126th International Federation

Results

CONVENTION & RACE

By: IF Public Relations  
      Grace Mehl

First place went to a little Blue Checker Hen, IF 06 Scholar 42, bred by Paul Walsh. The winner, IF 06 Scholar 42 was bred from a son of TORIN,

IF-05 Scholar 3554,  Elvis , who was bred for stock. TORIN has been an incredible breeding cock for Walsh. A multiple winner, TORIN is also Sire and Grandsire to multiple winners. TORIN was 3rd I.F. Hall of Fame winner 50-100 for 1996 for old birds.  

TORIN’s Son ,was 3rd in the 2003 NSBR Futurity and a sister was clocked in the money on the 2003 SNF Futurity by Ralph Leggio. Another sister was clocked by NJ Champion, Joe Zack in the QCH, 6^th position. A son, # 900 was 3rd in the GPF Fut., and 24th in the

Eastern Classic Fut. in 1998 for New Year’s loft. On the other side of the pedigree, the mother, 4289  Dixie is a daughter of 7400  a winning pigeon who is bred from IF-96-SCR-1590 (ALLIN) also a multiple winner. As a young bird ALLIN was a 3-time combine diploma winner and together on the drop with his brother, got an equal combine win. He won 11th Ace Pigeon Thoroughbred magazine for 1996 young birds, and also won 1st club 4th combine 300 miles as an old bird. One of ALLIN’s youngsters was clocked. 14th by www.highlowlofts.com Hi Low Loft in New Jersey, in the 1998 Eastern Classic Futurity and he has bred winners to 600 miles for Walsh  The mate to 7400 was 4045 a full sister to Walsh top breeding hen Orla.

Paul Walsh, winner of the 06 IF Convention race receiving trophy from Richard Smith, IF President

The 126th IF Convention and Race was held on Long Island, NY

Convention chairman Ralph Leggio,Val Matteucci, Richard Smith , and James Walker

and was a great success. This year’s Convention was hosted

jointly by the Islip Club and the Islip Terrace Club. The Islip Club

is a member of the Suffolk Nassau Combine and the Islip

Terrace Club is a member of the Long Island Combine. Hosting

the IF Convention is nothing new to the president of these clubs, who happens to be one

in the same, Ralph Leggio. When, at the last minute, there was a change in schedule and the IF asked for a volunteer to host the 2006 Convention, Ralph stepped

right up and volunteered to take it again. Getting a late start could have been a

problem, but it was overcome by good teamwork and lots of enthusiasm.

Held at the Courtyard by Marriott at Long Island Expressway exit 60, the

Convention was very well attended. The facility was superb as was the food. Centrally

located on Long Island, the Marriott provided a good jumping off

point for visiting lofts of the handlers and entertainment and

shopping for those so inclined. On the night of shipping for the big race, the place was packed. There were 400 birds shipped to the race, and many of the

breeders were able to attend to see their birds off. The birds all

looked great! The main room where the birds were was packed with people and crates of birds. Luckily, it had doors leading to the outside and people spilled over onto the sidewalk as well as out into the inside hall. Norma Leggio was manning the desk

in the hall, giving out sweatshirts and hats to each of the handlers. There was also other memorabilia on sale, and vendors were in the room across the hall, along with superb

display for the Chinese Auction made up of gifts and baskets made up of donated items. The ladies worked hard on putting all this together. Norma said “it wouldn’t have happened without the assistance of Eileen Swieczkowski, Margaret

