Tim Nevard's Commentary

The result of the Ladbrokes.com Big Bird Race 2004 has been declared! Having reached South African territorial waters, the winner is Jerry Hall's 'Aphrodite'. She is the undisputed winner, as no bird passed her last known position either at the time she first went offline in mid ocean or by the end of the race. Nicholas Coleridge's 'Xanadu' is second. Nicholas is the great, great, great, great, great grandson of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who wrote the classic 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' about the Albatross. Third is Susan Hampshire's 'Monarch of the Glen'. 'Daniphobouska' is fourth; 'The Ancient Mariner' and 'Homeland' are fifth and sixth respectively. The winning stable is Albatross and the winning gender is female!

We will never be sure how many birds died through predation by sharks or sea eagles, succumbed to the weather, were longlined by pirate fishing boats or went offline through technology malfunction. However, we do know that 'Aphrodite's' journey was followed by millions of people around the world and that the Ladbrokes.com Big Bird Race 2004 has brought the potential of extinction of albatrosses and other seabirds due to poorly managed longlining to the attention of the world. Although 'Styx's' device was still transmitting when the race was declared finished, we believe that she died without ever leaving the vicinity of Mewstone, with her minor recorded position variations being within the typical daily variability of satellite transmission and uplink technology - she has hence been retired.

'Aphrodite's' flight has provided irrefutable evidence of the track taken by juvenile Shy Albatrosses on their first migration across the Indian Ocean, allowing a far clearer picture of the designation of potential fishing conservation zones. All of the other birds fitted with satellite tracking devices have also contributed greatly to our understanding of the routes taken and areas fished by Tasmanian Shy Albatrosses in their migration along the southern coast of Australia. In addition to these unprecedented seabird conservation gains, 'Aphrodite's' track may also have provided botanists working on the biogeography of the world's flora with empirical evidence of wind-blown spore dispersal between continents and remote landmasses, potentially contributing to a major global botanical discovery.

Despite the inevitable frustrations and challenges associated with running the first ever event of its kind, the Ladbrokes.com Big Bird Race 2004 has been an outstanding flyaway success!

The Ladbrokes.com Grandstand

Follow all the race action right here from the comfort of your chair. The website will be updated daily at 10.00 GMT with the birds' progress mapped out and daily results posted. Betting will be suspended from 20.00 hrs to 00.59 GMT every day while the birds are being monitored by the scientists.
The fully functional race cards allow you to check a runner's vital statistics, their race history and what price they are at for the rest of the race. If a runner's position has not moved during the course of a day or if the signal can no longer be detected, the runner's race card will be flagged and after a week, if no change, the runner will be deemed to have died. It will not be possible to bet on a flagged runner.

Adults will be able to support the project by placing bets on different elements of the race such as the TSA to win overall, winning stable and stable with the most finishers. Weekly and monthly 'Distance Travelled West' (DTW) bets will also be offered to ensure interest is maintained throughout the race.

There is an option for customers to see any winnings they make go to the revenue fund for distribution to future seabird conservation projects. Schools and U18s can follow the project, betting-free, at Prof. David Bellamy's Wildlife Business Foundation's website www.wildlifebiz.org.

Disclaimer:
Ladbrokes.com, The Conservation Foundation and the Tasmanian State Government have made every attempt to ensure that the information and other published data on this website is accurate and up to date. However due to the inherent nature of this data none of the above mentioned organisations or their employees or servants can be held liable for any mistakes inadvertently or otherwise contained herein. Use of this website and participation in the Ladbrokes.com Big Bird Race is therefore entirely at the risk of the user.