John & Angela Underdown
First east section and first open went to John Underdown of Basildon with a seven year old, red cock doing 725mpm over 572 miles. This red cock of Kipp & son x Martin Greatham Southwell bloodlines has numerous results to his credit including 18th Open Tarbes National Flying Club when the NFC went with the international, plus 30th Open British International Championship Club Pau International in 2014. He has had just one previous race this year from Pithiviers with the East England Continental Club before being lifted into Pau. Regular 50 mile tosses from Folkestone and Hastings on the south coast have kept him ticking over and he was sent to Pau with every confidence of putting up a good performance. John motivates him in different ways as he is a very jealous pigeon and so is flown on a form of natural/jealousy system for motivation.
Calum Edmiston
Calum Edmiston of Horley was first centre section and second open with a five year old on 669mpm over 543 miles. He also clocked a second bird to take second centre section, this one was a two year old on 563mpm. The bird is a chequer cock of van der Wegen x Nico Volkens (Steve Pearmain and I imported the Volkens pigeons in 2004) and was 57th British International Championship Club Pau and 6th St Vincent last year. He comes from a joint pairing with my friend Doug Gatland and has several other tickets to his name from 300-550 miles. He was sent natural, sitting 18 day eggs and had two preparatory races with the BICC from Falaise and Alençon where he is on the result. The second bird is related to Steve Pearmain’s timer at 6th open in this race and is related to Volken’s 1st International Pau hens winner. Steve bred me the bird which is a two year old chequer cock on his first trip to 500 miles. He had three preparatory channel races and was sitting 12 day eggs.
Alan Turner
A J Turner of Dover timed second east section and third open with a five year old on 661mpm over 551 miles. Alan “Wally” Turner races with great consistency to his loft in the former mining village of Elvington just outside Dover. Alan clocked a five year old chequer cock which was 2nd open British International Championship Club Narbonne and has some other top placings to his credit from the St Vincent and Perpignan internationals. This year he has had a few 50 mile training races with the Wingham club followed by BICC Tours and then straight into Pau feeding two big youngsters and calling his hen to nest again.
R & N Steptoe
R & N Steptoe of Oxted were third east section and fourth open with a two year old, red cock on 657mpm over 548 miles. The sire of this winner is a Cannon x Deweerdt and the dam of is of Red Barcelona x Jan Aarden bloodlines. He was re-paired and sent to Pau sitting 10 day eggs. In the build up to Pau International the cock had 3 inland races with the club and then BICC Tours followed by three weeks rest and relaxation.
Clayton Preece
G M Preece and Son of Dover clocked a three year old on 649mpm over 628 miles to take third east section and fifth open. The Preece partnership timed a second bird on 615mpm to also take sixth east section and eighth open. Not content with just the two they then timed two more birds to make 16th and 39th open. Their first on the clock is a three year old, chequer widowhood hen of Stoffel 270/Hermes/Matterne lines and a granddaughter of the legendary Jack Jones. Previous prizes for this hen have included Narbonne 2014 - 13th national, Agen 2014 - 53rd national. Narbonne 2013 - 1025th international hens. Next up at 8th open is a five year old blue widowhood cock of Stoffel 270/Hermes lines, a super pigeon that has previously been dogged with yearly injuries. Previous prizes have included St Vincent 2014 – 67th national, Barcelona 2013 - 24th national, Perpignan 2012 - 18th national, Perpignan 2011 - 6th nation and 1st national yearling. Then we have at 16th open the legendary Jack Jones, one of the greatest long distance racers in these islands. Jack Jones is a chequer widowhood cock bred by Stoffel from 270/Hermes/Matterne lines. This cock in 2010 set the record of being the first pigeon to have ever homed on the day from the Perpignan international. Pau 2015 is his 12th international race of more than 500 miles. He has also been awarded an RPRA Best Performance Award (over 451 miles) in 2010. Fourth in the clock at 39th open is a three year old, chequer widowhood hen of Woodall/SG Wilk lines. Previous prizes for this hen have included Agen 2014 - 105th national and Perpignan 2012 - 59th national.
R Pearmain & Son (photo courtesy of Chris Sutton)
R Pearmain and Son from Wickford timed a five year old cock on 628mpm over 576 miles to take fourth east section and sixth open. Dicky and Steve clocked their blue chequer cock at 12.47. This one has an old 2004 ring but was a late bred in 2010. The cock has been a good consistent performer for the partners and has been on the British International Championship Club results from Agen and Perpignan and has had two top ten positions from Narbonne - 7th open in 2014 and now 6th open from Pau. He’s bred through the Volkens pigeons that have flown well for both the Pearmains and Calum Edmiston.
