“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Kingsdown Race 1).
The Three Borders Federation were at Kingsdown for the fourth old bird race on the ‘May Day’ bank holiday weekend and the convoy had a good steady fly home being liberated with sun on the baskets at 07.30hrs into a south east wind situation. The Federation convoyer, Dom McCoy is very ‘smart’ and liberated the birds as early as possible to avoid clashing with other Federations and the members enjoyed a steady, but good race. The Mitcham & Merton RPC were the Federation champions in 2025, winning nine firsts in that season and they have won the Federation three times in the first four races this season. Brilliant pigeon racing!
Congratulations to Kamil Kotowski of The Mitcham & Merton club who won the Federation and broke his ‘novice status’ from Kingsdown. Brilliant pigeon racing by Kamil!
Frank and Sue Carson & Son partnership of the Ashridge club are hitting some good form, recording 2nd Federation from Kingsdown and winning the Federation from Wincanton the weekend previous! Talking to their son, John after the race, he said, ‘the first bird on the ETS was our good blue widowhood cock, ‘Micky Boy’ and he previously won: 2nd Federation Honiton and 6th Federation Yeovil in the 2024 season. He came brilliantly from Kingsdown! This game cock came with a small batch and broke over the house roof tops and I had to duck to get out of his way, he entered the loft so fast. We are very pleased to see him in the Federation result again’. The Mitcham &Merton club president, Eric Fry has started the season with a big bang and has taken top position in every racing, including 1st Federation Weymouth two weeks before this result. Eric races his birds every week and enjoys competing from all distances, through to 450 miles. The Mitcham & Merton is the hottest club in town at the moment!
Kamil Kotowski is Polish, now living in the UK and has been racing his pigeon for twelve years in the Thornton Heath club. He came over and started racing in the Mitcham & Merton club this year and says his Federation win from Kingsdown is his best performance ever with his pigeons. His Federation winner was his two year old natural blue hen, ‘Wildy’ and she was sent to Kingsdown feeding a small baby. The parents of this hen were obtained from the premier partnership of Ken and Richard O’Connor of Croydon. The Kotowski loft is raced on the natural system and Kamil enjoys racing his small team every week at any distance. He only keeps ten pairs of birds which are housed in his very small double decker loft, which is sited in his little back yard. When I saw his loft I loved it! The racers are not trained, but are in ‘mint’ condition, having an open loft every day. The whole loft is paired up in March and he feeds ‘Jerry Plus’ and Verselaga ‘Energy, Kamil would like to thank his good friend, Oliver Stringer of Thornton Heath, as most of his birds have come from this fancier and he has given some sound advice over the years. Well done to Kamil on his wonderful performance!
The first ten in the Kingsdown Federation result were: 1) Kamil Kotowski 1511: 2) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1507: 3) Eric Fry 1506: 4) R. & W. Morris 1502: 5) Tony Baughen 1502: 6) R. & W. Morris 1501: 7) Eric Fry 1500: 8) Jim Andrews & Son 1500: 9) Eric Fry 1499: 10) Stuart Emans 1499. This was race number four of the season and at this point the Mitch & Merton club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 19 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 15 points.
The Federation convoyer, Dom McCoy did his usual good job and produced an excellent race from Kingsdown, but had a few problems on his journey home. He told me after the race, ‘ after a stressful few days, a tyre blow out on the Federation transporter on Saturday and we waited over four hours to get mobile again. Luckily we were near services and were on our way home’. The tyre blow out was on a busy motorway and was quite severe, but I’m happy to report that Dom and his lovely wife, Claire arrived home safe and sound! Thanks for all your good work, mate!
Sparrowhawk Brother of Mitcham.
The SMT Combine sent 2,441 birds to Melle (360 miles) in June 1980 and once again with a lot of west in the wind the winners were on the Surrey side of the Combine. Dennis Burton of Feltham won the West Middlesex Federation, doing 1110ypm, and he was usually successful on the long, hard races with his Kirkpatrick pigeons. Sparrowhawk Bothers of Mitcham won the Surrey Federation and SMT Combine, doing 1137 ypm, with a two year old Sion blue hen named, ‘Miss Ann’, and she was sent sitting overdue eggs. Charlie Sparrowhawk told me at that time that she had been a very consistent racer and her build up to the Melle Combine win was two races from, Le Mans and Angers.
Charlie had been in pigeons all his life, joining the Mitcham Common FC in 1935 and raced pigeons obtained from the late Harry Hoad of Horsham. The Gits pigeons from A. H. Turner of Blackpool and Barkers from Joe Brooks of Bromsgrove were obtained in the early days and these were the base of the Sparrowhawk Brothers family in 1980. Their first loft was a converted chicken shed and they won their first race from Dorchester in 1936, with Gits / Barker red chequer cock.
The partners loft in 1980 was 33ft long, with three sections and open door trapping, and was self-built in 1947. Charlie told me, in his time in the sport, the brothers had won the Federation from the shortest race through to the longest, but preferred channel racing. They also preferred old bird racing, rather than young bird, maintaining there is more skill needed to win with old birds. Charlie’s wife, Flo and son John also raced pigeons in partnership, with outstanding success in the club and Federation. Sparrowhawk Brothers paired their 84 pairs of old birds on 14th February and bred about 80 babies each season to race. The old birds got very few training tosses and in fact only had five tosses in the 1980 season. They flew on the natural system because it took up less time and the brothers liked birds sitting over ten days for the longer races. The youngsters were weren’t trained too heavy, but raced through the full programme. The birds were fed on a good mixture of Tic beans, Maple peas, maize and tares, with condition seed. The brothers were not in to eye sign, but liked to see a nice rich eye on their breeders. Charlie rated Terry Goodsell of Mitcham the top local sprint racer and said he had got the widowhood system off to a fine art. They liked one or two late bred youngsters bred from their best, which were always put to stock. The loft was cleaned out every day and the nest bowls were changed only when the youngsters were weaned.
Charlie told me he hadn’t shown a pigeon since1938, but he was famous and very successful at showing his fine team of horses. In the 1980 horse showing season they had shown in four shows, recording three firsts and a second, including 1st at the Royal Windsor in the presence of HM the Queen. The late, great Charlie Sparrowhawk!
That’s it for this week! Well done to the Kamil Kotowski for breaking his ‘novice status’ and winning the Federation winner! Great pigeon racing by the Mitcham & Merton loft! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 07535 484584 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
