Race 5 Matjiesfontein 487km

Smith Fourie One Loft's Race 5 covered 487km from Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape to the loft's Golden Valley base in the Eastern Cape. A total of 179 pigeons were basketed across 32 competing fanciers.

Pigeons were liberated into cool, clear conditions at Matjiesfontein, with temperatures between 11°C and 14°C, early morning mist clearing ahead of release, and a gentle westerly breeze of 3 to 4 m/s providing a tailwind for the birds heading east. By the midpoint of the race, over the Central Karoo, temperatures had climbed to between 18°C and 20°C under mostly sunny skies, with light westerly to north-westerly cross-tailwinds holding steady and visibility high throughout the dry interior. Arrivals into Golden Valley came through mild afternoon conditions of 21°C to 23°C, under clear skies with occasional fair-weather cumulus, light and variable westerly wind, and no adverse weather at landing.

Top 10 Arrivals

JJJ's 'Liewe Heksie' claimed the win at 1301.96 m/min, leading Smith Fourie One Loft's Race 5 487km home. Gray Channon followed in 2nd, with Jackie + Paul claiming 3rd. Camelot Hokke's '229049' took 4th, and JJ. Botha. followed in 5th. Coenie Pieterse claimed 6th, with Bruce Lord following in 7th. Jackie + Paul returned in 8th and again in 9th, and Blou Bul Hokke completed the top 10 — the entire top 10 arriving within 2 minutes 50 seconds of the winner.

Velocity News Fancier of the Race

In Smith Fourie One Loft's Race 5 487km, 16 out of 32 competing fanciers qualified for this ranking by meeting the minimum requirement of basketing at least 4 pigeons.

Ranking is based on the percentage of a fancier's basketed pigeons placing within the top 5% of the race (the top 8 out of 179 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.

Gray Channon is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 16.67% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.

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Fancier of the Race

Race 5 · Smith Fourie One Loft · Liberation: Matjiesfontein · 487 km · 15.08.2026

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 8 of the 179 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	Gray Channon  🇿🇦	6	2	16.67%	1301.70 m/min
2	Camelot Hokke  🇿🇦	7	4	14.29%	1301.42 m/min
3	JJ. Botha.  🇿🇦	7	5	14.29%	1301.33 m/min
4	Jackie + Paul  🇿🇦	14	3, 8	14.29%	1298.10 m/min
5	JJJ  🇿🇦	11	1	9.09%	1301.96 m/min

Velocity News Fancier of the Race — 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 17 out of 179 pigeons. In Smith Fourie One Loft's Race 5 487km, 16 of 32 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals.

Jackie + Paul led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 21.43% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.

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The Top 10% Follow Up Ranking

Race 5 · Smith Fourie One Loft · Liberation: Matjiesfontein · 487 km · 15.08.2026

This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 17 of the 179 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	Jackie + Paul  🇿🇦	14	3, 8, 9	21.43%	1298.04 m/min
2	Gray Channon  🇿🇦	6	2	16.67%	1301.70 m/min
3	Austin Powers.  🇿🇦	12	15, 17	16.67%	1286.45 m/min
4	Camelot Hokke  🇿🇦	7	4	14.29%	1301.42 m/min
5	JJ. Botha.  🇿🇦	7	5	14.29%	1301.33 m/min
6	JJJ  🇿🇦	11	1	9.09%	1301.96 m/min
7	Jannie Lategan  🇿🇦	11	13	9.09%	1290.75 m/min
8	Team Phillips  🇿🇦	16	16	6.25%	1283.24 m/min

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

Ace Pigeon Ranking Week 5

Austin Powers. tops the Ace Pigeon Ranking with ZA-2025-KWUG-35 at 1407.6246 m/min, ahead of Jannie Lategan in 2nd and Team Phillips in 3rd with ZA-2025-OP-8354. Two fanciers placed multiple pigeons inside the top 10: Eddie Ferreira. with four — ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1732 (4th), ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1734 (7th), ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1726 (8th), and ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1739 (9th) — and Team Phillips with three — ZA-2025-OP-8354 (3rd), ZA-2025-DRPC-21 (6th), and ZA-2025-OP-6731 (10th).

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 Race 4 300km against Race 5 487km, Jannie Lategan's ZA-2025-LATEGAN-175 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 1 minute and 42.990 seconds behind the winner with a 19th-place finish at Race 4 300km and 13th at Race 5 487km. Coenie Pieterse's ZA-2025-OP-7021 follows closely at 2 minutes and 8.930 seconds (37th at Race 4 300km, 6th at Race 5 487km), while Eddie Ferreira.'s ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1732 completes the podium at 2 minutes and 51.500 seconds (15th at Race 4 300km, 21st at Race 5 487km).

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Pigeon of the Week · Smith Fourie One Loft

Two Race Comparison · Race 4 300km (01/08/2026) & Race 5 487km (15/08/2026)

Ranking date: 15/08/2026

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 Jannie Lategan South Africa

Avg +00:01:42.990

ZA-2025-LATEGAN-175

RACE 4 300KM · Pos 19 / 187 +00:00:11.150 1333.94 m/min

RACE 5 487KM · Pos 13 / 179 +00:03:14.830 1290.75 m/min

2 Coenie Pieterse South Africa

Avg +00:02:08.930

ZA-2025-OP-7021

RACE 4 300KM · Pos 37 / 187 +00:03:37.970 1313.80 m/min

RACE 5 487KM · Pos 6 / 179 +00:00:39.890 1299.65 m/min

3 Eddie Ferreira. South Africa

Avg +00:02:51.500

ZA-2026-GAMTOOS-1732

RACE 4 300KM · Pos 15 / 187 +00:00:08.790 1334.17 m/min

RACE 5 487KM · Pos 21 / 179 +00:05:34.210 1282.85 m/min

Velocity News Pigeon of the Week — velocitypigeonnews.com

Looking Ahead

JJJ's win at Race 5 487km sets the tone for Smith Fourie One Loft, while Jackie + Paul leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping the Follow Up Ranking. Gray Channon's Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance stood out just as clearly, backed up by a runner-up finish in the race itself. Austin Powers. leads the Ace Pigeon Ranking with ZA-2025-KWUG-35, while Jannie Lategan takes Pigeon of the Week honours for ZA-2025-LATEGAN-175's consistency across Race 4 300km and Race 5 487km. Whether Gray Channon can carry that momentum into the next race remains to be seen.

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