One of my
reasons for ending the Le Tour des Maritimes was to spend more time
with my own birds looking for potential breeders for futurities.
Since I am the only fancier in the vicinity, all training would be
done by me and the schedule would have to be as challenging, if not
more so, than the original Le Tour. The decision was made to
invite some Maritime fanciers to join me, asking a modest perch fee
to help defray the cost associated with such a venture. Because
there are so few of us in the Maritimes that actively fly pigeons,
some out of area fanciers who were interested in
testing their birds on this course
were also invited . As
well as providing a service for other fanciers, this would also give
me the competition to validate the testing program. For this
pilot project, about 60 outside birds (5 per participant) were
invited. Hence, the Le Tour Des Maritimes Invitational
Testing Station was conceived.
The
Challenge
Le Tour Des Maritime
Invitational Testing
Station is a series of
9
races totaling 2480 km (1550 miles) over one of the most challenging courses
in Canada. Just flying all 9 races and arriving home is an accomplishment.
Flying all races in race time can be described as an outstanding achievement.
Needless to say, flying
two 450
km races on the day from St Peters on Cape Breton Island, one of the most difficult release points in
Canada, is remarkable.
Facts
| - 81 entries of which 71 began racing
and 28 were still in the loft at the end of the season |
| -18 birds flew the series in race time |
| - birds received no medication until
just before training |
| - birds were flown on the light system |
| - birds were only exercised in the
morning for approximately 1 hour |
| - birds received 8 training tosses
before racing began at 107 km |
| - once racing began the birds received
no training but their 1 hour daily exercise |
| - birds flew 9 races totaling 2480 km
(1550 miles) during a period of less than 8 weeks |
| - birds flew the last 5 races
totaling 1900 km (1188 miles) in a period of 5 weeks |
| - birds flew the last 3 races totaling
1270 km (794 miles) in a period of 19 days |
| - 5 birds were in the first drop both
times from 450 km |
| - 9 birds flew 450 km on the day twice
and 21 at least once |
| - this is a predominantly head wind
course, the prevailing winds are from the NW |
| - the birds had to fly through rain
and fog on several occasions during training and racing
|
| - flying velocities ranged from 646
m/m to 1083 m/m for an average of 928.4 m/m |
| - this is a 50/50 auction |
