It was a perilous pink pigeon race from Narromine to Trangie on Monday, with winner Bill Lawry racing past a falcon that scattered his competitors.
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Bill Lawry was bought at auction at the weekend by Graham Tink, Neville Owen, Dean Williams and Bob Walsh as part of their annual syndicate.
Mr Owen, who raced pigeons himself for 14 years, said it was the second time in three years the group had picked a winner. Last year their pigeon came second.
Bill Lawry was picked for his alertness and his dark colour, Mr Owen said, as he believed hawks targeted the lighter colour birds.
A peregrine falcon did target the birds during the race, causing only two to cross the finish line within the first hour, while the others waited for the skies to be clear.
Organiser of the race Shane Dolton said more than $150,000 had been raised for the McGrath Foundation since he began the pink pigeon race, and surrounding events, eight years ago.
As well as the auction for the birds, money was also raised at the weekend from the Pink Pigeon 20/20 Cricket Match between the Narromine district and Nyngan, pink twilight bowls at Trangie and a three-person ambrose golf day at Narromine.
Between $13,000 and $14,000 was raised from the weekend, Mr Dolton said.
“It gets bigger and bigger every year. We played golf [on Sunday] at Narromine and it was 40 degrees at Narromine but we still had 79 golfers,” he said.
Mr Tink said he supported the pigeon race every year, as not only was it a bit of fun, it was for an excellent cause.
“I think nearly everyone has been connected or been associated with breast cancer somewhere along the way,” he said.
The idea all started with Glenn McGrath himself.
“Someone got around the traps and said ‘Glenn McGrath’s nickname was pigeon, he comes from Narromine, why don’t we and start an event?’ I knew we could race pigeons back from Narromine to Trangie and I knew our community would support it,” Mr Dolton said.
And despite the slower than expected time for the birds to return, Mr Dolton had confidence in his pigeons.