2011 Hop the Water Classic Report
The 2011 race will be remembered as one of the classic events in Australian pigeon racing history.
Basketing: Birds were basketed at WPF rooms, Ballarat and Horsham clubrooms. The Warrnambool birds were delivered to Ballarat by the ever helpful Alan Smith, while the SE Melbourne competitors basketed at the WPF rooms along with the other Melbourne entries. Colac basketed at Ballarat and the Sea Lake lads basketed at Horsham. The basketing of the mighty 682 birds could not have gone better and our liberators Dave Gourlay and his wife Shirley headed for Kangaroo Island right on time.
Transportation: The birds were watered regularly on the journey and were fed lightly on the Saturday morning and with a heavier fed Saturday afternoon. The Ballarat East Homing Club unit was the unit of choice for 2011. This unit is identical to Colin Walkers unit used for his annual 700mile event designed to hold 900 birds for the longer trip. With 2 days less in the unit and over 200 birds under capacity our birds were ensured a comfortable trip.
Liberation: 682 birds were liberated at 7:45am from the Penneshaw carpark (Kangaroo Island) on the 21st August, 2011. The liberator reported they were out of sight and heading towards the mainland in 5 minutes. Conditions were slightly overcast and little to no wind. The wind was so light that early reports indicated they would encounter every wind direction possible on the way home.
Early birds: As always, competitors called their early birds into race co-ordinators. This feature of this great race serves 2 important purposes. Firstly, it is part of the verification process for the timing of birds. Secondly, it always the race to continue to gain National exposure. Fanciers Australia wide can watch almost live as the results unfold to see if one of their own homebred champions feature. First on the phone this year were the Warrnambool lofts of Grenville Evans and G & C McLeod at around 3:30pm & 3:40pm respectively. Next in line were the Ballarat lofts of Aaron McKay and J & R Draper at 3:55pm. Then the call from one of the longest competitors and eventual winner Glen Mason at a tad after 4:15pm came through. Glen could hardly spit out the words as he reported his clock time in, the excitement in his voice as he relived the moment that his little hen skipped across the loft to enter as a clear winner of the $20,000 first prize. Reports continued to come in right upto and just including dark as 28 feathered warriors made it home on the day. The 2nd day the phone ran hot as birds flowed through to lofts right across the state of Victoria.
The Winner: Glens champion little hen was a latebred having only dropped the one flight. She was bred from Glen’s number 1 pair of Gabby Vandenabeele’s that had previously been responsible for most of his best performances of previous years. Both parents were bred by Adelaide stud master Jack Vanderlinden from his highly successful ‘Little Boy’ line. A full sister to Glen’s sister was placed in the Pigeon Punt in 2011, very impressive pair of birds.
Top Ten: Frank Camilleri flying 648km placed 2nd Open with a top effort, while Hop the Water regular Mick Portelli placed 3rd. Mick has flown the event 3 times now for 1st, 19th & now 3rd. Remarkable flying and Mick was also placed 10th Open in 2011. 4th was Vic Borg with one of his 5 birds on the day, followed by a further 5 on the second day. Vic was also placed 6th & 8th Open. 5th Open was Ray Mifsud from Melton following on from his top 10 finish in 2009. Pierre Anastasi & Son were right up with the leaders in 7th place with a young hen bred by Stawell fancier mark Walker, while Dave Hunter (another regular top performer) was 9th Open with a young cock bred by perennial top place getter Warren March, SA.
Printable Results sheet: <<click here>>
2009 Hop The Water Classic
The 2009 edition of the Hop The Water Classic was contested from Kangaroo Island, S.A. on Sunday the 13th September. 203 birds were basketed at the Central Highlands Pigeon Combine rooms and the Horsham Homing Club rooms on Friday the 11th September. Once basketing had been completed at Ballarat and the unit had left for Horsham, the 60 odd punters attending at the centre participated in the loft Calcutta, while enjoying each others company and contemplating the race day to follow. The Calcutta raised $1355, which gave an extra interest for many in the big race. The raffle was also well supported, prizes ncluding pink rings for next years event, a large box of fruit and vegies from Peaches fruit market, 2 entries into the 2010 Taree Invitation one loft race and Hop The Water merchandise.
