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ENGLISH TRANSLATION...

The Medpet Kouga Combine is a brand new club in South Africa that was started with the assistance of Medpet via a sponsorship.  The unique concept of this club is the brainchild of Henri Stiglingh, who felt that with rising transport costs, something needed to be done whereby fanciers could make use of a single truck to race, and bring down the racing cost per fancier. 
Henri explains it further below…

The Medpet Kouga Combine is made up of the following areas: Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, Kareedouw, Tsitsikamma and Patensi of the Port Elizabeth area, and originated because of intense investigation and the challenge of starting something new.  The aim of this initiative was to try and save costs for the pigeon fancier as well as to compete against approximately 15 000 pigeons every weekend.

It was a big job putting everything together. We also approached Medpet as part of the project, as they are already part of the Inter Provincial Racing from Port Nolloth.

We saw the opportunity to work together with the Garden Route Federation (Southern Cape) to get our pigeons on their truck.  The Organisation was full of initiative and was just as enthusiastic as we were.  They, in their turn, will transport the pigeons to the truck of the Northern Boland, so that we can compete with them in all the big racing competitions.  Pigeon fanciers compete against one another over a radius of about 800km.  It looks as if a future trend could be that all the smaller organizations/federations can opt to join the bigger ones for their transportation, thus saving costs.

Medpet Kouga Combine joined the Garden Route Organisation for different reasons.  The first was to see if and how the birds would break out of the pack to break away to the east, and the second was to see whether our pigeons still had the orientation ability to break out of such large packs and still be able to compete.  Many pigeons are lost during the year, and no one has been able to give a specific explanation for it.  Maybe the orientation factor is a reason for the big losses.

The Club is unique in the way that they do not compete for Overall points, but compete in Special Flights as in the German system.  We know that the Overall Points systems are sometimes the source of disputes and fights among club members because of loft position and it can sometimes even lead to the break up of a Club.  We try to specialize.  Nowhere in the world is the Overall Points system applied in the same way as in South Africa.

There are three legs:
The first 5 races can serve as practice flights and are only done on a club level.

1. One pigeon Scheme - the pigeon is nominated after 5 flights and he can compete as many times as you want for the rest of the season.  This pigeon races for good prize money and is the One Pigeon Champion.
    

2. After 5 races, you nominate 5 pigeons that will compete for 8 races in a row.  If any of your pigeons are lost or cannot compete for any reason in a week, then that pigeon is out of the races for the rest of the competition.  The remaining four pigeons can still complete the races.
   The pigeons compete as a team and after eight flights, the team points are added together to ascertain who the winner is.  The prize money here is also good.
    

3. After 5 flights, the third leg comes into operation, namely an open race between 10 pigeons.  Here you can have any ten pigeons compete and they are not in any specific team.  The prize money here is also good.
    

4. Then we also want to specialize with a Short distance, Middle distance and Long distance Champion.  These pigeons compete in the Ten Pigeon scheme.

The other advantage with this Club is that you only pay per pigeon.  If you only want to fly 3 pigeons, you only pay for three.  We also nominate three races where we will compete against the Garden route – just as an experiment to see how and where our pigeons will break away from the larger packs.

It should be an interesting year with a lot to learn.  We will also try to give feedback by the end of the year of our results and observations.

By Henri Stiglingh

ORIGINAL AFRIKAANS ARTICLE...

Medpet Kouga Combine bestaan uit die Port Elizabeth streek, naamlik Jeffreysbaai, Humansdorp, Kareedouw, Tsitsikamma en Patensi en het tot stand gekom as gevolg van intensiewe navorsing en die uitdaging om iets nuuts te begin.  Die doel met die stigting was om te probeer om kostes te bespaar vir die duiweboer, asook om te kan deelneem teen ±15 000 duiwe elke naweek.

