Ypres Welsh S.E.National 3rd June 2017 ~ A really tough one!

*This is GB14V39593 a checker white flight cock that was trained only as a youngster and was raced to Ypres as a yearling. As a two year old he was badly hawked and was kept at home for the season. This year he has had a few club training races and was our first bird from Ypres this year scoring provisionally 6th North Section. The photo was taken at 8 a.m. the morning after his 11 hour plus fly and as you can see , he is in great order. Ready now for 600 miles plus ?

 

Last Saturday was the Welsh South East National Flying Clubs first race over the channel. It was also our first race of the season in our North Wales loft. This turned out to be a very testing race consistent with other channel events held on the same weekend.

We was very pleased to end provisionally 6th and 7th North Section National , clocking two birds at 21.35 after a 10.15 am liberation. Two cocks arrived on the edge of darkness after over 11 hours on the wing for this 350 mile race recording a velocity of just 879 ypm !! flying the entire race into a stiff headwind.

Returns generally were not great however we have to be satisfied with our own 20 from 32 (So Far) under the circumstances. The most pleasing thing is the condition of the birds after such a tough race. They returned in great condition and we look forward to the next longer events.