Peterson, Julie Parada, and Linda Meehan. Thanks You!” On Race Day morning, the predictions were for light northwest winds and a clear sky. The birds were let up at Somerset Pennsylvania at 8:00 AM. While they were winging their way home, the rounds were made to visit local lofts. The tours started at Nick Romanelli’s “Whitey’s Loft”; then Neil Migliore’s two lofts, “A&M” and “Nol Rick”; on to Joe Politi’s loft of “Joe

and Fran”; next to the father and son loft of Joe and Joe Colondona’s “Japs Loft”; and finishing up at Eddie Martin’s home where he flies under the loft name of “Martin & Antonacci”. It was great to see so many well kept and beautiful lofts! A special

thank you to all for opening their lofts for the tours. After returning to the hotel, attendees split up and eagerly made their way to the handlers’ lofts where their own birds or

those of friends were homing. Out in Shirley, New York at Joe Colondona, and his son Joe Colondona’s loft (Japs Loft), there was quite a crowd. Japs loft is one of the “long enders” of the race, flying from a new loft for the first time this year. Japs Loft

was previously located in Bay Shore, NY and was frequently at the top of the sheet. Many were eager to see how they would fair at their new location on the long end at 331.959 miles. Shortly before 3:00, Joe (the son) was working his cell phone to

find out if any birds were in yet at the short end, when he heard that Ron Mariani (Circle Loft) had clocked a bird at 2:50, and a bird was also clocked at Nol Rick Loft at 2:55. Joe did some quick calculations and muttered that he needed to see a bird by

3:15 in order to win this race. As if on cue, at precisely 3:15, not one, but THREE birds dropped out of the sky and hit the board. Joe barely had a chance to throw the dropper! The two blue checks and one blue bar were all through the stalls and across

the antenna in good time like the well trained athletes that they are. Joe’s prediction of winning if he got the birds by 3:15 turned out to be correct and he took the first three places in the race.

 The second bird clocked in a fraction of a second behind the first, and this bird was also a Blue Checker Hen, AU 06 SSPF 507, bred by Damian Levangie of Braintree, MA. Damian Levangie is a name frequently seen at the top of the results sheets for this race, so this is no surprise. The third place bird was a Blue Bar Hen,AU 06 STRA 238, bred by the Catskill Boys,

and I am sure from their showing in this race we will be seeing more of them in the future. Fourth Place went to Nick Barone of Hill Top Loft at a distance of 329.754 who clocked a Blue Bar Hen, AU 06 TFC 967, bred by Thomas Shock. Fifth Place was

clocked by the Nol Rick Loft of Neil Migliore, a Blue Checker Cock, IF 06 LIN 555 bred by Bob Mazzarella. Sixth place went to John Leggio who clocked a Blue Checker Hen, IF 06 BHS 292, bred by Harry Steele. It was a great race! Saturday was the seminars, given by Ray Torres, Frank McLaughlin, Don Hart, and Jimmy “the Hawk” Bonelli.They were very informative and lots of notes were taken by the attendees. Following the

seminars, were the auctions. The first 25 race birds were auctioned

off and seeing them in person, the quality was obvious.

By Saturday night, everyone was ready to dance. The dinner

dance at the hotel was a big hit. There was a big local turnout

and it was nice to see everyone in something other than their

“loft” clothes. The dance floor was mobbed and the crowd only

sat down when it was time to listen to the numbers being

called for the door prizes. The variety was spectacular with his

and her watches, DVD players, gift baskets, but the highlight

was when Patti Matteucci won and she was all excited to get

up and collect her prize, to discover that it was a pigeon

training crate. She was less than enthusiastic as she tried to

think of how it would fit in with her living room décor. But, she

was a good sport and finally decided to donate it to Val in the

hopes of improving his winnings for next year!

Many thanks to everyone who made this year’s IF Convention a

success including ALL the members of the Islip and Islip Terrace Clubs.

Special thanks go to Jimmy Peterson, John Leggio, Ray Swieczkowski,

Cliff Baynon, Charlie Wind, Bob DeGoveia, George Meehan, Erik Hall,

and Tom and Lenny Costa, for all the many things they did to make

this all a success. Most of all, thanks for the support of all the people

who attended and sent birds to the race and the pre-Convention

auction to help make it a success.We hope you all had a grand time

and hope to see you next year in Washington, DC!

Joe Colondoa, JAPS Loft, 2006 winner JAPS Loft, 2006 winner  

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