The Queen's pigeon wins the Kingslea 2008 Race
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This is a one loft race with a difference as the Kingslea 1 Loft Race is held in Aberdeen and all the pigeons are bred by one fancier except a raffle prized bird. This venture started of as after a discussion with a fancier and Aberdeen president Ian McKay who was asked to run a one loft race. To which Ian immediately refused, however after other discussion with Aberdeen federation fanciers the outcome was ‘maybe’ we could put together. There would be problems of that there was no doubt and these were looked into for example: obtaining birds from every corner of Britain would be a problem, all these birds coming in from different lofts would maybe create disease and sick birds; then there was the shipping costs and reliability of getting all birds in on time; how many birds could be accommodated so numbers and handling them would be a problem; complication with licences; plus you have added burden of breaking the birds to a new loft; Other areas to consider were: Are there too many one loft races; Most are run to make a profit to the organisers. Ian and the members decided to eliminate all the above and a no hold debate took place to implement some form of rules: Some of the constructive comments raised were; better if we bred our own birds, only have 40 to 50 birds with 40 in the race team plus an additional 9 birds spare and 1 raffle bird. With these now the ground rules it was decided that Ian would breed the birds and house them in his loft with fanciers coming to select their choice at an open day when all birds would be on show. He then let it be known the idea for a one loft race by word of mouth to the members of his federation and within 12 days he had enough enquires to fill the 40 birds on offer in fact as each day passed he received more names of fanciers wishing to take part.
Invitation
Ian then sent out fliers to all the fanciers interested in participating in this one loft race to a barbecue at his and Marlene’s home on 1st June from 2 till 5pm for fanciers who wished to enter the Kingslea One Loft Race would be welcome to the draw for each of the birds which took place at 3.30 with all the birds on view prior to the draw. (See photos) Ian has so many applicants to the draw that he had to make up 2 syndicates; one for Aberdeen federation members and the other for North of Scotland and other fanciers who wished to take part. So the 40 birds offered were at £50.00 which would raise £2,000 per syndicate however once this idea was set in place Ian received sponsorship of another £100 to raise the total to £2,100. This same amount was raised for the North of Scotland and other fanciers syndicate so the total was now £4, 200. Fanciers from the North of Scotland picked out the Aberdeen fanciers names against each pigeon and the Aberdeen lads did likewise for the 2nd syndicate of North of Scotland and others.
Special Raffle Prize
Ian had secured a young bird from Her Majesty the Queen, he had previously contacted the Royal Loft manager Carlo Napolitano who donated a young bird for the race this bird was to be a very special raffle prize. This would be open to ONLY those fanciers who had purchased a pigeon i.e. (one raffle ticket per bird) if anyone did not want a raffle ticket it will be offered ONLY within the fanciers who entered the race. This meant that the winnings would be within the 2 fancier syndicates. The Royal Loft pigeon would then be entered as a Wild Card. The bird would be eligible to win any money competed for at any race. Raffle tickets were £10 each and the £50 entry fee was paid out of the raffle money. This bird raised £800 i.e. 80 applicants x £10 = £800 this also allow the Wild Card entry into Aberdeen Federation Gold ring race.
Rules
The rules prior to the inception of the racing season were passed as follows:
Only birds bred at the loft will be used for this race. No birds from outside lofts will be entered to reduce medical problems; The birds will be raced and owned in the name of Coutts & McKay; A bank account was opened by Jim Coutts for the North Federation and Willie Davidson for the Aberdeen Federation with the Royal Bank of Scotland. All cheques will be double signed by the above two named fanciers and Ian McKay will not be able to sign cheques but will be able to pay money into the account as he received it from participating fanciers to the one loft race.
There would be no cost involved as these would be part of the race team; Ian would be training the birds as he would be doing with his own young birds; No cost for feeding these one loft birds as he would pay for the food as they would be part of his young bird team; All the birds will be on the Darkness system; It is planned to have the birds professionally tested i.e. (throat swab and droppings) 3 or 4 times to make sure they are in good health; Ian also secured the services of Med-Vit who are going to sponsor free testing of the birds to make sure there health is up to scratch and the members wish to thank Kevin Winter for his generosity and test kits were available from the shop free; you have to send £20 when you send the kit away for testing.
The birds will not compete in club racing to prevent double handling; All birds will be trained then go on the Steven Van Breeman system where they will be loaded onto the transporter on Thursday afternoon and watered, on Friday they will be fed and watered on the vehicle and shipped to the race on Friday night as normal, they will not be race marked at the club, all races with the Aberdeen Federation will be training tosses except the actual race (Northallerton); They will be recorded by Unikon ETS system as trainers every week except the final race from Northallerton when they will be race marked at the Sunnybank Racing Pigeon Club or as applicable to the Aberdeen Federation; The final race being from Northallerton, all birds left within the loft and obviously fit will go to the race; In the event of a race being cancelled, this race will be discarded completely. In the event of the Northallerton race being cancelled, the birds will go to the SNFC young bird national race from Leicester and all prize money will stand. Anyone can visit the loft during training / racing to witness the birds return.
