Defined as follows: -.
Loft-grouping is the Game played by modern professional Pigeon Fanciers who “Fly for Pay”. The Game is played using and then extending the velocity results of ordinary pigeon racing events.
Therefore, it is safe to say that, The Game, Loft-grouping, can be played by any loft featuring in a club velocity result, generated from four competing lofts with their own, separate geographical coordinates, Nationally and even Internationally.
Download the App and enter the required data of a competing loft extracted from any club result. (even international publications) https://odra.co.za/odra-loft-grouping-app/
Or use fictitious data of the necessary velocities to generate a result from a specified liberation size.
Advantages of the Game.
· Provincial and National colours are awarded by the organiser and sponsor of the Game; On the Day Racing Association, or better know as ODRA.
· With National participation as low as 200 lofts and an entry fee of R8500 ($ 570), prize money is R1M with a Car for a one-off hot-spot race. Payouts as high as R80K per weekend for ten consecutive weekends is up for grabs. The National Champion of 2022 will earn a whopping R50K. and the nine provincial winners will be awarded R8K each
· The tenth and final race of between 8 to 10 hours on the wing will carry an R100K prize for a “Golden Drop”© of <0,0350 KLPHF all birds home on the day. (Equal to Golf’s Hole-in-one) Guaranteed by a well know insurance underwriting company.
· Because results are based on the winning speed of each competitor’s club results (called “The Marker”), the fairness of the competition is echoed by the slogan, “ If one Pigeon in an aria could have achieved the winning performance, theoretically all competitors could have achieved the same result.”
· The Game emphasises the slogan of Odra, “In the interest of the Pigeon,” as well as that of The Profesional Pigeon Racing Guild “The Pigeon first not just the 1st Pigeon.”
· Due to the amount of prize money on offer, less fortunate lofts, with limited access to finances, but boasting real possibilities, will attract sponsors.
· The results of Loft-grouping, based on a loft’s performance in his club, enables any loft that has ever clocked a club winner to earn prize money. Then, all you need is a fast follow-up of three more birds.
· Lofts competing within less competitive clubs have an equal chance of winning prize money; however, it does not leave the strong clubs at a disadvantage, a fact demonstrated in the trials over the last five years of over 345 lofts measured per season throughout South Africa.
Examples of The Game Loft-grouping as applied in different racing conditions
Four Clubs, different weather, distances, dates and liberation sites
| Example | Club in Cape | Club in Gauteng | Club in Limpopo | Club in KZN |
| Club 1 | Club 2 | Club 3 | Club 4 | |
| Club Marker’s Net Flying Hours | 5,8943 | 5,8943 | 8,2754 | 10,2938 |
| Speed meters per minute | 1750,385 | 1402,103 | 1001,388 | 850,4876 |
| Distance | Distance | Distance | Distance | |
| Clubs fly from Different distances | 619,038Km | 495,865Km | 497,213Km | 525,285Km |
| Must clock first four birds within 0,035 KLPHF (35M) = Sec | 7.07316 | 8.8280 | 12.360873 | 14.55404 |
What does that mean in layman terms?
Four National Clubs, spread across the country, all flying more or less the same distance but in different weather conditions from other liberation points in various clubs, liberated from their own transport even on different dates:
– 1. Loft 1 The club’s markers distance is 619,038 Meter and with the wind from behind doing a velocity of 1750,385 meters per minute or 105 Kph and completing the race in 5 hours, 54 min and 39.48 sec. To achieve a Golden Drop” of 0,035 KLPHF, loft 1 must clock the four nominated birds in 7.07316 sec.
Compared to
-2. Loft 4 This club’s marker distance is 525,285 Meter and with a headwind, doing a velocity of only 850.4876 meters per minute or 51 Kph and completes the 525km race in 10 Hours 17 min 53.9 sec. To achieve an LG of 0,035 KLPHF, this loft must clock the four nominated birds in 14.55404 sec.
The difference between the two methods of measurement,i.e. Velocity vs Loft-grouping, is noticeable. With velocity, the above will be four competitions in four clubs, all liberated from the same spot on the same date and using the same transport. Therefore, it will be impossible to determine a National or even Provincial velocity winner with many variables.
However, Loft-grouping permits competitions from different liberation points and separate transport and dates, even different seasons. Such as: –
· Inter-loft, inter-club, inter-organisation, interprovincial and international for: –
- An organisation championship.
- A Provincial Championship.
- A National Championship.
- A world Championship
· Interclub, using the Loft-grouping average of the four best lofts in each club.
· Inter Organisation, using the Loft-grouping average of the four best Clubs in each organisation.
· Inter-Provincial using the Loft-grouping average of the four best Loft-grouping in each province.
· National using the Loft-grouping average of the four best provincial Loft-grouping nationally compared to the same performance of other International teams to declare a WORLD Champion Loft, Club, and Organisation, National team (‘Proteas”) with SA National colours.
See the results of 2019, 2018,2017 and 2016; they are there, although, in history, lofts in 2021 can still compete against them and try and improve on them.
HOWEVER, LOFT-GROUPING CALCULATIONS USE AND EXTEND VELOCITY RESULTS. SO, THEREFORE, THE LOFT-GROUPING GAME IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT USING NORMAL VELOCITY CALCULATIONS.
HENCE, IT BECOMES A SEPARATE “GAME”. THE SAME AS 7’S RUGBY AND 20 OVERS OR 1 DAY CRICKET. REMAINING SEPARATE “GAMES” WITH DIFFERENT RULES
It is now possible for all clubs and control bodies to offer R1m prize money on their annual racing calendars.
Contact the following management members of ODRA to enter your loft of champions.
Desire du Toit 0794062966 corespondence@cenfed.co.za
Barend Greyling 0674297977 greylingbf@gmail.com
Blackie Swart 0813401515 blackieswart@gmail.com
Lukas Oosthuizen 0823711911 lukas@duiweboer.com
Andre Reinders 0828220545 witpen2@gmail.com
Gert Hartzenberg 0828262885 gerth@wp.odra.co.za
Koot van der Walt 0832692492 koot@wp.odra.co.za
