Paddy & William McManus - Tops In Ahoghill for 2023

Paddy & William McManus of the Young & McManus & Sons partnership took the highest prize-winner award for the 2023 season.

They had another top season winning the Mid Antrim Combine three times all in old birds from 1st Roscrea, 1st Fermoy and 3rd Fermoy finishing 2nd Section on all three occasions.

Jimmy Smyth was runner up in the points list and best results included 1st MA Combine & 1st Section Bude, 2nd Section & 7th Open Penzance, 1st MA Combine, 1st Section & 3rd Open Kilbeggan and 2nd MA Combine & 6th Open Infc Penzance YB National.

Trevor Whyte finished 3rd in the prize list and best results were 4th Section Talbenny (1), 12th Section Talbenny (2), 3rd Section Bude, 4th Section Penzance and 3rd Section & 13th Open Penzance OB Classic. Best bird in the French OB National was timed by Balmer, Tom Young & Son to win 1st Mid Antrim Combine, 2nd Section B & 29th Open Nipa. Old hand William Livingstone had the best bird in the Infc Penzance Yearling national and young 8 year old Joshua Whyte was best in the club from Roscrea young birds 3rd MA Combine, 7th Section & 34th Open 16981 birds. Racing with the Mid Antrim Combine and Jimmy Smyth & Son won the Bryan Eagleson Memorial cup for best average Talbenny (1) & (2), Bude and Penzance and also won the New North cup for best average Bude & Talbenny YB National. Trevor Whyte won the Champions League, OB Knock out and the single bird Meritorious award for Talbenny (2) & Penzance and Balmer and Tom Young & Sons won the McIlhagga Cup for 1st Mid Antrim Combine from the NIPA French OB National.

Trevor Whyte also won the RPRA Section B meritorious award for best single bird performances from 2nd Talbenny & Penzance.

Top points list - Young & McManus & Sons 190, Jimmy Smyth & Son 148, Trevor Whyte 147.

Old Bird Winners 2023

Tullamore - Young & McManus & Sons velo 1753, 3rd MAC 46/1311, 6th Section 77/2274 & 14th Open 533/14849

1st Roscrea - Young & McManus & Sons 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th velo 1361. 1st, 11th, 13th & 17th MAC 51/1445, 2nd, 31st, 34th & 39th Section 86/2486

2nd Roscrea - Jimmy Smyth & Son 1st & 2nd velo 1453, 4th & 5th MAC 62/1875, 10th & 11th Section 102/3275

1st Fermoy - Young & McManus & Sons 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th velo 1934, 1st, 4th, 6th & 9th MAC 53/1472, 2nd, 11th, 13th, 19th, 30th, 31st, 38th & 46th Section 98/3231, 31st, 96th, 102nd & 126th etc Open 741/22431

2nd Fermoy - Young & McManus & Sons velo 1610, 3rd MAC 60/1686, 11th Section 109/3551

Skibbereen OB Inland National - Trevor Whyte velo 1325, 11th MAC 36/279 & 15th Section 56/424 267th Open 431/4180. Young & McManus & Sons 23rd Section

Pilmore Beach - Young & McManus & Sons 1st, 2nd & 3rd velo 1183, 2nd MAC 40/681 & 8th Section 82/1931

1st Talbenny - Trevor Whyte velo 1380, 2nd MAC 50/806, 4th Section 90/1404, 37th Open 10655 birds

2nd Talbenny - Trevor Whyte velo 1356, 8th MAC 52/721 & 12th Section 88/1257

3rd Fermoy - Young & McManus & Sons velo 1393, 1st, 3rd, 4th & 8th MAC 41/535, 2nd, 7th, 8th & 17th Section 94/1540

Bude - Jimmy Smyth & Son velo 1247, 1st MAC 32/278, 1st Section 65/665 & 21st Open 472/5452. Trevor Whyte 2nd MAC, 3rd Section & 42nd Open, Young & McManus & Sons 3rd MAC, 5th Section & 50th Open Nipa.

INFC Penzance Yearling National - William Livingstone 662

Fermoy Yearling National - Young & McManus & Sons velo 1490, 11th MAC 22/140

4th Fermoy - Trevor Whyte velo 1381, 2nd MAC 30/315 & 7th Section 47/693

Penzance - Jimmy Smyth & Son velo 1340, 2nd MAC 47/373, 2nd Section 77/733, 7th Open 464/5019 Trevor Whyte 4th Section & 25th Open

Penzance Classic - Trevor Whyte velo 1302, 3rd MAC, 3rd Section 43/240 & 13th Open 269/1905, Young & McManus & Sons 15th Section & 92nd Open

St Malo OB National - Balmer, Tom Young & Son velo 627, 1st MA Combine, 2nd Section 51/179 & 29th Open 353/1309

INFC St Malo Friendship National - Jimmy Smyth & Son velo 1099, 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th MA Combine

Young Bird Winners 2023

1st Kilbeggan - Jimmy Smyth & Son 1st & 2nd velo 1148

2nd Kilbeggan - Jimmy Smyth & Son velo 1991, 1st MAC 44/1341 & 1st Section 76/2603 3rd Open 414/14079 Young & McManus & Sons 3rd MAC, 5th Section & 11th Open

Tullamore - Young & McManus & Sons velo 1411, 7th MAC 52/1276 & 36th Section 83/2395

1st Roscrea - Jimmy Smyth & Son 1st & 2nd velo 2031, 5th MAC 43/1204, 12th Section 78/2350 & 54th Open 533/17805

2nd Roscrea - Joshua Whyte velo 2062, 3rd MAC 46/1230, 7th Section 66/1997 & 34th Open 533/16981

Fermoy - Trevor Whyte velo 1151

Nipa Dale YB National - Jimmy Smyth & Son 1st, 2nd & 3rd velo 1325, 11th MAC, 97th & 113th Open 351/2875.

