A newcomer to the Grahamstown Racing Pigeon Club won a whopping R10 000 in prize money at the beginning of this month after taking part in the prestigious Sale Race for the first time. This was the latest event that the local club entered, with the pigeons taking off from Bothaville in the Free State on Saturday 4 August.
A newcomer to the Grahamstown Racing Pigeon Club won a whopping R10 000 in prize money at the beginning of this month after taking part in the prestigious Sale Race for the first time. This was the latest event that the local club entered, with the pigeons taking off from Bothaville in the Free State on Saturday 4 August.
The birds were released at 7.30am to fly the 658 kilometres back to Grahamstown. Novice and newcomer to the sport Irvin Korkee was the fancier whose pigeon clocked in first at 3.04pm with an average speed of 1448 meters per minute.
Second and third positions went to Ciske McKaiser and Graeme Samuel. The traditional Sale Race starts with all participants breeding one or more youngsters the previous year and placing them on an auction at the end of the flying season in that particular year.
The funds raised from the auction are split in the ratio of 50, 30 and 20% and are allocated to the buyers who attain first, second and third positions respectively in the nominated race the following year.
The club was abuzz with excitement as race secretary Lorenzo Doyle announced the results after strike-out last Saturday evening. The winners were heartily congratulated on their fine achievements on their birds’ performances.
The Grahamstown club flew its derby race from Groblershoop in the Northern Cape on Saturday 28 July, also a distance of 658km. This was the ninth race of the season so far for the local club. Liberation took place in clear and fine weather conditions at 8am with the first bird arriving home at 6.16pm.
First fancier to clock a bird in the derby race was Adam Leeuwskieter, a relatively old hand in the game with his bird recording a velocity of only 446 metres per minute. Second and third places were taken by Kurt Solomon and Mello Daniels respectively. “The race was an extremely tough one with the balance of the birds only arriving on Sunday morning,” said Grahamstown Racing Pigeon Club committee member Peter Bailie.
