| - Entry to the Le
Tour Des Maritimes Testing Station is by invitation only. About fifteen 5-bird teams
with 2 backups will be invited. Only 5 bird teams will be
accepted and one per fancier. Backups will automatically
replace any birds lost prior to the beginning of racing.
If backups are not needed they can be activated for an
additional $40 each. |
| |
| - Birds must be
shipped between May 10th & June 1st via Air Canada directly to
Bathurst and they should be eating and drinking and without having
dropped their 1st flight . The Le Tour Testing station has
been planned for 2nd round birds when first mating up around mid
to late February. See
Breeding Chart |
| |
| - The
perch fee is $200 for the team of which $100 is due by March
15th, 2008 to confirm your entry. The balance is due with your
shipment of the birds. |
| |
| - There will be
no prize money and no buy back. All birds that have
completed the series successfully will be auctioned off except
those that have performed poorly and or are not healthy.
The proceeds will be divided 50% breeder and 50% handler.
Pedigrees must be supplied with as much relevant breeding and
flying information as is available. |
| |
| - I will enter a
5 bird team. As well, I will breed teams for 2 personal
friends that have supported the Le Tour for years but don't keep
racing pigeons. Since the main purpose
of the Le Tour Testing Station (TTS) is to test my birds against
the best competition available, my own young bird team will fly
with the entries but their performance will be recorded
separately. If any of them remain at the end of the
season, some of them may be entered in the auction. For
auction purposes their performance will be published as an
integrated result with the Le Tour entries; however, the
results of the Le Tour entries will remain separate. |
| |
| - The
management believes that natural immunity is the most important
factor for young pigeons to do well in one loft futurity racing
so the goal is not to use medication unreasonably and preferably
not at all. However,
birds will be treated for PMV. In 2006 the youngsters
were only treated with Amoxicillin and Metronidazole just before the
beginning of training. They also received a treatment for
canker after the short series was over (2 x 100 km & 2 x 180
km). Natural products were used to enhance their
immunities to help them combat foreign pathogens.
(probiotics, GSE, ACV, garlic, Bio-mos, minerals,
iodized salt etc.) |
| |
| - The
management will treat all
youngsters as any successful loft would. Sickly youngsters
and youngsters with bad attitudes who are detrimental to the
loft environment and racing program will be eliminated from the
race team, e.g. "infrequent flyers". In regards
to sickly youngsters - the management will make a decision
whether some form of medical treatment will correct the problem
quickly. If treatment is decided it will only last 3 days
and if no improvement is apparent the youngster will be removed
from the race team. For example, if canker is spotted in a
youngster's mouth, it will receive a quarter tablet of
Metronidazole for 3 days. |
| |
| - The deep
litter system will be used, birds will
be flown on the light system, exercised in the morning for
approximately 1 hour and once racing begins thy will
receive no training but their 1 hour daily exercise period. |
| |
| - The birds will
receive at least 8 training tosses before racing begins at
107 km. Training
will begin around mid July. |
| |
| - Releases will not be in rain or fog but may
be in mainly overcast skies with a higher probability of rain
than tolerated for past Le Tours - the standard for releasing
the birds will be similar to at a club or combine level. |
| |
| - The goal will
be to fly 9 races totaling 2500 km (1550 miles) during a
period of less than 8 weeks. The management reserves the
right to alter the training and or racing schedule if they deem
it necessary. |
| See tentative racing schedule below. |
| |
| - Reporting will be as comprehensive as it
has been in the past and I guarantee that you will receive as much
information and likely more than you are receiving now from the
other futurities. Youngsters will be issued an eband upon
arrival and inventories will be updated regularly.
Participants wanting to know the circumstance of the loss of
their birds can email me for that information. See: 2006
Diary, Race Reports |
| |
|
Comparison of the TTS to Other Similar
Races |
