“Last Man Standing” |
| by admin in Racing News on 07/08/2013 - 14:00:40 |
 I was given this article from Kevin Barry about a pigeon called Last Man Standing raced by Mr & Mrs A & B Phelan in the I S R F.This pigeon's performance tin such a short time on the channel is just amazing. I know some pigeons in the past have crossed the Irish Channel up to 20 times to Dublin but this pigeon's racing performances on the channel is one of the best I heard of in a long time. I hope you will enjoy reading this article as I did M Roche ISRF Pro "Last Man Standing" - photo K. Barry Channel racing into Dublin has always been a tough route for our birds, the majority of the trip whether it be from Talbenny in South Wales, Penzance in Cornwall or the toughest of all routes the Northern coast of France the fly consists of mainly water. Once in a while a special pigeon comes along for us all to wonder and admire. This Blue Cock named “Last Man Standing” was bred by Brian Killeen and raced by the husband and wife team Tony and Bernie Phelan both of the Sarsfield club.  Tony has been racing since 1966 first in partnership with brother Mick winning the very first race they entered, they then set out on their own when the lads got married and moved into their own houses, their claim to fame came while together however was winning the ISRF Open from Penzance in 1979 with an all pooler the first time a winning pigeon was pooled to the fiver, a lot of money then and Tony remembers it paid for the heating system in the house, obviously Bernie was at the helm even then.The partnership has gone on to win many many club races, five second Opens and numerous Federation firsts. To say Tony has a reputation for being unorthodox is an understatement, he never conforms to any norms of the modern day pigeon game, as you will see from this pigeon he lets the birds do the talking and no matter what, if he thinks the bird is right it will go racing, no room for pin up pigeons in this set up. He is also first in line if anything needs doing in or around the club, has held virtually every office in the club including President and Chairman and is still there every marking and result to lend a hand, if Carlsberg done pigeon men etc Back to the cock in question bred in 09 by Brian Killeen he went through his first couple of years as a steady if unexceptional pigeon but Tony seen something in him and he went to Talbenny and Penzance as a 2 year old, timed in outside the prizes and was ear marked for the channel the following year. As I said above you don’t get to be a 3 year old in Tonys loft unless you’re pulling your weight, so as the first Talbenny came around he was sent as a widowhood Cock to the first of what would become a marathon season for him. 5th club 67th Open is where he finished in what is always a tough test only 120 miles but practically all Irish Sea. The fed had put on 3 Penzance races in a row after this to make sure everyone had the chance to get as many birds ready as possible, this fella went to all three. The first one didn’t go exactly to plan and he came in 16th club 174th open but he was only warming up, the following week he was 2nd club 19th open, 7 days later he turned up 3rd club and 24th open. Four channel races on the bounce most of us would think he had done his turn and maybe give him a break and wait for the following year but not Tony “sure he’s only coming into form” was his mantra over the following few days before the marking for our old bird derby race from St. Malo in France. Off he went anyway and turned up on the day for 2nd club 35th open beaten by his good friend Pat Craven by no more than a couple of yards. For his performances through the year he was justly awarded the ISRF Channel bird of the year and the club and fed meritorious award. The day the bird was to be photographed for his fed award, Tony was working so he entrusted the job to our secretary. Tucker brought the bird out to Sandyhill and when the photographer asked what the name of the bird was, quick as a flash (as ever) he said “last man standing” due to Tonys habit of racing everything to its max.  On to this year and it didn’t start well for the cock, in a pre season skit race he over nighted from 50 miles and then six weeks later done the same in a 200 miler from Barleycove, not a great build up for the races to follow and when he went AWOL from Talbenny it looked like curtains for him, but Tony kept the faith and 8 days before basketing for France he showed up. Was it enough time to prepare him for such a challenging race, only one answer in Tonys head “sure he must be coming into form he made it home” Eight days in the loft and what turned out to be six in the basket the convoy was returned from France to the south coast of England for a lib in Portland. Remarkably he turned up for what was the only thing missing from his C.V. a red card, not only that but the only pigeon recorded in the club and 5th Open, with only 36 fed birds in race time. As I write this we are about to start marking for the last old bird race of the year a weather delayed rearranged date from Penzance and guess what he’s going on the trailer again. Brave or foolish it’s a fine line but I wont finish this article until after the race. We needn’t have worried the cock turned up to win his second channel race in a row and well up in the open again, another tough race with velocities down in the 1000s a truly remarkable performance by fancier and bird. When I spoke to Tony about the pigeon he wanted me to write the warts and all version of “last mans” exploits, not just the good days but also the bad ones so young fanciers, novices and the rest of us would see that even good pigeons can come back from adversity and win. He also asked me to thank Brian for breeding him this cock, he has in his own words “got some craic out of him”  It has been a while since I sat down to do a report but I just couldn’t let this one go and really enjoyed as did all our club members and friends waiting to see what this cock was going to do next. He is a bit of a star around the club now and no one will be surprised if there isn’t another chapter or two to be written next year, I know Tony wont leave him around to be looked at, that’s for sure. I would like to thank Tony and Bernie for the hospitality shown when I went to their lofts to do the photos, one thing about these pair you get what you see no Bull no pretending just good honest pigeon people with the sport at heart and in Tonys case a little bit of madness thrown in, sure we wouldn’t have him any other way. Kevin Barry |
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