ETS – The Rules
It was another busy Council meeting at Coventry last week. On Thursday afternoon Council met with 6 ETS companies. It was essential that any system approved by the Association met certain criteria, essentially that each system was compatible with another. Council did not want clubs to find that one marking or reading system could not work with another system. We had an excellent afternoon with no sales pitch but hard talk to confirm what we needed to know. The long and the short of it was that systems presented by Benzing, Bricon, TauRis, Tipes, Unikon and Victory were approved for use providing that the UniVers 1.7 protocol was used. This means that use of this protocol ensures that each system is compatible to be used with another. A system presented by Mega had not been field tested to date so this will take place over the coming weeks and should it prove acceptable then this system too will be available to be used from 1 July 2007. Therefore if you are considering purchasing an ETS you should confirm with the seller that it is UniVers 1.7 protocol compatible. The other key factor, after a lot of debate, was how many pads could be used. Council finally agreed on 3 entry pads.

The Rules agreed were as follows:
Rule 3d to read ‘the establishment of a uniform system of measurement for all flying routes, a uniform running allowance and the securing of uniform systems of timing.’
Rule 133(3) ‘In any advertisement of an open race the Organisation arranging the race must state the code number for the liberation site for the race and if there is provision for the use of ETS’.
Rule 201 Members must time-in their birds by means of a timing clock or electronic timing system (ETS) of a type approved by the Association Council. Etc etc

Then new rules under the heading
ELECTRONIC TIMING SYSTEMS
230 All Association members are allowed to time their birds electronically at all levels of competition with an RPRA approved electronic timing system, (ETS) providing the club/organization has the required equipment and the officials are competent and willing to use it.
231 No Association member can be compelled to us an electronic timing system.
232 It is the responsibility of the member to check that each organization he intends to compete with has the equipment needed to enable him to use his ETS.
233 The necessary hardware and software for the organisation’s administration of ETS must be held under lock and key at the organization or other approved premises, to be accessed by a minimum of two officials. The operation of the hardware and software is only permitted by authorized members who have been elected by the organisation.
234 Prior to racing all ETS clocks must be brought to the club and set with the ETS radio clock and struck off after 24 hours. In the case of members wishing to use their ETS elsewhere a certificate of worthiness will be issued by the officials of the testing organisation.
235 Electronic rings must be allocated to the ring numbers of the member’s pigeons before the start of old bird and young bird racing respectively. Allocation on marking nights will only be permitted due to a defect or loss of an electronic ring.
236 After each allocation a list must be printed in duplicate, each of which must be signed by an authorised person of the organization and countersigned by the member. One signed list is to be filed along with race entry documentation and the other handed to the member. The allocation data must be stored on a backup disk in case amendments become necessary during the season. Any organization to which the member is affiliated may demand to see the allocation list.
237 All electronic timers set with the ETS radio clock shall deemed to be correct with TIM.
238 All ETS race entry sheets and race arrival reports must be printed directly from the ETS printer and not via a PC printer. These must contain the competitor’s name, address, race and date. One copy must be retained by the organization and one copy given to the competitor. Both copies must be signed by an official of the organization and the competitor. No member is permitted to take part in the race marking/entry process of his own pigeons.
239 If a day pigeon is timed in races lasting more than one day, the ETS must be taken to a clock station for a progress reading/print out. If the ETS is required for further timings it will be struck off at a later date.
240 Should the data record of an ETS be deleted or become unusable between the pigeons entry to the loft and print out after the pigeons return for any reason, the entered pigeons must be eliminated from the result. Where there is a difference between the code number written into the ring during the marking and the code number stated at the return then the pigeon is to be eliminated from the result.
241 The antennae of the ETS must be fitted within the confines of the loft or trapping systems, not underneath external landing boards. Club officials may make random checks at any time. Contravention of this rule will result in disciplinary action under rule 70A.

