THE 2009 NBRC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FLY

Congratulations to Rodman Pasco and Wayne Longest

The first official NBRC National Championship Fly was completed in 2009, and like many of the NBRC competitions in the past, this one was unique in many ways. Not only was this the first NBRC National Championship Fly Competition, but flyers all across the United States, against all odds, entered a record number of 676 kits, surpassing the record set in 2008 with 635 kits entered. Congratulations to all the Regional Directors, whose efforts are directly responsible for this success. For the second year in a row, Region 9A under the leadership of Hugo (Spanky) Cuevas led all regions with the highest number of kits entered by a region, 43 kits, exceeding last year's total. Good work, Spanky! A total of 481 kits were entered in the 20-bird competition (71%) and a record number of 195 kits (29%) competed in the 11-bird venue. The 11-bird competition continues its significant growth as flyers find it easier to field 11-bird kits, to be scored based on individual performance. In the face of excessive pressure and losses from birds of prey, it has become more difficult, if not impossible in some regions, to fly the 20-bird kits together long enough in the fall of the year to develop the simultaneous performance required in the competition.

The competition continues to be a work in progress, as there are still a number of complaints from members about the problems getting scores posted on the NBRC website timely and accurately. NBRC members, on an increasing basis, consult the NBRC website, especially during the competition, in order to monitor the progress of scores from region to region and to check the individual scores of their colleagues. While this is a positive thing, it is imperative that the NBRC be more pro-active in providing accurate and timely information regarding its most important fly event. It is my hope that next year, the National Fly Director will be granted access to the website for the purpose of posting scores and schedules, both regional and final. This will reduce the number of transfers of information, each with potential glitches, between the Regional Directors, the Judges, the National Fly Director and the NBRC Webmaster.

We appreciate the continued phenomenal efforts of our regional judges who step up each year to assist with the competition. However, this year, several regions were left stranded by last-minute cancellations by well-meaning judges. All of the hard work of the Regional Directors in organizing the regional competition, as well as that of the flyers in the region in preparing their kits, was wasted in some regions, when they were forced to withdraw or regroup and reschedule as the result of a judge’s last-minute cancellation the week of the fly. I implore all of the roller men out there, who are considering taking on the responsibility of judging a region, that you not make a commitment to judge a region unless you are absolutely certain that work and family issues have been resolved first. Please give the RD the courtesy of letting him know in advance, if you might not be able to get off work, so that he can make appropriate back-up plans well in advance.

This year’s competition is also unique because the winners come from relatively new regions of flyers. I take particular pride in seeing the 20-bird Champions coming from Hawaii, because it was one of my first goals and successes as National Fly Director to bring the Hawaii region in to participate in the NBRC competition in 2005. Virginia was no surprise to me at all. Virginia, too, had petitioned the NBRC to become its own region just a few years ago. But after attending the local club fly hosted by the Virginia Roller Association on October 10th, it was easy to see that these roller men were well on their way, and I remarked to many roller men that I talked to afterwards, “Watch out for those Virginia boys. They definitely have the right stuff.” Dave Szabatura had also come to the same conclusion after he was invited to judge their regional competition this year.

The 2009 NBRC 11-bird National Champion is Wayne Longest of Newtown, Virginia. Wayne and his three sons, Scotty, Brian, and Donnie, are all members of the Virginia Roller Association and the NBRC, and all reside on a thirteen-acre tract of land in the beautiful Virginia countryside. They all breed and fly their family of rollers within sight of each other’s homes, in a neighborhood that they have nicknamed “Spin City”.

Wayne has been breeding and flying rollers off and on since he was ten years of age. Unable to get his sons interested in pigeons during their teenage years, Wayne had taken a hiatus from rollers until he discovered that one of them had picked up a couple pair of rollers to breed and fly. Wayne was eager to follow suit and in 2005, he bought five squeakers from Jerry Higgins. From these birds, Wayne raised two kits of rollers. In addition, he obtained a kit from a fellow club-member, Bubba Turner. Bubba’s family of rollers is known as his “Slate” family. As I understand it, Bubba created them from a cock from the James Turner family and a black self hen that he got from Wendall Carter of Greensboro, North Carolina. (The hen was one of Wendall’s own family of rollers that he had created from a Jaconette cock and a Roger Baker hen, which he has named his “Jake ‘n Bakes”.) Wayne flew out these three kits, two of the Higgins family and one of the Slate family, and selected the best birds for out crossing between the families. After working with them since 2005, flying and selecting the best, he has produced a family of rollers with frequency, depth, speed and quality, evidenced by his win in this year’s competition.

