I have always thought I would like to go into international to Ireland with the ultimate in mind, clocking into Ireland from the Barcelona International in race time. A paltry 855 miles to Dublin. This has been done I believe many years ago but I am not sure if it was in race time or not. So with the ultimate in mind the birds for the job in hand were needed. So out with the last few sprinters and a new search is on. What birds to get and where to source from? And so the Barcelona Dream came forward a few years with other racing forgotten about and one destination in mind. I started my search with the international result from the Pipa website as well as researching general distances flown for individuals using key words and details in my search on the internet. Things like “Barcelona international flyers over 700 miles”. Lots of results came up but most were in mainland Europe. I decided birds of a family already successful into the U.K. would be better to start with though. These families would have been selected for their ability to be individuals breaking from the drag and also with the experience of crossing the channel from Europe to the U.K. Several things came up a number of times. Two of these were Jan Aarden Pigeons or families with this base and the name of Jim Emerton. I started looking at the House of Aarden and their families of birds all with Aarden base and I contacted Steve Wright. What a gent. After discussion I selected birds from the line of Padfields Invincible and in due course these birds arrived in Ireland and are with me now. These have started me on the road to Barcelona. The second thing to crop up from my search was Jim Emerton. .
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I can now say that he is a friend of mine and will be a mentor for as long as he is here on our green planet, (hope that’s accurate Jim). His name came up as the longest flyer to clock Barcelona at the time into the UK in race time. I think he still is but can be corrected. So with this in mind and his name and information about his racing and feeding system online for any to google I set about trying to get in contact. Several phone calls later and no joy I found him and made contact through another avenue. Through Jim my network of Barcelona colleagues and nut cases is growing and so is my stock loft. I have been generously been given birds from both Nic Harvey of Taunton and Chris Booth of York to add to my Padfields Invincible Birds. This is now the base for me and my friends’ future dreams of conquering Barcelona to Ireland. Before I finish this article I would like to add that I am not doing this alone in Ireland. I am aware that the BICC has over 30 members in Ireland and
Safe Haven Lady Cas. One of my base birds. grandaughter of Padfields Invincible and also
of De Cas. Both owned by the House of Aarden
that they also have aspirations to compete. For myself all roads will lead not to Rome but to Barcelona. Here in Ireland I have also a few other close friends who I will name in the future as long as I have their permission. I do not believe that we essentially need each other. I do believe however that with the same goals we can bolster each other through the inevitable hard times to come on the long and arduous journey to achieve the ultimate.
Until next time Michael
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