ALLFLIGHT CARNIVAL CITY LOFT NEWS 8 JANUARY 2009

“The Final Countdown”

The final days and hours are upon us! We have reached the end of the 2008/2009 season for the summer team at Allflight CC Carnival City. The race day is only 2 sleeps away (that is if one can sleep on Friday night, for once I am both nervous and excited before a final race) and I am convinced the team is in good condition and will complete the journey from the Rose Cottage where they will overnight on Friday with flying colors! Let us hope the thunderstorms and extreme heat gives us a break on Saturday.

If we listen to the early weather predictions it will not be an easy race but let’s face it no race in summer in South Africa is ever easy! That is one reason for having it this time of the year. A headwind is predicted all along the route with a 60% chance of thundershowers over Gauteng. Temperatures will range between 24 and 34 degrees Celsius on route home, so if the weather prophets are right it will be a very tough test for the young birds and they will need all their skill and knowledge acquired during training flights this season to complete the journey. It has been a very tough season for the young birds with the weather not always being in their favor on the longer training flights. We have tried our best to ensure they are in tip top condition and ready to complete the strenuous journey home in the fastest time possible.

I want to first of all thank all of my staff members, Herman Snr., Marlize, Gys, Njomani, Edward and Abraham for all the hard work they put in over the holiday season to ensure that we can have this race on Saturday. A special thanks to each and every one who entered their prize racing pigeons to take part in this new venture at Allflight CC. To Karl-Heinz & Timo Wagner, Christoph Gröne, Hans & Magdelana Brühl, Marc De Cock, Joe Strydom from PISA and David & Anna Clausing, had it not been for you this would not have been an international race, THANK YOU all very much! To Doctor Rob Conradie who assisted in getting and keeping the pigeons healthy and giving me the right advice when needed, you are simply the best! Dr Botha for his assistance, and especially to his wife Sanna for sponsoring us with her range of Aviomed products thanks! Without singling out any local people I would like to thank every South African pigeon fancier who entered this race (and believed that this could work), with your support and the international entries our first attempt at a summer race exceeded all expectations!

South Africa vs Germany (Don’t forget Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom and of course the USA)

Who will cross the finish line or rather electronic timing system first? Will it be Germany who absolutely dominated and demolished all competition in the Pilansberg the last few years, or will South Africa sneak in a win, the first victory for a local pigeon in January/February since 2001 or will one of the other countries with their 4 or 5 pigeons take top honors? As you could see from my previous newsletter where I quoted the percentages of pigeons entered versus percentage prizes won in the “Hot Spot” races, it is all square! Not one country dominated any more than another when it came to winning prize money, but then again this lofts’ slow pigeons have basically stuck together on the long training flights, flying just over a 1030mpm on average! Be that as it may, 1st prize of €12 500 will be won by the bird that enters the loft while the rest are still preening their feathers, irrespective of the velocity.

May the best bird on the day win, for those fanciers able to visit us on Saturday here at the lofts we will have “Big Screens” so that you can also follow the results “live” as the pigeons enter the lofts

and remember to let us have your bank details if you are in the money.

Regards

Herman

ALLFLIGHT CARNIVAL CITY LOFT

"Winning is not everything, it's the only thing."

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