Hotspot 6 Noupoort 566km, Mountain Loft/Murray&Mills/C Oxley claimed the race win, while Hans de Noon topped the Follow Up Ranking and Jaco Fourie topped the Velocity News Fancier of the Race. Niekie Peters takes both Pigeon of the Week and the Ace Pigeon Ranking lead to round out the week.

Hotspot 6 Noupoort

Hotspot 6 Noupoort was flown from Noupoort, Northern Cape, over 566km, with 1,230 pigeons basketed by 243 competing fanciers.

Liberation began under clear Northern Cape skies, 5-9 degrees Celsius, with a gentle south-southwest breeze of 4-6 m/s giving ideal, fog-free visibility to orientate. By the midpoint near Bloemfontein around 11:00, skies stayed clear and temperatures reached 16-18 degrees, with a light 9-11 km/h west-southwest breeze aiding the birds without causing drift. At arrival, Heron Banks Golf Course, Sasolburg, saw a mild 21-22 degree peak, a soft 6-8 km/h west-southwest breeze.

Top 10 Arrivals

Mountain Loft/Murray&Mills/C Oxley claimed the win at 1340.60 m/min, leading Marlbank One Loft's Hotspot 6 Noupoort home. Niekie Peters followed in 2nd with 'Immaculate'. De Kruik Sindikaat claimed 3rd with 'Gpe Acurate', with Saipr close behind in 4th with 'Double 07'. Shahzad took 5th with 'Thesecretadvarsary', with Die Vrystaters following in 6th with 'Jaco Bekker'. Michael Burger came home in 7th, with Van Rooyen & Maritz in 8th with 'Bees'. Hans de Noon claimed 9th, and Andre Greyling completed the top 10 with 'Air Force' — the entire top 10 arriving within 8 minutes 9 seconds of the winner.

Velocity News Fancier of the Race

In Marlbank One Loft's Hotspot 6 Noupoort, 127 out of 243 competing fanciers qualified for this ranking by meeting the minimum requirement of basketing at least 4 pigeons.

Rankings are based on the percentage of a fancier's basketed pigeons placing within the top 5% of the race (the top 61 out of 1,230 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.

Jaco Fourie is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 37.50% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.

Please note: This log scrolls from left to right*

Fancier of the Race

Hotspot 6 Noupoort · Marlbank OLR Winter · Liberation: Noupoort · 566 km · 07.08.2026

Ranking is based on Efficiency Rate: the percentage of each fancier's own basketed pigeons that finished inside the top 5% of the race — position 61 of the 1230 pigeons basketed in this race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded. Ties are broken by average velocity across that fancier's top 5% finishes.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Efficiency Rate	Avg Speed
1	JACO FOURIE 🇿🇦	8	12, 16, 27	37.50%	1313.22 m/min
2	HANS DE NOON 🇿🇦	6	9, 13	33.33%	1322.43 m/min
3	AMPER IRISH 🇿🇦	6	18, 25	33.33%	1312.54 m/min
4	MOUNTAIN LOFT/MURRAY&MILLS/C OXLEY 🇬🇧	7	1, 44	28.57%	1321.36 m/min
5	CTS & WESPOEL HOKKE 🇿🇦	7	22, 54	28.57%	1306.63 m/min
6	SCHALK JONKER 🇿🇦	4	19	25.00%	1312.37 m/min
7	GREG ANDERSON 🇿🇦	4	36	25.00%	1304.37 m/min
8	CHRIS & JOHN 🇿🇦	4	47	25.00%	1301.89 m/min
9	JACO & BOSSIE 🇿🇦	4	49	25.00%	1301.69 m/min
10	SAM & JUDELS 🇿🇦	4	53	25.00%	1301.47 m/min

Velocity News Fancier of the Race — official ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

The Follow Up Ranking

The Follow Up Ranking measures fanciers with the highest percentage of their basketed birds finishing in the top 10% of the race, which means the leading 123 out of 1,230 pigeons. In Marlbank One Loft's Hotspot 6 Noupoort, 127 of 243 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals.

Hans de Noon led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 66.67% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.

