THE OBSESSION WITH SPEED
by Jim Emerton
I can tell by the patter of a pigeon man if he is sprint or distance orientated by his frame of mind - in very little time. The true marathon man tends to be a little realaxed and laid back in presentation of his psyche. The sprint men tend to be of competitive, rapid responses echoeing the widowhood cocks they may race, and most fanciers like a quick fix on a race up to say 300 miles. This tends to be a metaphor of the instant gratification aspects of society -computers/texting/games etc it’s like we are all hyped up on stress and amphetamines! I prefer the Jamaican style of cool, and some of the spirituality of the Nepalese who I met on my exotic sojourns.
When I was young win win win was all, with high velocities and competition with the key fanciers of the day - with sayings like ‘they beat me back’, and ‘I had the first 4’. The cock crowed in those days and the ego played the solitary trumpet. Now with the wisdom of age, I like endurance events with a sprinkling of speed epitomised by the Barcelona international, although our yearling at Tarbes in D and G sections did us proud with reference to its breeding. In my mind’s eye the perfection of the origin i.e. breeding is always first on the agenda of significance. It’s up to you and my ideas are purely subjective.
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Elimar - July 2014
