We have decided to host the race again for 2222 (our 15th Year). Details to follow at the end of this message and in the coming days. We will be returning to the east course over the High Sierras for the 2022 season.
The final race of the 2021 series was flown over a week ago on 11/29 from 305 Miles. Release point was at 3700' elevation off Pine Ridge Route at a scenic overlook viewing Quail lake and the Grapevine/Tehachapi mountains. I arrived there about 80 minutes before the release and watered the birds while watching the sun come up. Conditions at release were beautiful with clear skies, light winds but fairly warm at 60 degrees because of an inversion. Very unusual to have a temperature of 60 degrees in the mountains that early in the morning for late November.
I released the birds at 7:20 and they took off fairly well, initially heading towards the lower section of mountains like I wanted them to. Although last I saw them they were veering right towards the bigger mountains but still looked like they knew what they were doing. The mountains they had to climb about 10 Miles out ranged anywhere from 4800' to 6200' range. The area they were heading for was around 5200-5500' so they were going to have to do some more climbing. Fog was going to be much less of an issue this race with just some patchy fog along HWY 99 about 100-150 miles out from the release point. What was more of an issue than anticipated was smog (poor air quality) and I believe it probably played a role in the race not going as well as we had hoped. Driving back on the south side and through the Grapevine the skies were clear and blue. As soon as I started dropping down the north side of the Grapevine overlooking Arvin and Bakersfield, the entire sky was a dirty haze/smog. It was like this for the next 150 Miles or so driving home with AQI ratings in the 130-160 range from Bakersfield all the way north of Fresno. Really not much different than fire season in terms of air quality. The further east or west into the foothills and mountains the skies were much cleaner.
The valley has had so much inversion and so little wind over the last few weeks that the air quality has been really poor. Same conditions causing the fog.....high pressure, inversion, and no wind. I suspect when the birds came over the mountains they saw the smog and then veered towards the east into the mountains to avoid it. That means they have to fly more miles and as we saw with the last two races when they have to fly a long time through the 2000-3500' range they break up more. The last 100 miles or so along the freeways the air quality was better. Back at the loft conditions were beautiful with clear blue skies and about 70 degrees although it was quite warm in the bright sun. The birds did have a light headwind the last 100 Miles or so. I only made two quick stops driving home and ended up getting back to the loft about an hour before the birds actually arrived. We had about 15 guests over for lunch and to view the birds coming in.
I figured the birds would be in the mid to upper 1300 YPM range if they came well. Once 2:00 PM came by and still no birds we were starting to get concerned as they really should have been there. Fortunately 10 minutes later at 2:10 PM a drop of 3 birds finally arrived from the south (appears they came online). Clocking in 1st Place at a speed of 1308 YPM was 1833-AA from R & D Racing (Rick Broere & Dale Zehr). Congratulations to Rick & Dale. This pigeon was also Equal 1st (2nd Place) on Race 3 and 30th Place just 3 minutes behind on Race 1. Unfortunately it was 5 hours late (as a lot of birds were) on Race 2 which killed it's chances in average speed. It did great though in 3 of 4 Races especially the last two. Clearly one of the best pigeons in the series. 2nd in the drop went to 9206-JEDD from BirdHigh Ranch (Fred & Barbara Daskoski). This pigeon flew fairly well the entire series winning 9th Overall Ace Pigeon after saving it's best performance for last.
Finally the 3rd bird on the 1st Drop was 2149-FLTW from Fleet Washington (Hong Pan) which was already leading Average Speed by 7 Minutes going into the final race. 2149 ended up winning 1st Overall Ace Pigeon (Average Speed) by 38+ Minutes! A tremendous pigeon that did great in all 4 races and was Equal 1st on Race 3 as well. Usually once a final race slows down and becomes tough.......it's very rare for the bird leading average speed to finish on the first drop (if it's a small drop). 2149 managed to persevere and finish at the top every race regardless of distance or conditions. Congratulations to Fleet Washington for breeding 2149 that was obviously the very best pigeon in the series. Fleet Washington is no stranger to success in the Gold Country Challenge as he has previously won multiple 1st and Equal 1sts including the final race and won 1st Overall Ace Pigeon in 2018.
The first 3 birds looked pretty good and came right down and trapped well. Just 1 minute later the second drop of 4 birds arrived with pigeons from Kereru Ware (Tom Bishop), RC Manaois, Kelly Fly, and Okie Shuffle (Wayne Spencer & Merl Emerson) on this drop. The first three also ended up winning 10th, 2nd, and 6th respectively in Overall Ace Pigeon. More great birds that were already doing well and used the final to move up the standings.
A few minutes later 289-APC arrived alone for the 3rd drop and she was pretty tired. The first of a handful of birds we saw with hanging wings. As mentioned, the sun was very bright and just a bit warm. 289 would end up winning 5th Overall Average Speed & 3rd Nominated Point Bird. There was an 8 minute gap before another 3 bird drop arrived with another APC bird #296 that would win 3rd Average Speed & 2nd Nominated Point Bird. APC Loft (George & Jennifer Rankin) have had great success over the years in our race especially on the final race. Also on the 4th drop was #1023 a Grizzle from Nanez Family Loft that came on strong the last two races and won the WTA Category as well as the first in the 10-1 categories on the final. Bo Banat's #2152 was also on this 4th drop. Same hen that won 1st Place on Race 3, 1st Place on the 104 Mile Activation, and 2nd Place (EQ 1st) on Race 1. Another outstanding pigeon that just had one bad race (Race 2).
