The One Loft Final Race took place on Friday from Langholm (218 miles 1559 yards), the convoyer having had to move there due to unsuitable weather at St Boswells.

The provisional results are here.

Loft Manager Jeremy Davies said: “SAS Lofts’ pigeon, entered by Steven Handley from Tipton, West Midlands, raced in and trapped brilliantly to win first prize. Speaking to him, he is overwhelmed, and it could not happen to a nicer person. I would have liked a lot more on the day – last year we had 350 back in a hour after the first pigeon, with seven on the drop with a tail wind, but you get SE on the nose and the best pigeons of the day win.”

Steven told us: “Myself and my wife used to race in an excellently run club called Great Bridge Invitational up until a few years ago, but redundancy and then new work commitments meant we had to call it a day with club racing and focus more on the RPRA One Loft Racing.

“Our winning bird sire is bred by myself, a Walter Docx introduced to us through Frank Thomas and Tommy Lawley of West Bromwich. He won 1st Club, 2nd Section, 7th Open, Wolverhampton Fed, 5928 birds. Only raced as a baby.

“The dam was bred by my very good friend and top flyer Jeff Davies of Chirk. She has bred multiple first prize winners from her first nest, being from Jeff’s National winner.

“We would like to give a special thank you to Jeremy, his family, and all the team involved in making this – in our opinion – the best one loft race in the country.”

Steven is seen with his daughter Jennifer and granddaughter Jessica.