Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

The Champions of Yester Year (Part 55)

 EDDIE UPTON OF NEWBURY

Eddie Upton races his pigeons with outstanding success being top prizewinner in the local club many times in recent seasons and has topped the Federation at least once most years.

He first became interested in pigeons at the age of seven when looking at the birds waiting to be liberated at Basingstoke Station in 1950. He started racing seriously in 1967 and in his first season clocked on the day from Bergerac 466 miles recording 11th BB&O Federation and won the first old bird inland race from Bournemouth 50 miles. Eddie said when he started up he was keen, but thinks he is even keener today. He thinks back to his novice days and the birds then were just as good as todays, probably better as you could rely on getting almost every bird back from the Channel races, but not today.

Eddie races sixteen cocks on the Widowhood system, but uses every trick in the book to motivate the cocks, as in today's competition you have to find that bit extra. He keeps eight pairs of stock birds and all the old birds are paired up the first week in February, breeding about 30 youngsters each season to race. Eddie maintains pigeons are a 12 month a year job and races are won with work carried out in the winter.

The base family was Vanhee, but he said they are his own family now as he has had them a lot of years and has introduced several good crosses over those years. He races only South Road with the Newbury Club, C.S.C.C. and N.F.C. and his loft is L-shaped, 24' long with open door trapping.

Eddie is a hard taskmaster and all the racers have to fly the programme. He doesn't believe you have sprint families and long distance families. It is down to the fancier and his methods. One of his best cocks in the 1996 season gained a position in nearly every race entered from 76 miles to 400 miles in a north east wind. He has several cocks that have won the BB&O Federation three and four times with up to 3,000 birds competing. He has had some excellent performances inland racing over the years including 1st, 2nd, 4th Open Combine 6,000 birds. He entered three birds in an Open race with 762 birds competing and won 1st, 2nd & 3rd Open. Eddie says his biggest thrill was in 1996 when he sent one bird to the Saintes N.F.C. race 392 miles, an all pooler, in a strong north east wind and recorded 2nd Section, 33rd Open, winning the Reading clock station by 11/2 hours.

The Widowhood cocks only get three training tosses before the first race, but young birds are well trained going down the road several times a week throughout the season. Eddie is an eyesign enthusiast and breeders must have a good green or gold eye.

The whole loft is fed on a first class Widowhood mixture and he breeds a few latebreds for stock as he finds breeding from latebreds you create a slow moulting family. Eddie says like in all sports you get highs and lows, and his most disappointing experience was clocking three birds in the first 100 in the Nantes NFC 12,500 birds competing and losing the positions because his clock roll ran out missing the locking out puncture.

My phone number is: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.