Crammond & Langstaff (photo courtesy of Chris Sutton)
First open and first section G was won by Crammond and Langstaff of Fontwell with a five year old cock on 524ypm over 667 miles. Ian and Nigel sent only two widowhood cocks to Barcelona and their winner contains Anton and Lucie Van de Wegen blood on the sire's side and Wim Muller bloodlines on the dam's. This cock flew Tarbes and Pau in 2015 and as a yearling it was sixty-fourth open Tarbes with the National Flying Club. Preparation for Barcelona included several shorter channel races.
Paul Baker
P Barker of New Haven was second open and second section G with a three year old cock that was timed on 523ypm over 662 miles. Paul clocked Blueboy, bred from J Barnett and Daughter's Marriott pigeons. The sire and dam of Blueboy have both flown Tarbes and San Sebatian for John, always arriving on the day. Preparation for Barcelona was two races from Messac and one from Fougères.
Bill Stribling
Bill Stribling of Weston Super Mare was third open and first section C with a four year old cock on 522ypm. This is the second time this pigeon has scored for Bill from Spain and its bloodlines are Venner, obtained from Dave Vowles of Street. Raced on the natural system it was sent sitting twelve day eggs.
Bill Knox's pigeon
SR and WH Knox of Canterbury timed a three year old on 513ypm to take fourth open and third section G with a three year old hen on 513ypm. In the past two seasons this hen was thirty-fourth section, forty-eighth open Perpignan 2014 and tenth section, eighteenth open Barcelona 2015. The sire has flown Barcelona three times and is a son of the partners' Barcelona winner.
Dave Goddard
Fifth open and first section D went to R J Goddard and Son of Reading with a four year old hen on 479ypm over 712 miles. Dave timed Ruby which was bred by Mick Parish of Great Burstead and contains the best of his distance bloodlines. As a two year old, Ruby flew Pau and at three she was twelfth section, thirty-eighth open Barcelona, then fourth section, thirty-fourth open Perpignan just three weeks later.
G Frewin
G Frewin of New Milton timed a seven year old cock on 279ypm over 672 miles to take sixth open and first section A. Their gay pied pigeon, Billy the Kidd, has been a consistent distance racer and was awarded the Central Southern Classic Flying Club's certificate of merit in 2013. The sire was bred by Bill Sando and the dam contains a mixture of Dall, Kidd Hammond, Wood and Hine bloodlines.
Tony Cowan
Tony Cowan of Southampton timed a six year old cock on 243ypm over 675 miles to take seventh open and second section A. Tony clocked Sheppard's Delight, a grizzle cock containing the best of Brian Sheppard's bloodlines.
Alan Turner
A J Turner of Dover was eighth open and fourth section G with a five year old cock on 216ypm over 679 miles. Alan's winner contains Brian Denny and Jimmy Roy bloodlines and was raced on the natural system, sent feeding two ten day old squeakers.
Alan Annis
A Annis and Son from Canterbury were ninth open and fifth section G with a four year old cock on 207 ypm over 684 miles. This cock was fifty-sixth open from Pau last season and contains Jos Thoné and Cyril Wells bloodlines.
Dorin Melinte
Dorin Melinte of Harrow clocked a three year old cock on 200ypm over 714 miles to take tenth open and second section D. Dorin timed Unique Junior, a son of Balici Pavel's Unique, the Romanian record holder, having scored five times in four seasons in the marathon Berlin race. Unique's bloodlines are a mixture of Rijckaerd, Bricoux, Stichelbout and Van Bruanne. The dam of Unique Junior is a one hundred percent Van de Wegen and a sister of a Berlin international winner.
Mr & Mrs Guy's pigeon
Mr and Mrs Guy of Tadley were eleventh open and third section D with a two year old on 196ypm over 703 miles. Stewart bought two squeakers from the British Barcelona Club Stud, both being bred from outstanding past club winners. These were paired together and produced the sire of his timer which itself flew Barcelona in 2014, returning just out of race time. The dam was bred by John Puddephatt and Neil Williams.
That concludes the report on the British Barcelona Club race from Barcelona, held in conjunction with the international.