm in Lockerbie with no training whatsoever, he was the first bird back the following day and since then he has won many 1sts inland races this year. He has done 8 clubs races inland before St Philbert on the 2nd July he was my first bird home 10 hours on the wing . 9th July Cheltham with the club, 23rd July Pau Tarbes to say I’m thrilled would be an understatement. None of this would have been possible without the support of my true friends and family, so I thank them all for being there for me whenever needed, I’m over the moon. My 1st bird the third day a two year old The Truro Cock, my first bird from Truro last year. First time over the water this year for these birds owing to lock down they couldn’t go any earlier. I love marathon racing but at the end of the day, it’s all about the pigeon”. Third was Brian & Gary Smith & Son, “Firstly, we would like to congratulate Ronald Pendleton on not only topping the Section but also winning the race, what a performance.

Our bird is a 5-year-old Cheq w/f cock flown on our roundabout system. Two years ago he finished 6th Section L from Pau with the NFC, so we always had this race in mind for him once channel racing was allowed. His Sire is a son of our MNFC section winner which was bred by our good friend Stuart Goldstraw of Congleton & is a Jan Aarden “Rainbow Warrior” lines x Dordin. His dam is a bird we brought off the Padfield Family which is also a Jan Aarden from their Wim Muller lines. Preparation for the race he flew the inland race program in our local club then went to Guernsey Race 3 followed by St Philbert with the NFC with a two week rest before basketing”. T Roskell & Williamson were fourth right up into Blackpool with a very consistent hen right from a young bird when she flew 323 miles, and as a yearling she flew NFC Sigogne 576 miles on the day achieving 10th section, 106th open.

She also won 2nd section 12th open Messac NWGN at 420miles and is through two top distance fanciers. Goerge Hilson of Burys ko Nipius and Geoff Coopers De Weerts. Dean Knox was fifth with a hen bred out of his Majinkavink hen which won two races then put to stock as her sire stopped filling. She and her nest mate are his two main breeders and breed good pigeons each year. She was flown on roundabout then to a youngster for Tarbes. She is now called “Ruby” after his daughter.

Section N

Flying over 800 miles into section N is one of the hardest tests in the Grand National and once again M Anderson & Sons were there with first and second timing the only 2 birds in race time in the section, flying over 811 miles and this is the third time they have won section N from Tarbes.

Both were four year old cock birds that had been to St Philbert in the previous NFC race. It is still their aim to get one on the second day and that's what keeps them going. “Thanks go to Colin Surtees for getting these birds for us about 15 years ago. Without his help it would not have been possible. Well done to all those who managed to get birds in race time, in what proved to be a difficult race”.

Section P

Thanks to Kevin Foster who sent the following “Some very good leading pigeons into the very competitive Section P, none better than the leader and 3rd Open, J Clarke and daughter of Selling in Kent.

Jamie is a past National winner and is competitive at all levels from 100-600 miles. Apart from his section win he had another three recorded to take 4th, and 7th section on what turned out to be a very difficult race into all part of the country. This is what Jamie had to say about the race “First of all I would like to say well done to the winner which is an outstanding performance and well done to all the section winners on a tough day. The cock that took 3rd open 1st section NFC is a double grandson of Seb who was the sire of Wingdown a fantastic pigeon and a great family of pigeons at these races. I brought Seb of the Cough at Epson show, and when I got him I think he was 11/12 years old and not in the best condition. We put him away for a couple of months and then put him with his own daughter to try our luck thinking we wouldn’t get anything but bingo we got around 30 birds from him over 3 years which was a great result with different hens. All of these went to the stock loft and paired together and put with children of different international winners to try and build a family that would not only come home but can win at the distance races. I got lucky, this was their first test and had a great race clocking 4 on the day taking 1/4/7 section in the very strong competition in section P. I was lucky in 2020 to win 6th open 1st section but that was with a Machine pigeon from the fantastic Marshall family of pigeons who raced in the up north combine. 004 is raced on the roundabout system and had four races from Guernsey early on in the year and lots of 119 mile races with the Malibu racing pigeon club at Wingham in Kent, which is a great club with so many great lads and good pigeon men in it, and my main competitor the one and only Alan Annis. Then I sent him to Nevers with the east of England RPC which again is a great club and run very well although it can be some tough racing but I think you get the good ones most of the time. 004 took the red card in this race which was 3 weeks before the Pau NFC race and perfect for preparation. He was trained privately up to 25 miles daily in the 3 weeks before he was sent. I feed variamax and super star together, with fats and peanuts for the last 10 days before the race just small amounts each day. A big thanks to Mark Sands who helps out daily and thanks to everyone who have congratulated me” At second section, eighth National is Colin Fagg and Lin Nicholas nr sittingbourne in Kent, and once again past National winners.

Colin has had another good season at Federation level and like the Clarke loft, is very competitive at all levels and distances. Colin had this to say about his first pigeon “Morning kevin, a few details of the hen. She is bred from a pair of birds we brought from the Crammond and Langstaff bereavement sale. Her sire is a grandson of Kanibaal Barcelona and New laureaat and her dam is also a granddaughter of New Laureaat. She was sent on four day old babies being her first nest of the year and she arrived back in splendid condition, a credit to the conveying team ”. Well done to you both, a Grand national race would be unusual not to see your name there. Third section 9th Open is Dean Childs of Wickford in Essex, and like the previous lofts is a multiple National winner. “My first bird was bred from a cock bought from John Chipperfield out of his great race hen ‘Lady Theresa’. The mother was from a son of Little Gem and a good race hen of mine ‘Chalice Olive’ who was 6th BICC National Agen for me. The pigeon was bred by my good friend Kevin Zerafa of Portsmouth as we swapped some young birds that year. He was sent sitting his first eggs of the year and had two races from Guernsey and the the difficult first St Philbert race in prep for the Pau Grand National”
Well done Dean, another top classic performance.

Section W

First was Williams Bros, Son & Burgham in Tredegar with the next four places going to Mark Sparey in Abertillery with his first bird being “Rhiw Parc Evan” having his fourth NFC Grand National, each time being in the results, which were 122nd open, 3rd section2018, 30th open 4th 2019 section behind two loft mates, 299thopen 3rd section 2020 and then 2022 180th open second section, he’s a tough old timer. 

His mother is a Deweerdt x Denney and the sire is an inbred “Southfield Supreme”, both originated from Mark Gilbert. All the cocks are raced on widowhood and not trained, just straight into the races,then to Tarbes. Mark said, “I would like to congratulate to the winner of the open Tarbes 2022 and the section winner which was Williams brothers and Burgham and I hope that next year we can get back to some normality racing the channel”.

News and views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330 email