Our brave little feathered athletes were released at 7:00am into a W/S/W breeze, with a fair amount of cloud cover. All but 4 warriors left the release point immediately, with the 4 loners heading off shortly after following the main group towards the mainland. Once the birds hit the mainland, the forecast was for N/W winds ensuring the winning pigeon were to make very good time.
I had only just loaded the basketing list onto the new website at www.htwc.com.au when the call came from Darren Davies reporting a bird clocked in Portland at 12:24. Just as this information was loaded onto the site, 2 birds dropped in here quickly followed by calls from other Ballarat lofts Ian Rowlands and Arthur Martin at 12:48 to 12:55. Rob Draper also of Ballarat was next to call in at 13:15. Then the calls came from Melton, Ray Misfud, John Camalleri, Dave Hunter, Marvic Farrugia all timing birds in from the leading mob. At 13:33 the call came in from eventual winner and first time competitor in the classic Michael Portelli flying the trip in 6 hours 33 minutes, travelling at 1672.81mpm for the 657k journey. Trough out the day calls came in from across Victoria, with the times loaded onto the website regularly. The new innovation was greatly received by punters Australia wide as they watched who had them when and if any of their own bred champions would feature in the result.
Overall: The outright winner was as mentioned Michael Portelli. His little late bred blue hen won the race by 35mpm. The winner had previously flown most points on the WPF program out to 350 miles. Her sisters had gained a 4th Fed and equal 5th Fed already in 2009, and all 6 off the pair are still in the loft. 2nd Open was won by Ballarat flyer Ian Rowlands, with a young cock bird bred by Warren March from S.A. Ian has had his best season racing in 2009, currently leading the combine points with 2 races remaining. Warren also bred 3rd place getter to the lofts of Nigel Jarvis in Ballarat. This young cock had previously gained 2nd club, 8th combine from Penarie, but had knocked his wing from his next race. His effort shows he must have recovered well. Arthur Martin, who has been Ballarat’s most consistent fancier in 2009 took out 4th Open with a Dave Gourlay bred hen. 5th Open was won by Nigel Jarvis with another S.A. bred bird from Ray Linkevic, who also bred 6th & 7th Open to the lofts of champion Melton fanciers R & S Misfud. 8th & 9th Open was achieved by the Melto combination of J & M Camilleri with 2 birds bred by them selves. This team have managed to take out some good positions in this event in all 3 years it has been contested. 10th Open was back to the loft of R & S Misfud, with yet another S.A. bred champ from Ed Lea. That made 6 of the top 10 open positions bred by S.A. fanciers. Top effort.
Sale 1 – 1st bird sold in the first sale in Ballarat home in the Open result was to the loft of Arthur Martin (4th Open) and bred by Dave Gourlay. 2nd place was bred and raced by J & M Camilleri (8th Open), followed by another Melton fancier Marvic Farrugia (12th Open) with a bird bred by Bendigo member Ken Raines. 4th section was won by R & R Armstrong (19th Open) with a bird bred by Steve Muscat, with 5th section taken out by Marvic Farrugia (21st Open) and bred by Portland fancier Pete Cutler.
Sale 2 – This sale section was the only closed section in 2009. Birds must have been flown to the lofts of Mt Gambier, Portland or Warrnambool to be eligible for the section prize pool. 1st place was won by Tim Robertson (33rd Open) and was bred by the late Bill Tucker. 2nd place was bred and flow by Bill Mountjoy (48th Open) of Warrnambool. These first 2 birds were the only ones home on the day in sale 2 section, with 3rd place being filled by Alan Smith (54th Open) with another bird bred by Dave Gourlay early on day 2. Mal Sartori (58th Open) won 4th section with a bird bred by Bendigo fancier Dave Cox. 5th section was not won, with the cash portion of $50.15 jackpotting to the same section in the 2010 event.
