Are You Up To The Challenge

Puerto Rico International One Loft Race

Are you up to the Challenge?

The snow had fallen thick outside, and the temperature dips lower as the evening wanes, I found myself sitting in front of the keyboard, bundled in my thick robe, trying desperately to stave off the cold. The long winter nights, give way to gray overcast days, 20 degrees is considered a warm day and I long for summer and sunshine. It was the weather that drew us to the Puerto Rico International One Loft Race. The promise of sunshine and sandy beaches had us dreaming of a vacation that would include a pigeon race.

We came upon the Puerto Rico International One Loft Race on social media. Curious and intrigued we reached out, after all, we had entered other OLR’s and while many of the others are well established, at one time every OLR was brand new.

When asked how his One loft Race came about, Jose Bonilla explained:

The idea of starting a one loft race in Puerto Rico started 5 years ago, when a friend of mine (Raul Carrero) approached me and said he had over 5 acres of land, that would be ideal to build a loft. I thought it would be great to bring to the Island. It would be the first one loft race located in Puerto Rico. A partnership between us, offered the perfect match of his available land and my creative determination. After a lot of discussion and planning, this past year I finally decided to go ahead and bring this dream to life. We have a loft in place to allow safe and healthy housing of the birds that have begun to arrive, while we build the loft that will ultimately be a stunning work of working beauty.

The loft is 100′ by 12′ with an extra 4′ of aviary you can walk inside, the landing board is 20′ by 10′ the frame is all made from steel. The design took some time to create, as we understood we would be housing a large number of other breeders’ birds. We really wanted the loft to have the best layout to respect those that are willing to help us create our dream OLR. We spent time on the design but also on the location, the loft sits on top of a hill surrounded by Puerto Rico’s beautiful vistas.   

Puerto Rico One Loft Race January 26 at 10:09 PM.

  puertoriconeloftrace.com

So, who is Jose Bonilla?

“Hmm I’ve been around racing pigeons since I was 12 years old.  I work as an electronic engineer. I moved to Florida in 2006 to fly with the big boys at the GHC club.

I have three great kids; Jonathan 28, Kiana 25 they are both college graduates with great jobs. My youngest Naiomy, is 17. She wants to pursue medicine so she’ll be going to college here in Puerto Rico. My beautiful, special someone is Nancy.”

Jose Bonilla and family                                                       Raul Carrero and family

As we learned more of the race and Jose the handler the more intriguing it became. We began to think of it as a pigeon race with a vacation included. You are wondering what could be so great about a newly created OLR? I can answer that with four words:

IT’S OVER THE WATER!!

“This race is not like every other race in America. Here we fly 100 miles over mountains and valleys plus up to 190 miles over the ocean.” Jose Bonilla

CULEBRA ISLAND

“The 125 miles station” Just a short boat ride from the Puerto Rico mainland, this enchanting island is home to world-renowned beaches and the world’s brightest bioluminescent bay.

ST. THOMAS 150 MILES

“The 150 miles station” at this point the birds are 50 miles over the ocean and 100 miles overland.

 

ANGUILLA 300 MILES

“The main event 200 miles race” is over the open ocean and 100 miles inland over mountains and valleys…

We began to imagine the incredible Challenge that the Puerto Rico International One Loft Race would present to our birds. But beyond the opportunity to prove our breeding was the call of the beautiful paradise that we would be enjoying when we got there.

As it has often done my mind wandered, the tourism sights offer bright photos of sun-drenched beaches, warm days filled with hiking and swimming; and the ever-present hope that our birds would hit that landing board first long moments before the others would come meandering in. Oh, the glory of sun sand and a $60,000 Dollar payout in our pockets. We imagined walking on the islands and standing in the release point, the knowledge that we could travel if we so desired to those locations and see the vista that our birds would be navigating. My mind spirals with the idea of walking in warm beauty.

We are heading out to our cold loft today to see if there are any early hatches that might be able to conquer the challenge of the Puerto Rico International One Loft Race. It is amazing to me that we can send our birds to this tropical paradise for the same cost that we send to anywhere else in the United States. We are excited to see the list of participants growing each time we look on Win-companion.  

https://wincompanion.com/oneloft/login/signup1.php…

I am off to put on my snow gear and layers of warmth, while my mind dreams of the warm, beautiful landscapes and the possibility of being the first winner of the maiden race of the Puerto Rico OLR. I am overwhelmed with the possibilities, perhaps a car, maybe another vacation, or maybe a brand new…  I will close this article with a question, what would you do if you won?

But…

You can’t win if you’re not in the race!

Puerto Rico International One Loft Race is located in the West Coast of the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico.

ACCEPTING BIRDS FROM FEBRUARY 15 TO JUNE 30 2022

REPLACEMENTS TILL JULY 31 2022

RACE WILL BE FLOWN ON FEBRUARY 2023

PERCH FEE

$100 Per Bird

$500 6 Birds

$1000 12 Birds

ACTIVATION FEE

$300 Each

PAYOUT

Payout based on 500 paid activation entries.
Total amounts are subject to changes 

FINAL RACE ONLY!   The arrival of the first pigeons together will be considered a drop and paid equally – if 3 pigeons arrive together – the top 3 prizes will be added together and split evenly among the first 3 pigeons.

Island of Culebra:  1st – 5^th =$500

St Thomas Island: 1st $1000, 2nd – 10^th=$500 ,

Anguilla Island: 1st =$60,000, 2^nd= $10,000, 3^rd= $5,000, 4th=$2,500, 5th – 15^th=$1,000, 16th – 40^th= $500
Average Speed bird: 1^st= $10,000, 2^nd= $5,000, 3^rd= $3,000, 4^th= $2,000, 5^th= $1,000

1st Exotic Color Bird=$1,000 Bonus.

Kelly Jo Stone

Photos Provided