Dit was nogal ‘n taak om die wiele aan die rol te sit.  Ons het ook vir Medpet genader as deel van ons projek aangesien hulle alreeds deel is van die Inter Provinsiale Wedvlug vanaf Port Nolloth.

Ons het die gaping gesien om hande te vat met die Tuinroete (Suid Kaap) om ons duiwe op hulle trok te kry.  Die Organisasie is vol inisiatief en was net so entoesiasties as ons.  Hulle vervoer weer die duiwe na die Noord Boland Trok, sodat ons almal saam kan deelneem aan al die groot wedvlugte.  Duiweboere kompeteer teen mekaar oor ‘n radius van ±800 km.  Dit lyk of dit die trant van die toekoms gaan wees dat alle kleiner organisasies sal aansluit by groter organisasies vir vervoer en daardeur meer kostes bespaar.

Die rede waarom die Medpet Kouga Combine by die Tuinroete aangesluit het, was om verskillende redes.  Die eerste was om te sien hoe die duiwe uit die pakke breek om heeltemal oos te breek en die tweede is om te sien of ons duiwe nog die nodige oriëntasievermoë het om wel uit sulke groot pakke te breek en nog steeds kompeterend te kan wees.  Daar is soveel verliese van duiwe jaarliks oor die land en niemand kon nog met sekerheid die rede daarvoor verskaf nie.  Miskien is oriëntasievermoë een van die redes vir groot verliese.

Die klub is uniek in die sin dat daar nie vir Algehele punte gevlieg gaan word nie, maar wel aan Spesiale wedvlugte gaan deelneem asook aan die Duitse sisteem in die ware sin van die word.  Ons weet dat Algehele Puntestelsels soms die oorsaak kan wees van groot dispute en bakleiery tussen lede as gevolg van hokposisie en soms kan dit ook lei tot die opbreek van ‘n Klub.  Ons probeer spesialiseer.  Nêrens in die wêreld word die Algehele Puntestelsel toegepas soos in Suid Afrika nie.

Daar is drie bene:

Die eerste 5 wedvlugte dien as oefenvlugte en word net op klubvlak gevlieg.

1. Een duif Skema – duif word na 5 wedvlugte genomineer en hy kan deelneem soveel keer as jy wil vir die res van die seisoen.  Hierdie duif vlieg vir goeie prysgeld en is dan die Een Duif Kampioen.
    

2. Na 5 wedvlugte nomineer jy 5 duiwe wat dan vir 8 wedvlugte agtermekaar gaan deelneem.  Indien een van jou duiwe verlore raak of vir een of ander rede een week nie deelneem nie, is die duif uit vir die res van die wedstryd, maar die ander vier kan nog steeds die wedvlugte voltooi. 
   Die duiwe ding mee as ‘n span en na agt wedvlugte word die Span se punte bymekaar getel om die wenner te bepaal.  Ook hier is goeie prysgeld ter sprake.
    

3. Na 5 wedvlugte kom die derde been ook in werking, naamlik ‘n Ope wedvlug tussen 10 duiwe.  Hier kan jy enige tien laat vlieg en is hulle nie in een spesifieke span nie.  Ook hier is goeie prysgeld.
    

4. Dan wil ons verder spesialiseer met ‘n Kort-, Middel- en ‘n Langpad Kampioen.  Hierdie duiwe neem deel in die Tien duif skema.

Die volgende voordeel in hierdie Klub is dat jy net per duif betaal.  As jy net 3 duiwe wil vlieg -  betaal jy net vir drie duiwe.  Verder word daar ook drie wedvlugte genomineer waar ons teen die Tuinroete gaan meeding -  bloot as ‘n eksperiment om te sien hoe en waar ons duiwe uit die groot pakke gaan wegbreek.

Dit behoort ‘n heel interessante jaar te wees met veel om te leer.  Ons sal dan ook poog om aan die einde van die jaar terugvoering te gee van die resultate en waarnemings.

Deur Henri Stiglingh