Sale 3 – Was the first section filled, with all 5 prize winners in the top 10 in the open result and all bred b S.A. fanciers. 1st & 2nd section was won to the loft of Ballarat fancier Nigel Jarvis with 2 S.A. bred birds from Warren March (3rd Open) and Ray Linkevic (5th Open). Ray also bred 3rd & 4th section (6th & 7th Open) with nest mate grizzles to the loft of Melton combo R & S Misfud, who also won 5th section with another S.A. bred bird from Ed Lea (10th Open).
Sale 4 – Proved to be a hard task to fill, with the only 2 timed in being during the middle of the second day and split by a very narrow margin. 1st place was won by Simon Grech (56th Open) in Melbourne with a Ballarat bred cock from Dave Gourlay who also bred 2nd section to the loft of Bendigo member Ronnie Whitford (57th Open). The remaining $187.05 jackpots to the Bendigo sale sections in 2010.
Sale 5 – Warren March from S.A. bred his second sction winner to the loft of top Ballarat flyer Ian Rowlands (2nd Open). 2nd section was flown by J & M Camelleri (11th Open) of Melton, purchased by Aaron McKay and bred by Greg Carter of Stawell. 3rd section was won by the Camelleri’s again with a Colac hen bred by new fancier Jon Warton (15th Open). Rob Draper (16th Open) took out 4th section with one of his own bred birds, and Melton fancier Vince Seguna (26th Open) did likewise winning 5th section.
Pink Ring Classic – Was won by Melton man Dave Hunter (13th Open) with a young cock in just his first race. 2nd was won by Melton champs R & S Misfud, with another Melton member Vince Seguna (26th Open) winning 3rd. 4th section was won to the Colac loft of David Walsh on behalf of the Colac Invitation club.
Black Ring Classic – In the under 550km section, Tim Robertson (32nd Open) of Portland narrowly beat Horsham’s first bird raced by Graham Elbourne (35th Open). In the 551km to 680km section, Open winner Michael Portelli added to his purse with a clear win. The 680km plus section jackpots to 2010.
Nest Pair – The first nest pair home were flown by R & S Misfud (6th & 7th Open), bred by Ray Linkevics S.A. and were sold at the 3rd sale (held in Bendigo). To win the nest pair prize, the pair must be sold at a sale as one lot. In 2010 we welcome Westpac as the new sponsors of the nest pair event adding another $200 to the prize to make it $700 1st place. The section is now called the Westpac Nest Pair Challenge.
Coloured Bird – In a new innovation to the classic race, the Bendigo Fed decided to run a coloured bird section in their first sale. The winner was Nigel Jarvis (5th Open) and Ray Linkevic, who also bred the next 2 birds in the section that just missed out on the prize.
Blind Auction – This year was won by J & M Camilleri, bred by Greg Carter and purchased by Aaron McKay (11th Open).
Blue Ribbon – was contested for in the Portland sale section, and was won by the sale section winner Tim Robertson (33rd Open) and bred by the late Bill Tucker of Horsham.
Gold Ribbon – held at in conjunction with sale 4 section had no birds timed in, although one did home just out of race time. The numbers of 5 birds that did contest the race will be placed in a bucket at the first sale and drawn for the sponsor prize donated by the All Seasons Quality Resort in Bendigo. The $500 prize jackpots to the 2010 All Seasons Quality Resort Gold Ribbon event.
Clacutta - The winning loft (M Portelli) was purchased by himself winning the 1st prize of $801. The 2nd loft (I Rowlands) was purchased by Aaron McKay winning $400.50, and the 3rd loft (N Jarvis) was purchased by R & R Armstong to win $133.50.
Good luck for the remainder of 2009 if you are still racing and we look forward to seeing you at the first sale in Bendigo on the 4th October. Presentation day is in Ballarat on the 22nd November. All the best.
Full 2009 results: Click Here
Full 2008 results: Click Here
Full 2007 results: Click Here