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The Top 10% Follow Up Ranking

Hotspot 6 Noupoort · Marlbank OLR Winter · Liberation: Noupoort · 566 km · 07.08.2026

This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 123 of the 1230 pigeons basketed in this race — relative to how many pigeons they had participating. This metric is the Follow Up Rate, a measure of how many pigeons a fancier brought home in succession relative to their total pigeons in the race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded, and ties are broken by average velocity. This ranking does not decide Velocity News Fancier of the Race.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Follow Up Rate	Avg Speed
1	HANS DE NOON 🇿🇦	6	9, 13, 82, 101	66.67%	1309.40 m/min
2	GREG ANDERSON 🇿🇦	4	36, 73	50.00%	1300.86 m/min
3	CHRIS & JOHN 🇿🇦	4	47, 63	50.00%	1300.14 m/min
4	JACO & BOSSIE 🇿🇦	4	49, 90	50.00%	1299.28 m/min
5	CENTURION & RETRO LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	59, 123	50.00%	1297.57 m/min
6	JACQUES PARSONS 🇿🇦	11	20, 69, 88, 92, 111	45.45%	1299.53 m/min
7	CTS & WESPOEL HOKKE 🇿🇦	7	22, 54, 83	42.86%	1303.47 m/min
8	JACO FOURIE 🇿🇦	8	12, 16, 27	37.50%	1313.22 m/min
9	AMPER IRISH 🇿🇦	6	18, 25	33.33%	1312.54 m/min
10	MOUNTAIN LOFT/MURRAY&MILLS/C OXLEY 🇬🇧	7	1, 44	28.57%	1321.36 m/min

Velocity News Top 10% Follow Up Ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

Ace Pigeon Ranking

Niekie Peters tops the Ace Pigeon Ranking with 'Immaculate' at 1409.93 m/min, ahead of Hans de Noon in 2nd and Shahzad in 3rd with 'Thesecretadvarsary'. Three fanciers placed two pigeons inside the top 25: Hans de Noon (2nd and 19th), Jaco & Danie (10th and 14th), and Mountain Loft/Murray&Mills/C Oxley (6th and 22nd).

Pigeon of the Week

Velocity News introduced Pigeon of the Week to identify the best pigeons week by week. It is awarded to the pigeon with the smallest average margin behind the winner across two consecutive races.

Comparing Hotspot 5 Colesberg against Hotspot 6 Noupoort, NIEKIE PETERS's ZA-25-MAC-870 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 4 minutes and 46.180 seconds behind the winner with a 7th-place finish at Hotspot 5 Colesberg and 2nd at Hotspot 6 Noupoort. SHAHZAD's ZA-25-SHAZ-197 follows closely at 6 minutes and 14.195 seconds (40th at Hotspot 5 Colesberg, 5th at Hotspot 6 Noupoort), while MOUNTAIN LOFT/MURRAY&MILLS/C OXLEY's ZA-25-MOUN-231 completes the podium at 8 minutes and 56.250 seconds (160th at Hotspot 5 Colesberg, 1st at Hotspot 6 Noupoort).

Pigeon of the Week · Marlbank One Loft

Two Race Comparison · Hotspot 6 Noupoort 566km (07/08/2026) & Hotspot 5 Colesberg 515km (24/07/2026)

Ranking date: 09/08/2026

Ranking is based on Average Margin: the mean of a pigeon's time behind the race winner across two races. Smallest average margin ranks highest.

1 NIEKIE PETERS South Africa

Avg +00:04:46.180

ZA-25-MAC-870

Hotspot 6 Noupoort 566km · Pos 2 / 1230

+00:00:03.040

1340.4402 m/min

Hotspot 5 Colesberg 515km · Pos 7 / 1261

+00:09:29.320

1651.0335 m/min

2 SHAHZAD South Africa

Avg +00:06:14.195

ZA-25-SHAZ-197

Hotspot 6 Noupoort 566km · Pos 5 / 1230

+00:00:05.200

1340.3260 m/min

Hotspot 5 Colesberg 515km · Pos 40 / 1261

+00:12:23.190

1635.8364 m/min

3 MOUNTAIN LOFT/MURRAY&MILLS/C OXLEY England

Avg +00:08:56.250

ZA-25-MOUN-231

Hotspot 6 Noupoort 566km · Pos 1 / 1230

+00:00:00.000

1340.6011 m/min

Hotspot 5 Colesberg 515km · Pos 160 / 1261

+00:17:52.500

1607.8066 m/min

Velocity News Pigeon of the Week — velocitypigeonnews.com

Looking Ahead

Mountain Loft/Murray&Mills/C Oxley's win at Hotspot 6 Noupoort sets the tone for Marlbank One Loft, while Hans de Noon leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping the Follow Up Ranking. Jaco Fourie's Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance stood out. Niekie Peters carries the week on two fronts — leading the Ace Pigeon Ranking with 'Immaculate' and taking Pigeon of the Week honours for ZA-25-MAC-870's consistency across Hotspot 5 Colesberg and Hotspot 6 Noupoort. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into the next race remains to be seen.