Prize Money
With the 2 syndicates now set up in place and there being 7 races with the local club and Aberdeen federation, it was decided to pay out £50 for the first bird home in each hot spot race to each syndicate. As there were 7 races at £100 would be £700 with the last race being from a distance of 196 miles the 8th race would be then be the main event with a 1st prize £1000 to each syndicate; 2nd prize £500 to each syndicate and 3rd prize £250 to each syndicate; therefore the total prize money of £4200 would be used up. The birds will be ETS marked at the start of training and the first bird home from each Hot Spot (7 races) will win £50 for each syndicate and the buyers would still be entered in the main race.
Day of the Race
The birds were entered from the Northallerton race and every one of the participants who have entered the Kingslea One Loft Race was invited to a barbecue at the loft to watch for the returning birds. John Norris from Grantham who was the convoyer for the NRCC for a number of years was also present. John used to board the ferry with the NRCC transporter at Aberdeen harbour for the Shetland Isle prior to the Lerwick race. Ian met John at the transporter with feeding and assisted John fill up the water tanks prior to the ferry departing over the North Sea. Over the years they became personal friends so when the invite for the main race was given out John decided he would come up to Ian’s for the week end. He could attend the barbecue and meet up with some of the Aberdeen fanciers, John enjoyed his day so much so that he ended up as the ‘head chef’ (see photo) in charge of the barbecue. The invitation was open to Aberdeen fanciers who if they so wished could attend after they had timed in at their own loft if they wanted to could come along and enjoy the atmosphere and company and support the winner of the one loft race. The Kingslea 1 Loft Race turned out to be quite a hard race with only 4 bird’s home on the day.
The winner was a blue bred by The Royal Lofts ring number GB 08 ER 45 and the owner of the pigeon in the raffle draw was Joe Benzie for the Aberdeen Syndicate who won £1000. See photographs of a happy Joe in the company of others who attended the race day.
The winner of North & Others Syndicate was won by Aldridge Bodgers from Bournemouth who won £1000.
Second prize was won by SU 08 AB 2868 for Ron Scott of the Aberdeen Syndicate who won £500 with Alec Buchan of Fraserburgh winning the North & Others Syndicate again winning £500.
The 3rd prize was SU 08 AB 2866 won by Ian Sammons for Aberdeen Syndicate winning £250 and John Strachan of Inverallochy winning the North & Others Syndicate prize of £250.
Gold Ring
As mentioned above all Kingslea One Loft Race birds were entered into the Aberdeen Federation Gold Ring Race (paid for by a donation) they were competing for a further £800 in prize money. Any Kingslea bird winning a prize would be split 50/50 with the two syndicate owners. This race was flown from Witton Castle and the Kingslea One Loft Race pigeons won the following 1st 2nd and 4th prizes:
- 1st prize of £500 split into 2 x £250 to Ian Ellis of Aberdeen andJohn Richardson of Dublin.
- 2nd prize of £150 split into 2 x £75 was to Steve Taylor of Aberdeen and Brits Ahoy of London.
- 3rd prize was won by Scott Robertson of Aberdeen who won the £100.
- 4th prize of £50 split into 2 x £25 was won by Joe Benzie of Aberdeen and George Allan of Skene.
Conclusion
This is a great idea and every federation or club can copy the Kingslea One Loft race format and rules if they so wish the one great thing about the whole aspect are that all money raised by participants and won by these same participants. The other good thing is all money is paid up front so is guaranteed and it is paid out on the day of the race. You do not have to wait months on your cheque and for the hot spot races there are pools that can be placed on if you so wish again all paid out that week end. I think Ian McKay and the other fanciers who assisted him in this venture deserve a pat on the back for showing such inventiveness in creating this one loft race. It has been such a success that Ian is talking about having 3 syndicates operating next year there is a waiting list to join the Kingslea One Loft Race for 2009.
A fitting tribute to Ian and the Kingslea 1 Loft Race is they timed in 4 birds from his entry of 9 home from the young bird national from Leicester flown Monday 8th September. The first pigeon is SU 08 AB 2824 who won 4th north section 80th open. With the Royal Loft pigeon the first bird recorded home 2nd morning to win 9th North Section 136th open both on the SNFC probable result. This was from a distance of 320 miles and Ian’s hard work has again paid off well done. Our congratulations to everyone who supported the one loft race, to Marlene and Ian McKay who did a wonderful job in promoting the true meaning of sportsmanship by opening their home and gardens to everyone to enjoy as well as providing the barbeque. I know that many readers will look forward to following the progress of the Kingslea One Loft Race in future years.
Joe Murphy
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Joe Benzie winner of the Aberdeen Syndicate
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Joe Benzie being presented with the winners cake