Continental Racing and the Isolation Issue
Whilst no doubt the vast majority of fanciers are delighted that we have secured unrestricted distance continental racing I have received a few comments about the 7 day isolation period for pigeons racing from the continent. I have asked DEFRA for an answer to those questions of why, without any cases of AI apparent on the continent, is there a requirement for isolation. The response is as follows:

‘Information about the incubation period can be found in the Risk Assessment on the web the reasons for the seven day isolation period will be reflected in the Q&A pages on the DEFRA website.

The incubation period is the time interval from initial infection until the onset of clinical signs. This ranges from a minimum to a maximum depending on factors such as the species of bird, age, health status, infectious dose etc.

Based on current data the OIE maximum incubation period for notifiable avian influenza is 21 days. The average incubation is 3-5 days (with the maximum being up to 21 days) therefore we assess that a safe margin is 7 days during which birds should be isolated from other birds and regularly inspected for signs of disease. This condition aims to reduce the risk that birds that have been exposed to avian influenza viruses during the race, mix with and infect other birds before disease is detected. It is crucial that birds are regularly inspected in this period and any suspicious signs are reported. This measure reduces this risk but does not eliminate the risk; it makes the assumption that pigeons will show clinical signs of disease within the average incubation period. The fact that there has been no AI in wild birds in Western Europe is the reason we are permitting racing at all. As we have discussed, we still need to have some risk mitigation measures in view of the risk of undetected infection. Ministerial agreement that international racing could take place was only secured on the basis that there was an isolation period and we are not going to change this decision.’

This last sentence is pretty conclusive. One area that gives hope on this is the fact that the FCI are conducting research on AI, research in which we have a stake. Once the results of this is published then we may have an opportunity to go back to DEFRA to challenge the isolation factor. The FCI, through its European Committee liaising with the EU Government, will be in a good position to pressure the EU into understanding conclusively that pigeons are not only a very small risk but no risk of passing on the disease. Once we have this evidence it can only help our case against the isolation factor. In the meantime the isolation period means that you cannot race the same bird on 2 consecutive weekends from the continent. The continental licence is now available on the DEFRA website

2008 membership fees
I have asked to clarify that the membership fees for 2008 are as follows. For flying members renewing through their club it remains at £4.50. Individual members only will see their membership fees rise to £10 a year (£5 to Regions and £5 to the RPRA).

New RPRA Website and RPRA e mail addresses
The revamped RPRA website went live last Tuesday afternoon too late I am afraid to formally announce this in the fancy press. What is has meant is that several email addresses at the Reddings have also changed. I apologise in particular to the club secretaries that were trying to send distance requests through because this address has changed completely. The full list of addresses you need are as follows with the changes marked by *
General Manager – gm@rpra.org or peterbryant@rpra.org
General Manager’s secretary * dorothyhadley@rpra.org
Racing Support supervisor/continental racing lindasmith@rpra.org
Racing support UK racing and queries *donnarees@rpra.org
Distance requests * distances@rpra.org
Transfers/Rings supervisor gillpurser@rpra.org
Accounts manager suziemitten@rpra.org
Accounts queries * traceygriffin@rpra.org
Foreign rings/SOY trade stands karenjames@rpra.org
Stray reporting strays@rpra.org
The BHW and RPRA One Loft Race pages can now all be found on the new website. We have a little bit of work to do to bring the site up to speed so please bear with us while we get this done.

RPRA One Loft Race – Vacancy for assistant
After just over 2 years Paul Stocker, Jeremy’s very capable assistant at the Birtsmorton loft, is leaving for pastures new. We therefore have a vacancy for a loft assistant to continue the great work that Jeremy and Paul have done. It will be a minimum of 20 hours a week helping with the management of the pigeons and assisting in the training. Pay will be around £5.50 per hour. If you are interested in helping to continue the exceptional success of what is arguably the best one loft race in the country then please get in contact with either Jeremy Davies on 07739 148679 or phone me on 07977979336.

Peter Bryant
General Manager
The Royal Pigeon Racing Association