Jim Emerton
Biography from Chris Williams
Jim Emerton aged 5yrs
What can I say about Jim Emerton, both the man and his outstanding contribution to the sport of pigeon racing not only in terms of his well-documented race results and creation of a long-distance /marathon strain of pigeon, but Jim Emerton the journalist, philosopher, personality, teacher, mentor and in my case, friend!
Ever since its inception in the 19th century the sport of pigeon racing has grown from a provincial pastime to a global phenomenon, I think it is fair to say that in recent years the profile of the British fancy has risen considerably, with UK lofts scoring several international wins, however the pinacol victory from the Catalonian capital, the prestigious Barcelona International has at the time I write these words has eluded the fanatical distance fanciers of Great Britain and the Irish republic. The sport of pigeon racing like life itself is a continual learning curve. It is also utopian in many ways because where else could you find construction workers, school teachers, miners, Arab princes, the Queen of England and the young, the old, the disabled all competing for a first prize in pigeon racing.
Here is where Jim Emerton the pigeon fancier, writer and yes philosopher comes to the fore! Through the creation of the Emerton strain of marathon racing pigeons, which marked the culmination of years of study breeding and ultimately testing in what he refers to as “race reality “. In laymen’s terms He has been there done that and got the T-shirt.
I have been captivated by the magical mystery of pigeon racing in my own right from the age of twelve and writing articles on the sport since the age of 16, in that time I have amassed a great amount of respect for the knowledge, wisdom and wit that Jim freely shares in his books and articles. A short time ago I was asked to sit down and answer a few questions put to me by this colossus of the racing world, for a 29-year-old fancier keen to learn this was a dream come true and being honest a little nerve wracking. I answered the questions then nervously pressed send on my e-mail, all the time thinking “what will such a respected and illustrious writer make of me, let alone my answers? “
That evening I went to bed not expecting to hear anything more, how wrong was I? well in this case very wrong. The next morning, in my inbox was a mail from Jim thanking me for my reply and now it was my turn to interview the Man himself. What a joy it was to be able to go inside the mind of Jim Emerton, a man who many would say has set the bench mark when it comes to Marathon racing in the United Kingdom. I set my mind to what I considered to be one of the greatest privileges in my time as a writer because during that process I learned so much from him, not only how to improve as fancier but also a pigeon racing journalist.
Now I come to Jim Emerton the thought-provoking pigeon journalist, the marathon man, one of the great things about his work is that he continuously pushes the fancier and reader to think about things on a deeper level, similar to the great Greek philosopher Plato and his Allegory of the Cave. Which in brief describes how we can go through life accepting what we see, or we can go further and investigate what else is out there. In his written work Jim is continually trying to bring us the fancier to a deeper understanding of the racing pigeon.
Jim Emerton the man is highly intellectual, but for all this he keeps his feet firmly on the ground and is always willing to help and encourage fellow fanciers and writers, this I know from personal experience and because of this, there is no doubt in my mind that the work of Mr. Emerton has brought the sport forward in a way that has not been seen since the great JW Logan .
Thank you, my friend,
Chris Williams
April 2019
