13/05/2018 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19 etc. Huntsville against 1,086 pigeons

This past Saturday, May 5, 2018, the North Road R.P.A flew the first old bird race of the season from Huntsville 289 km from my loft.
It was partly cloudy at 7:30 when the birds were let up, the wind was light out of the SW, and the temperature was only 7C. It promised to be a grueling day as the pigeons had to fly into a side headwind all the way home.
Waiting patiently for the pigeons to arrive, I just about dropped my coffee cup when I saw 6 pigeons together right out of the hole. No victory laps, they went right to the landing board and all 6 trapped in 4 seconds.
After the clocks were taken off, we ended up with the first 12 in the Hamilton Central R.P.C. against 10 lofts and 244 birds placing 17 of the 30 birds shipped in top 10% and 23 in the top 20%.
In the Hamilton Federation (3 clubs) flying against 25 lofts and 536 birds we had the first 7 prizes and placed 19 in the top 10% and 25 in the first 20%.
In the North Road RPA (6 clubs) flying against 51 lofts and 1,086 pigeons, we placed

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19 etc.  and we placed 19 pigeons in the top 10% and 25 in the top 20%.

A very satisfying race as we are the longest and most westerly loft in the combine.

The first bird clocked was CU16 11926 his father is CU14 HC 1063 (a son of "Havana" NL12-1232006NL12-1232006, a double grandson of Ché"Ché" and his mother is NL09-1186640 "Magic Sola" a direct Verkerk hen.)
His dam is CU15 HC 759 out of Verkerk and Koopman lines.

The second bird clocked 2 seconds behind was CU16 11932 a cock whose father is CU15 HC 767 out of NL14-1605516NL14-1605516 (out of NL07-1371015NL07-1371015 "Fabio Favourite" x NL09-1837618NL09-1837618 Cilia"Cilia") X NL09-1186440 "Magic Sola" a Verkerk.
His mother is CU15 HC 755 out of Havana NL12-1232006NL12-1232006 and NL10-1681766 a Verkerk. "755" was lost in a race but two of her sisters "756" and "757" both flew Hearst (800 km) and placed near the top.

The third pigeon was a hen CU17 17355 a daughter of "Havana" NL12-1232006NL12-1232006 a direct H. and E.J. Eijerkamp pigeon a son of Carlos"Carlos" and Lieke"Lieke" both of whom are out of Ché"Ché". Her mother is "Detroit’s Lady" NL14-1605572NL14-1605572 a direct H. and E.J. Eijerkamp out of "Detroit" NL10-1271274NL10-1271274 (out of Streetfighter"Streetfighter" and Kentucky"Kentucky") and NL12-1233749NL12-1233749 "Dtr Lady Elenora"    (out of "Inbred Pegasus" and Lady Elanora"Lady Elanora").

Descendants of "Havana" NL12-1232006NL12-1232006 have done very well for us. The race team is made off more than 60% daughters sons and grandchildren of "Havana" and last year 2017, earned the North Road loft championship with a total of 12,314 points almost 3,000 points ahead of the second loft.
To say that the Eijerkamp pigeons have done well for us is an understatement, they have been excellent.

A BIG THANK YOU, to Hans & Evert-Jan Eijerkamp and Henk Jurriëns.