Pigeons recreate historic race

Press, 1 May 1989, Page 6

Pigeons recreate historic race

About 250 Christchurch pigeons braved poor flying conditions on Saturday to take part in a race aimed to recreate a piece of history. The race, from Palmerston North to Christchurch, was sponsored by Reuters New Zealand, Ltd, to mark the communication link between the first use of carrier pigeons in 1850 and today.

The founder of the Reuter organisation, Baron Paul Julius Reuter, began using three carrier pigeons in 1850 to carry news between Aachen and Brussels.

Mr Graeme A’Court, the chair-

man of the Reuters Team Classic organising committee, said the Baron’s pigeons were able to make the journey in two hours; it took eight hours by train. The organisers of Saturday’s race tried to recreate history by using the three-pigeon team as its theme.

“Usually you can send as many as you like, but only the first one home counts,” said Mr A’Court. “In this race we took the best over-all time of all three. It was a unique race for New Zealand.”

The birds set off from Palmerston North at 9 a.m. in cloudy weather. They were

hampered by poor flying conditions over Wellington and the Cook Strait, when it began raining.

According to provisional results, the Reuter Team Classic Champion was Mr Doug O’Hare. His winning team arrived in Christchurch about 2.45 p.m., with a combined time of 16 hours and 42 minutes. The average speed of his pigeons was 1300 metres a minute. Mr O’Hare also won the award for the fastest team from Christchurch north.

Mr Peter McNoughton won the Christchurch south section. The average speed of his pigeons was

1298 metres a minute.

The Reuters Golden Pigeon Award for the single fastest bird was won by the Dwyer family.

Mr A’Court estimated that about a third of the birds released in Palmerston North did not arrive home. This was probably because of the bad weather, although some pigeons might also have been confused by other races being held in the North Island at the same time. Mr A’Court said the race was attended by Reuters’ New Zealand manager, Mr Mark Trasenster, and it seemed likely it would become an annual event.