02/04/2025
14th McArthur National Race concluded; 14 pigeons clocked-in on time
Manila City, Philippines—A hard race could only describe the 14th McArthur National Race as humid air, cloudy skies and scattered rains combined with inclement weather resulted in what was considered a survival race as only nine birds from NCR, four from the North Sector and a solo flyer for the South Sector managed to clock on time, Sunday 30th March 2025.
Reminiscent of the first McArthur National Race of 2012 where only seven (7) birds clocked on time, the 14th McArthur saw only 14 birds from all three sectors making the 500 mpm speed cut-off.
NCR Sector’s Magic 9
First to clock is a blue check bird raced by Mark Esperas of the Esperas Brothers of Las Pinas City. Banded with an FPR ring and a McArthur ring ending in -3403, the fastest of the flock came swooping in at a speed of 666.302 mpm. The bird is a descendant of a Stephen Yang bird from Raffy Sinatin and Esperas’s own Lady Kuba line. A loft inspection made by the Racing Chairman Nelson Chua on March 30th and aired on his page (FB: Nelson Chua Pigeon Sport Page) confirmed the ownership and loft residency of the 14th McArthur National Race champion.
Third to clock but placing second after distance and speed computations is a blue bar c**k with a McArthur ring ending in -0750 of Peter Paul Antonio of WPFC. The young bird is of Drapa 509 x Fully Loaded line combination, a fortuitous combination of birds from Russel Baldago and Peter Paul Antonio himself. The winged athlete came in second at a speed of 596.548 mpm, closely followed by the third placer, a blue bar of Edwyn Chua of PHA, with ring ending at no.-4340 who swooped in at a speed of 595.406 mpm.
At fourth place is a KRPC banded, check patterned pigeon from Pasig City, clocking in at a speed of 580.231 mpm owned by Chit Sulayao. The bird, with McArthur ring no. ending in -0608 is a progeny on the dam side of Sulayao’s 2016 McArthur 11th placer “Palaspas”. He was followed by 5th placer Nelson Castro of PFC, whose check patterned hen with McArthur ring no. ending in -1070 clocked at a speed of 567.476 mpm.
To complete the roster at 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th place are: Joel Delos Reyes at 6th place with a blue bar pigeon with ring no. ending in -3269, followed by 7th placer, Quezon City’s Ramir Fajardo’s McArthur pigeon with ring no. ending in 6658. A first-time joiner, Fajardo’s blue bar pigeon of Anastacio “Jhun” Corpin origin was the fourth bird to come home, but had to clock all the way at the PHA’s headquarters in Sta. Mesa, Manila because of an error in texting format. At 8th place is a McArthur winner of the past two years, Ruben Ocampo of Navotas City whose BBCM banded pigeon, a light blue bar c**k with McArthur ring no. ending in -9909 gave him his third consecutive win. Finally, making the cut-off at a speed of 507.719 mpm is 9th placer Rodel Fernandez. The velvet T-check pigeon of with origin from the Bonakid Line, banded with an ARPCI and McArtrhur ring ending in no. -7621, and one of the seven entries entered by Fernandez, completed the roster of the NCR winners.
Four for the North and One for the South
The McArthur National Race North Sector was succeeded by fanciers from Bataan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga. BBC’s Gerlou Roxas (OceanaGold Loft) bird with a McArthur ring ending in no. -5155 clocked first among three other birds who made the cut-off. The velvet-colored hen with white flights come from a well-established line of Zaldy Garcia’s “Victor Lim” line on the dam side and of Kerby Chua’s Broken Wing x Grizzle 839 on the sire side. The three other winners are: Marlon P. Cruz (Bataan), Ian Glenn Cura (Tarlac) and Sai Santelices (Nueva Ecija); official announcement of winners for the North Sector will be done after loft inspection by the McArthur Racing Committee. (See update on ranking below)
McArthur South Sector championship, on the other hand, was won solely by a fancier from Calamba, Laguna. AIPRA’s Philip Jrell Dela Cruz, whose dark check patterned young hen banded with McArthur ring ending in no. -5144 proved to be well motivated to clock in time for the South Sector cut-off.
As of this writing, 13 out of 14 lofts have been inspected by the racing chairman and his committee—all 9 from NCR, one from the South Sector and three from the North Sector (Gerlou Roxas of Pampanga, Marlon Cruz of Bataan and Ian Glenn Cura of Tarlac). An official list of winners will be announced after all mandatory inspections have been made and the results deliberated by the McArthur National Race Committee.
The 14th McArthur National Race Peter Yap Cup was participated by 27 clubs including the Philippine Homing Pigeon Association, Inc. Loading to cut-off period was from 26-30 March 2025, with the release held at McArthur, Leyte at 6:35 AM of March 29, 2025. The McArthur National Race was first held on March 10-11, 2012 and was also known as the Peter Yap Cup in honor of the late PHA Chairman Peter Yap who envisioned a unifying race for all pigeon fancier club in the country. // Aileen van Amerongen for The Global Pigeon Fancier, with reports from Aaron Alday Claudio
Update as of 7:10pm, 02 April:
After loft and bird inspections by race chairman Nelson Chua, the North Sector winner rankings based on actual distance and speed are as follows:
1st- Marlon P Cruz (Bataan)
2nd- Gerlou Roxas (Pampanga)
3rd- Glenn Cura (Tarlac)
4th- Sai Santelices (Nueva Ecija)
As of 7pm, all winning lofts and birds have been inspected by racing chairman Nelson Chua with assistance of Uly Cruz.