As you can see in the first four drops there was clearly a theme of many of the top pigeons throughout the series scoring once again. That's one thing I've been pleased with over the years in that compared to many of the OLR's, we generally have a decent percentage of birds that flew well in multiple races scoring on the final as well. I prefer that to the other scenario where some random "one shot wonder" wins the final after never doing anything the entire series. I've won money with both types of birds on finals myself but I'll always put more confidence in the pigeon that flew well in multiple races.
There was a several minute gap again with the 5th drop arriving 20 Minutes after the first drop. Apparently Kereru Ware, RC Manaois, and K FLY birds like to fly together once again just as with the 2nd drop, a bird from each of those lofts arrived together to make up the5th drop. After this drop the returns really started to slow down for a while with mostly 1's and 2's arriving. Most of the birds I saw arriving were from online SSE or SE but I also saw some arrive from due east. The biggest drop of the day was 6 birds at 3:31 PM. I think it's likely many of the birds got too deep into the mountains again (likely early on) which broke them up.
We ended up with 40% home on the day which isn't very good but not terrible either considering the slower speeds and how short the days are in late November. I was hoping for a bigger drop early on and well over 50% home on the day. Not my preferred type of race but it certainly could have been worse. The trend for 2021 was all of the California races (except AGN) having bad finals with a low percentage of day birds and returns. Percentage wise in terms of day birds and total returns we actually had the second best final of any California OLR.
Returns were good and steady for the first few hours the next morning but for whatever reason just stopped abruptly at 11 AM on day 2 with only two birds arriving the rest of the day. We did get a few more back each day on Day 3&4. In total 69.5% of the birds sent to the Final Race made it home. Literally one bird shy of a true 70%. We've had much better finals over the years but all things considering 70% isn't bad for a final at 1308 YPM.
We mailed several out of state birds back yesterday along with their prize checks. Shipping fees were deducted from winnings. We also mailed 5 boxes of California birds out yesterday (Tuesday 12/7). We ran out of boxes but I have more coming at the end of this week. We will finish shipments early next week. If you want your birds back please let me know. I can quote you an actual shipping rate as if you are within California it's cheaper. Anything not claimed within the next week or so will be given to new flyers. If you have not sent a W-9 yet please do so although I believe we have just about all of them.
We are one of the relatively few OLR races to actually post full accounting breakdowns of not only all the prizes and entry fees taken but also who won what prizes with every dollar accounted for. It's troubling that many races won't tell you exactly how many paid entries they had.
Congratulations to all of the winners. There are 100+ tough pigeons still here that survived a season with a lot of adversity from all of the fires/smoke, a 30 Mile Smash toss and then a couple of difficult races complicated by fog, poor air quality and having to fly from deeper within the mountains than anticipated. Not all of the pigeons still here had great race records at the end but the one thing they all have in common is exceptional durability.
As mentioned at the beginning of this update, we have decided to host the Gold Country Challenge once again for 2022. This will be our 15th year. I (Matt) will be taking an even more active role in the race next year to help Jon with the day-to-day activities of the birds and ease some of his workload with them.
We will be going back to the east course (flying over the High Sierra mountains) again next year. Whatever advantages the south course had are being offset by the extreme fire seasons we've had in Northern California the last couple of years. The south course really starts to deteriorate for racing once you get into November because of all the fog and poor air quality in the valley. The east course you can fly all through November with generally little fog and much cleaner air. The east course does have more trouble spots for training such as the infamous Mount Rose but as you can see in the archives the races themselves always go really well and we had great returns every single year on the final race from 334 Miles.
2022 will feature 5 Races with a 334 Mile Final from Deeth, NV. 5 races provided we are able to start relatively on time in October. If smoke becomes a huge issue again to where we can't start until November we will reduce to 4 Races but keep the 334 Mile final the same. Activation toss from Fernley, NV about 104 Miles.
Race 1 - 137 Miles
Race 2 - 165 Miles
Race 3 - 212 Miles
Race 4 - 267 Miles
Race 5 - 334 Miles (Deeth, NV)
Not set in stone yet but Perch Fees will likely be $120 Each or 6 Birds for $600. Essentially if you enter 5 birds the 6th will be free. We will start accepting entries in mid February. Entry Fees will be raised a little to $275. We are raising the entry fee slightly so that I can integrate the special point system into the regular prizes for all the birds. We will run both Average Speed & Points separately as there are generally some differences within the Top-10 of each. Too many great birds that have 1 bad race in the first or second race that dominate at the end are never able to make a comeback in average speed but they can in points. So next year we will run both and breeders will be able to compare.
Here are the Point Standings for this year 2021 had all the birds been nominated for the special point system:
Thank you to everyone who supported the Gold Country Challenge in 2021 and over the years. We hope to see you back again in 2022 along with some new breeders.
- Matt Hans