Kevin Kelly talks to Jim Emerton
Kevin Kelly talks to Jim Emertonafter Kevin gets his little chequer hen Hollie from NFC Tarbes national flying 820miles.
Q1Tell us about yourself Kevin?
A1. My name is Kevin Kelly I’m 57 years of age and live in north Tyneside I work offshore. I’m married to my wife Tracy who is also my partner in the pigeons and she looks after them while I’m away at work
Q2 How long have you been in pigeons?
A2. I’ve been into pigeons basically all my life when I was 5/6 I used to go to my grandfathers house as he kept pigeons and he would give me a pigeon to take home but every time I let it out it would fly back to him lol
I started racing in 1992 but left the sport in 2003 after topping the up north combine Eastbourne old bird national beating 30,042 pigeons as I had accomplished everything I had wanted to do in sprint racing up to 300 miles
In 2017 I decided to get back into the sport with the intention of racing long distance so I started to build a team buying from top pigeon men. I had my first attempt in UNC flying Bourges 578 miles sending a yearling hen – pure Roger Vereecke and she turned up on the 4th day, the feeling I had was unbelievable and I knew then I was hooked on distance racing Covid and Brexit hampered my ambition to try my stock as I could only get to 385 miles
Q3 What system did you race your great 820 miles Tarbes bird on?
A3. I raced the hen on the natural system sitting 8-10 day old eggs
Q4 How does it feel to have done so well in the NFC?
A4. I’ve only been flying NFC for 3 years having flown only handful of races it’s an absolutely unbelievable feeling to have accomplished this and I’m still reeling of it.
Q5 Please list more of your performances, and your bird is inline for awards?
A5. Some of my performance
2023. Nort-sir-erdre. 2nd section N 525 miles
2023. Sigogne 4th section N. 645 miles
2023 Nort-sur-erdre 18th section N 525 miles
2023. Nort-sur-erdre. 19th section N 525 miles
2022. Messac. 3rd section N 385 miles
2022. Messac. 10th section N 385 miles
2021. Guernsey.1st section N 385 m
2021 Guernsey 2nd section N 385 m
2021 Guernsey 3rd section N 385 m 2021 Guernsey 4th section N 385m
Q6 Who has inspired you in pigeons?
A.6 The people who inspired me in pigeons I would say in the last few years are Nick Adshead, who became a good friend and John Chipperfield.
Q7 What now are your dreams and goals in pigeons, Barcelona?
A.7 I’d love to fly Barcelona , but feel it could be out of my range - but never say never!!
Q 8 Do you house a family or strain of pigeons?
A.8 I don’t have a particular strain of pigeons I just blend family’s in what I think go as I’m creating my own line.
Q9 How hard is it at 820miles Tarbes in race time?
A.9 id say it’s extremely hard and maybe if pigeons were liberated earlier and hadn’t hit the bad weather they encountered
Q10 How can we improve the sport?
A10 I think organisations should communicate with each other and help each other to transport pigeons to try keep the costs down for existing and new members as the sport is in decline and a lot of fanciers just can’t keep up with the costs
Thank you Kevin for taking the time to share your experiences.
Jim Emerton