This year’s winning kit consisted primarily of ’08 birds; mixed cocks and hens. “The hens scored much better than the cocks though”, says Wayne, “and the judge was particularly impressed by the depth and speed of the performance of a kite hen.” Wayne does not go through any special preparation of his kit for competition day; which seems to be a repeating story that we hear from the winners of the National Championship. He feeds his birds Browns Developer, for those familiar with this particular feed company, and merely cuts the ration in half when he feeds them 24 hours before they are to be scored.

Unlike most previous winners of the NBRC competitions, Wayne was not blessed with ideal flying conditions on fly day. Gusty winds and a steady downpour, with temps in the upper sixties, greeted the judge and the spectators. They donated two raincoats to the judge, who huddled close to the overhang of the house for shelter when he could, so his eyes could stay as dry as possible in scoring the kit. Most folk watched from the shelter of the garage as Wayne decided to go ahead and kick them out, with little hope of them even flying the time, let alone scoring well. But fly the time they did, and bring home the gold they did. “I never dreamed I could win because of the weather and because the judge was so tight!” Wayne exclaimed. His pride in his birds and their accomplishment was apparent. What did the judge, Scott Campbell, have to say about Wayne’s birds? “ Wayne had the best bird of the fly….a solid 40-50 foot hammer. This is the bird that made the fly for him, along with a couple of other high quality birds.”

The 2009 NBRC 20-bird Champion is Rodman Pasco of Mai’li Point, Hawaii. Rod has been a member of the Hawaii Performing Roller Club since 1997. He started breeding and flying his family of rollers in 1994. They consist mainly of Dave Henderson’s family of rollers that were created from crossing OD Harris, Paul Bradford, Norm Reed and Arnold Jackson families of rollers according to Rod. About 4-5 months ago, Rod also picked up some rollers from Carlos Easley’s well-known family. In fact he flew two of the Easley birds that were only 4-5 months old, in his winning kit. After flying the Easley’s for two years, if they hold up, Rod intends to cross them into his existing family. He breeds out of only seven pair of birds that he flew out and selected from the air, and raises about 100 birds for himself each year, ultimately keeping about 50 to fly out. The others he gives to his friends. Most of his breeders flew in his 2005 World Cup team, and are predominantly recessive reds. In his family, he finds that the recessive reds are the most durable and the most reliable kit birds, a philosophy that seems to fly in the face of color-associated weaknesses that some fanciers believe to be inherent in recessive red rollers.

Rod says that what he likes best about the birds that he flies is their style and quality, and that they are strong on the wing. He usually has to fly in 25-30 mph winds and says that weak families of birds just do not hold up. Sooner or later the weaker rollers will come down early, landing in trees or wires.

He likes his birds to fly high and fly long, usually one to two hours, and controls their height and time by feeding them mainly Milo through the week, and on the weekends he feeds 50/50 Milo and chicken crumbles, which he likes for the vitamins and minerals they contain. He also likes the crumbles because of their digestibility, and has gotten away from feeding hard-to-digest peas very much. When training his young birds he does not tolerate out birds, no matter how well they are spinning, and says that he is looking for strong flyers that can handle the roll and shoot right back to the kit after every performance. Rod says that he produces very few roll downs, though he gets a few bumpers in their first year, that usually mature out of the bad habit. Generally, he expects about 10 ft. of depth before the first molt. After the molt is complete, and in their second year, he tends to see an increase in depth, mostly to around 15-20 ft. with the occasional 30-footer.

Rodman’s 2009 winning kit consisted of seven cocks and twelve hens. Most all were 2008 birds. Only three or four were 2009 birds, including the Easley’s. His training regimen consists of ten days of hard flying in strong winds feeding mainly Milo. Then they get two days of rest. Afterward, they are flown for five days in the wind, feeding them 50/50 Milo and chicken crumbles. On the last day of this segment (48 hours before competition) he feeds them a racing pigeon mix with a lot of peas in the morning. They are rested the last day before the fly and are not fed anymore. He also uses a vitamin mix in their water, and on the rest day, he darkens the loft to keep them quiet.

“I was really lucky with the weather on Fly Day”, says Rod. He had trained for the typical stiff winds, but was granted a calm day for his rollers to work in. He was a little concerned because he had planned for an early morning fly, but he didn’t get his birds out until 2:00 PM, so his birds had gone 1 1/2 days without feed. But his worries were not necessary. His birds flew at about 150-200 feet for 20 minutes. Soon after the scoring was complete, they skied out and stayed there for an hour! “Rodman’s kit was tuned just right; neither too strong or too weak. This team would pull in tight and then break with solid quality and depth on the breaks that were scored. This team also worked the entire time. It was a fine team of Birmingham Rollers,” says Scott. And what was Rod’s response to hearing what the judge had to say about his kit? “I really love my birds” was all he said.