I have been watching the situation across the pond with gritted teeth for months. While we on the mainland have already finished our first training tosses, top players like Mark Gilbert and the guys from the Midlands were locked up by a wall of bureaucracy. Their champions stood stiff with frustration in the aviaries. That injustice stops today. The doors in England and Wales have been thrown open. The sky belongs to the pigeon again.
The resurrection of the athlete Let us name the facts. A bird that has been inside since last November is no longer an athlete. It is a greenhouse plant. The next seven days will determine who is a true craftsman and who is sabotaging their own success. The wings are stiff. The muscles are full of lactic acid. If you chase your entire racing team out at once, you are calling the peregrine falcon to the table for a free buffet. I advise my British friends to start with small batches. Give those birds a chance to find their orientation and rhythm without falling out of the sky from exhaustion.
The filter for amateurs The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone stays in force. I think that is a good thing. It separates the men from the boys. Every fancier must be registered now. No exceptions and no more backroom politics. If you are too lazy to scrub your transport crates with the products prescribed by Defra, you have no business in the national circuit. Discipline is what will put the British pigeon back on the map this year.
The battle for the channel The road to France is open for those who have their paperwork in order. Without that CPH number and the right veterinary certificates, you are not crossing the border for races like Pau or Tarbes. The RPRA did the groundwork, but you have to do the execution. The British pigeon is built in the wind and the rain. They are hungry. They have been suppressed for too long and that makes them lethal for the competition on the mainland.
The clock is at zero. The first national tests are on the calendar for the end of this month. With current GPS ring technology, we will see patterns that change the sport forever. The United Kingdom is back in the game. The international playing field is finally complete again.
The elite is back in the air. The competition can get ready for the invasion from the other side of the water. I am keeping a close eye on the result lists. Anyone not on there simply does not exist in my world.
Do you want to show your pigeons, your bloodlines, or your products to a network that only settles for the absolute world top? Do not wait to be overtaken by the facts. Put yourself in the spotlight of the Pigeon Boss. This is the place where real winners come together and do business. Contact me now and claim your throne at the top.
Jan de Wijs
The Pigeon Boss
