MODERN CONVENTIONS IN PIGEON RACING
by Jim Emerton
The main thrust is still sprint to middle distances up to 500 miles on the day of toss, and many are hooked on this. We have some great exponents of the practice in the UK and Ireland with quality birds, yet many are drawn to Belgium, Holland and Germany, where it is a conventional norm to spend money on the purchase of pigeons, when race reality dictates that very few birds really make the grade - they have a Ferrari-like desirability. It remains a fact that there are some clever racing men on the continent with specialist systems and a professional approach to the game. If I need any intros - a rare practice - my convention is to find them in the UK. The corollary is that for distance aspirations, Barcelona bred birds from the studs are becoming the norm, along with the BICC which is seen as the premier club of choice by many - it used to be an unconventional minority group.
Times change and where widowhood/roundabout systems, personal to the individual are conventional, some traditionalists are modernising open loft systems with up to date supplements and nutrition, where birds of prey predation can be dealt with and tolerated. Things will change and evolve now that we have collective high expectations in international events, yet Barcelona International remains the yardstick and measure of marathon prowess and maintains its conventional appeal to the pioneers of speed/endurance pigeon racing.
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Elimar - October 2014