3rd Roscrea - Trevor Whyte 1st & 2nd velo 1577, 8th & 9th MAC 32/586 & 24th & 26th Section 53/1133

INFC Penzance YB National - Jimmy Smyth & Son 1332, 2nd MA Combine, 6th North Section & 6th Open 284/1950 Balmer, Tom Young & Son 10th MAC & 103rd Open

2nd Fermoy - Trevor Whyte velo 1522, 7th MAC 32/648 & 20th Section 53/1170

Nipa Skibbereen YB National - Jimmy Smyth & Son velo 936, 11th MAC 28/241, 103th Open 266/2633. Mervyn Eagleson Mid Antrim PO.

Annual meeting for local members

The AGM for the local Mid Antrim Combine will take place as usual in the middle of March (Rule 5), venue is the Ballymena & District HPS Clubrooms on Fountain Place and the date Wednesday 13th March at 8.00pm.

Only club delegates will be entitled to vote, two from each member club. In various forms this local competition has been going for well over 40 years with first result published in 1978 for 1st Arklow, set up initially to give promotion and publicity to top performances registered in the Ballymena and surrounding Village areas.

This latest meeting will confirm the racing boundary and proposals have been made to introduce some new competition with Old Bird Inland Points, Old Bird Cross Channel Points and that they issue small diplomas in respect of various yearly cups and awards. To cover the costs, they will discuss some form of funding and many thanks to President Danny Dixon who has covered the production of race winning diplomas for the last number of years. Some cups and trophies still need returned to base, they do need that done.

All offices will be declared vacant at present the team is President Danny Dixon, Chairman Robin Service, Secretary Willie Reynolds and Press Officer Mervyn Eagleson. Any resignations are required before the AGM and Resolutions to be put to the meeting should be sent to Willie Reynolds.

Winners Galore in the Mid Antrim Combine: The race winners are presented with a winning diploma, only one per loft regardless of number of 1sts. Danny Dixon had 8 x 1sts, Young McManus & Sons (Ahoghill) and K & K Kernohan & Sons (Ballymena) had 3 x 1sts each. M Graham (Ballymena), H Cubitt (Rasharkin), A Darragh (Cullybackey), G Gibson (Cullybackey), J Smyth & Son (Ahoghill), J Eagleson & Sons (Ballymena), and S Johnston & Son (Ballymena) had 2 x 1sts each.

INFC Annual General Meeting

The 72nd AGM will be held in the Lagan Valley Leisure Plex, Lisburn Leisure Park, Governors Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim. BT28 1LP on Saturday 2nd March 2024 at 2.00pm.

Agenda:

1) Apologies

2) Minutes of the AGM held in 2023

3) Secretary’s Report for 2023

4) Convoyer’s Race Reports 2023

5) Passing of Accounts for 2022 (These accounts are in the 2023 race entry form booklet)

6) Election of Officers for 2024

Proposed race programme for 2024- Skibbereen Old Bird Nat Tuesday 28th May 2024 (Race mark Monday 27th May), Penzance Yearling Nat Wednesday 12th June 2024 (Race mark Monday 10th June), St Allousetre Kings Cup Grand Nat Saturday 29th June 2024 (Race mark Wednesday 26th Jun), PlougastelDaoulas/St Malo Friendship Nat Friday or Saturday 5th or 6th July 2024 (Race mark Wednesday 3rd July), Penzance Young Bird Grand Nat Wednesday 4th September 2024 (Race mark Monday 2nd September), Skibbereen Young Bird Nat Saturday 21st September 2024 (Race mark Thursday 19th September).

*Kings Cup race date to be confirmed. *Friendship Nat date due to shipping.

Accounts 2022 – Queries in respect of these Accounts should be in the Secretary’s hands, in writing or by e-mail, at least three days before the AGM. Only queries in writing or by e-mail will be considered at the AGM.

Please note Annual Subscriptions for 2024. Existing member £30 or euro’s 37.50 payable through your club. New member £30.00 or euro’s 37.50 payable through your club. Any individual member paying direct £40.00 or euro’s 50.00. Any new Individual members paying direct £40.00 or euro’s 50.00. The closing date for joining is 12th April 2024. The Single Bird Challenge for Kings Cup 2024 entry is £10.00 or euro’s 12.50. Closing date is 17th March 2024. Entry Forms can be downloaded from the INFC website.

The Management Committee have decided that no notices for the meeting will be posted in 2024 due to the current situation with the postal delivery service.

NOTE – At the recent AGM of the RPRA it was decided to increase the member fee to £35.00 which is due for this coming season. It’s a massive increase of £18.00 per member. Young fancier fees remain as they were and the £2.00 insurance fee has been dropped.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​