Medpet at the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race

 The Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race is always a huge occasion and an exciting affair, and the event this year was as big as ever.  Race day, Saturday February 2^nd, saw 2,866 pigeons liberated from Trompsberg at 06.00, to fly the 552km back to Sun City, where the first birds arrived 8 hours & 36 minutes later. 

As usual, Medpet was the medicine sponsor and had a stand near the main entrance to the superbowl.  This year the company took even more stock than previous years, and sold every last remaining unit.  The demand was incredible, and there is an ever-increasing interest in Medpet products from overseas fanciers, who “flocked” to the stand in great numbers.  With the non-English-speaking foreigners, the language barrier creates an interesting challenge for the Medpet staff, particularly when discussing technical issues relating to health and product attributes.

Patrons went for all the usual suspects such as Meditrich, Mediworm, Emtryl Soluble and Medimune.  But being the latest product, Intestum stood out as one that people were particularly keen to get their hands on, and even though it has only been launched relatively recently, the Medpet representatives in the stand were already receiving heaps of positive feedback on the product from people who had been using it.

In keeping with a big event, most fanciers will already be aware of the record price that was set this year in the post-race auction.  The 10^th finisher “Birdy” from German fanciers Sudhoff and Van Beers sold for a whopping R800,000 (a new world record) and the proud new owner is loft owner, Mark Kitchenbrand of Kitchenbrand’s Loft – Club 500.  Mark and his family are also astute businessmen, and are involved in office automation and a finance house, amongst other ventures.  The photograph below shows him and his wife Naomie receiving a congratulatory hamper of Medpet products.  Mark was delighted with the hamper because he makes regular and consistent use of Medpet products.  He is convinced of their effectiveness.  Besides, when you’ve just spent R800,000 on a bird, it’s always nice to get something that you value, for free!

 Kevin Winter, Medpet’s sole agent in the UK is also in the photograph, as he had the honour of handing over the valuable hamper.  Medpet were delighted that Kevin and his wife Lesley were able to come out to South Africa for the Million Dollar.  Kevin’s UK operation is growing from strength to strength.  He is highly regarded amongst fanciers in the UK for his technical knowledge, and his diagnostic and treatment skills.  In fact, Kevin has run his own laboratory and diagnostic centre as a business for the past 7 years.  This meant he was well-placed to observe the effect that medications from various companies were having on diseased birds.  Over time, he found that the Medpet products appeared to work better than any others, and this is what led him to approach Medpet to become a distributor of the products.

Sun City continues to be a meeting place, as well as a competing ground, for pigeon fanciers across the globe.  The MDPR’s iconic status and its slick organisation make it a magnet for people who are involved in the sport.