When English or Scottish pigeon fanciers look at the video footage of the missiles in battle at the Sun City Superbowl at the final of the 11th Million Dollar Pigeon Race, they would say: they’re travelling a wee bit in a hurry, aren’t they?
On 3 February 2007, some 2 402 feathered missiles from 31 countries took off at 6am from Trompsburg (552km) against a revolting 25km/h headwind and a merciless South African sun – soon blazing at 31ºC. After burning fuel for nine hours, seven minutes and 35 seconds, Konstantin, entered by Helmut and Alfons Klaas from Germany, entered its home at the loft complex in the Pilanesberg.
Having arrived together, but less eager to enter, Schalke 04 owned by Germany’s Team Recklinghausen, passed through the traps at 3.10pm and four seconds. Both are blue bars and will be a matched couple in the lofts of their buyers, the Kitchenbrand family in South Africa.
Do you care to order a baby missile? But remember, Konstantin was bought for R260 000 and 04 for R280 000. The Kitchenbrand family bought most of the top 10 birds in the final race.
German view modestly interrupted
When you look at the top 25 results of the 11th Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race you will find 20 names on it – the view from the top was distinctly German. Germany scored 27 positions within the top 50, and was placed 46 times within the first 100 positions.
The view in the fourth position was interrupted by a South African named Dee, a small blue-barred lady missile entered by partners Josh Joubert and Dean Jooste. She was sold for R150 000 to a foreign buyer, the highest-priced SA missile in the history of the race!
The scenery was also visited by three US missiles: in 13th position, Blue Heaven (entered by Fahys Fabry Loft), followed by Bow in 18th position (entered by Steven S Plant) and Super Millet in 22nd position (entered by Carlos Avilla). The missile Gerda 05 owned by Vladimir Gorelov graced the scenery in 17th position in honour of Lithuania. A l-Sawaq 3, a very hot missile, was the first to land in honour of Kuwait in the 26th position. It is owned by Harnad al-Sawaq. he first UK missiles landed together in position 28, Wallasey Lass owned by Dave and Paul McCarthy.
Hot on its heels was Woodhouse Hooligan entered by Nev Proctor also from the UK. zurro owned by Heinz Kainersdorfer from Austria appeared in the 32nd position. Aischa in 34th position, bred by V Benes, was the first to score in honour of the Czech Republic. F arrant owned by Doriemus Syndicate, scored in 40th position in honour of the land Down Under.
The knockout pigeon in incredible pearl-eyed/blue-barred hen, Nance, owned by Jaber al-Ghareeb, won the knockout competition and $25 000 – she scored in the 39th position. Grand Average winner L ucky Hope is a remarkable German missile owned by Birgit and Gerhard Luecking. It scored sixth in the Grand Average Champions league before the race, but caught up by scoring 15th in the final to be crowned the Champion of the 11th SCMDPR. Besides this, it also scored in the 24th position in the Hot Spot average. special salute to this role model!
A record auction
The first 100 pigeons back from the race were auctioned the next day in the Sun City Superbowl for the combined sum of R3,26 million – that is an average of R32 630 per pigeon!
South Africa’s world-renowned auctioneer, Johan van der Nest, was in peak shape. Remember the name Nicole. She was auctioned for R290 000 to become the most costly pigeon ever to have sold in the SCMDPR sales. is owned by Alois Radecker from Germany. finished 31st in the final race, 31st in the Hot Spot averages and second in the Grand Champions Averages League – what a pigeon! elling prices of the birds placed in the top 10: (1) R260 000 (2) R280 000 (3) R190 000 (4) R150 000 (5) R110 000 (6) R160 000 (7) R100 000 (8) 000 (9) R90 000 (10) 000.
About the pigeons
Most pigeons to score at the top were blue barred – is there a reason? Some say they handle the heat better. substantial number among the birds that scored at the top have pearl eye-colouration. In body conformation they were all very compact – birds made in one piece. I examined about half of the 100 birds at the auction, and besides being tired, none appeared to be sickly or had ruffled-up feathers. Most of them carried substantial weight and were in superb condition after enduring such a tough race. We will share more interesting statistics about the race in a future edition. –
Thomas Smit Contact Thomas Smit on (011) 680 4778, e-mail [email protected]. |fw
