By Dr. Wim Peter
Article Published on: 11/10/2006

Saturday, the 7th day of October 2006, is a day that will not – must not - be quickly forgotten. The Federated Board race from Bloemfontein – 900km - that took place on that day. Bloemfontein to Cape Town is far, very far. Just ask someone who has traveled this road by car. But racing pigeons do it non stop and unassisted! The race provided all the hassles and hardships that confront pigeon racing and serves as a guiding light in life’s endeavors. It’s not often that any race is bedeviled by so much misfortune. And in spite of that, there were birds – the lucky ones – who made it home on Saturday - the day of release. I say lucky, which by no means is an attempt to belittle the class and quality of the eight birds that made it on the day, but I say it because of the hundreds of champion racers who had to sleep out and brave the weather on Saturday night.

Let’s begin at the beginning. First of all, the liberation in Bloemfontein was delayed for an hour because of rain and cloud. Even then I am quite sure the conditions were far from ideal at liberation and it is my guess that the birds milled around the release site for a long time. Well-known champion Dickie Koch has a very reasonable guess at what then happened. He suspects that while the pigeons were circling around and ‘getting their bearings’ a few birds broke away from the mass and headed for home. This would have occurred at regular intervals. The theory goes a long way at explaining why there were so few birds home on the day. The pigeons that did reach home on Saturday were relatively early, and under ‘normal’ circumstances one would have expected more arrivals on release day. The late liberation played a monumental role in the manner in which the race unfolded.

A North-west wind in the southern Free State and Karroo blew during most of the day, which would have assisted the pigeons in recording a reasonable velocity. What would not have helped them were the thunderstorms that occurred irregularly en route. A batch of pigeons flying into a storm with severe rain and wind will be forced to go to ground and wait out the storm. The more fortunate pigeons – maybe on a slightly different course or following a little later – may have missed the wet squall. These storms usually do not last very long but they are so fierce and violent that they have a major effect on any race groups caught up in them. It could have happened to the leading groups.

But more important was the heat. We all know that pigeons fare badly once the temperature reaches 30 degrees. On this day temperatures of up to 34 degrees were predicted. Fortunately there was no headwind as the combination of headwind and heat is devastating to the efforts of a racing pigeon. At midday the birds had covered about half through the distance but by this time the weaker and less virile pigeons were already lagging behind.

On Saturday evening the wind that had been blowing all day, reached gale force velocities. How the birds could still fly is miraculous; strong wind, particularly a side wind as in this case, causes lack of control. It also forces the birds to seek their flying area just above the ground. Collisions with wires, fences, branches, motor cars even, are the result. The wind at night plays another important role. Roosting pigeons need as much rest as they can get, so that come morning, they are able to continue the battle. Buffeted and ruffled by the wind with a good chance of being blown off their night-time perches, there would have been precious little rest for the exhausted racers. Temperatures plummeted and it started raining, that night. Heavily, Tired, hungry, cold, wet, flown out after 12 hours on the wing and not able to rest peacefully; its boggles the mind that these little creatures could rise at all and continue flying the next day. But fly they did and next morning, in spite of the occasional showers pelting down from above, many birds reached their lofts safely. We doff our hats to the courageous victors.

Pigeons, with iron hard determination and spirits of steel - matched only by the size of their hearts - are an example to all of mankind. When the future is at its bleakest and everything appears black and hopeless – remember October 7. Never surrender, take heart, strength and courage from their never-say-die attitude. Let the birds that are sometimes maligned and labeled as ‘flying rats’ by ignoramuses, be your shining light. If, in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, they can carry on, so can anyone, anywhere, at any time. Let luck not be our guide but courage, fortitude and strength of will. Remember the pigeons from Bloemfontein and we shall conquer.

Dr. Wim Peters