Catherine Cooper
First west section and seventh open was clocked by Geoff and Catherine Cooper of Peasdown St John. This was a three year old on 618mpm over 562 miles. The Coopers also timed a second bird to take second west section twelfth open. The Coopers’ team hasn’t been out of the first three in the section in any of the five BICC races this season and at Pau they clocked seven crackers. The first bird of the seven clocked winning 1st section was a three year old daughter of Daybreak Junior. Daybreak Junior has won 1st and 2nd section 5th BICC & 6th BICC in the Barcelona Inernational race, plus 3rd section Pau and 4th section Tarbes. Her dam is a half sister to Gina, the mother of Wollongong, 1st International Pau. She was flown widowhood, racing back to her cock. This year she has previously flown four channel races prior to Pau, Falaise, Alencon and Tours. Last year she won 30th national BICC Pau international. Second west section and 12th national for Geoff and Catherine Cooper was a four year old chequer cock flown widowhood. His sire is a brother to Farm Stellar, being a son of the brother to Farm Boy. The dam of the 2nd section winner is Farm Dream, a full sister to Farmer George, 1st international Bordeaux. He had three channel races prior to Pau. His main performances over the last few years include, 30th BICC Alencon, 52nd BICC Le Mans and 68th BICC Tours.
Bill Knox
Seventh east section and ninth open went to SR and WH Knox from Dover with a five year old on 602mpm over 546 miles. Bill clocked a dark chequer pied cock whose preparation for Pau was three East England races:- Boves 125 miles, twice Cannappeville 150 miles and it was sent to Pau sitting eggs 12 days overdue. The cock has previously recorded 52nd open Pau 2014, and 11th open St Vincent 2014. His sire was 1st section 2nd open Pau BICC bred down from N Barratts, Virgo Kirkpatrick bloodlines. His dam being down from Solway King lines.
Lee & Kevin Buddle
Finishing off the top ten in the open result and finishing at 8th east section is the 2014 Europa Cup winning partnership of Kevin and son, Lee Buddle, of Dover. The partners clocked their mealy hen, Saffron on 602 mpm and the great international racer, Mike on 577 mpm for a likely 10th & 13th open finish. Later in the day they clocked Elsa, the 2014 BICC Narbonne winner to take 47th Open as well. Saffron has previously won 3rd BICC Narbonne international, 557 miles 2014, 7th BICC Pau internationa,l 544 miles 2014, 24th BICC Agen international, 484 miles 2013 and 26th BICC Perpignan international, 579 miles in 2013 This season she was 1st open East England Continental Club from Boves in her first preparatory race. This Pau international performance of 10th Open earns her a BICC merit award given to pigeons with three top 15 open prizes with the BICC in international races. Second bird, provisionally 13th Open BICC Pau, is Mike, 3rd BICC Marseille international 2014, 594 miles, 4th BICC Marseille international 2011, 594 miles, 9th BICC Marseille international 2013, 594 miles, 13th BICC Agen international 2014, 480 miles, 24th BICC Perpignan international 2012, 579 miles, 37th BICC Pau international 2011, 544 miles, 60th BICC Pau international 2013, 545 miles and 64th BICC Pau international 2012, 545 miles. Both Mike and Saffron are raced on the round about system
Around the sections
Roly Simmon with Paul & Scott Stevens
Third west section went to Paul Stevens and Son from Hallatrow. Paul clocked a two year old, dark chequer hen flown on widowhood which has had all the British International Championship Club races this year in the build up to Pau international. She is 100% Alwyn Hill of Wing Down breeding and since Paul introduced Alwyn’s pigeons in 2009 he hasn’t looked back. Named Bella Marie after Paul's granddaughter, the family of pigeons are from Alwyn Hill and this hen is out of the DV100 line when paired to E. Devlaminck (a phenomenal racer for Alwyn out of Tarbes).
Third centre section went to A and T Deacon of Waterlooville and was a two year old. Albi's Pau pigeon is a chequer cock, flown natural, He had a couple of races north and then was sent to Tours prior to the Pau race. It was sent sitting 8 day eggs. The dam was 2nd section, 10th open from Barcelona last year.
Robert Govier
First north-east section and sixty-first open went to Robert Govier from Great Abington and was a six year old on 408mpm over 609 miles. This one is full of top long distance winning bloodlines including a Lerwick King’s Cup winner. The dam has had 5 x 1sts in races on the north road from Scotland so it is certainly bred for the job in hand. He was at Pau international in 2014 and homed on the Monday, in time to take a top section prize, but as Robert was new to south road international racing he failed to time him in! This year he was sent to Pau feeding a big youngster and sitting another round of eggs.
That concludes the report on the provisional result of the British International Championship Club race from Pau, in conjunction with the international.