THE ROMANCE OF RACING
by Jim Emerton
What motivates people to dedicate themselves to years of specialised hard work with their feathered charges? It helps if you have a dream, a vision of what you desire to achieve, or to win, perhaps against the odds. This may be suffused with an obsessive inclination towards perfectionism. A love of wildlife and birds is often key to the whole process. As you mature in your career, you may be intoxicated by one race as reward for years of effort, and a test of ability of your evolving family of birds. I regard this as the purist approach. At the setting of the sun the whole scenario is seated in personal satisfaction - a reward in itself.
I still celebrate the traditional philosophy and waking dreams of men who wait in excited anticipation to feel the thrill of arrivals from great races and mind blowing distances, and now in my little world, the lonely pursuit is priceless. I like the spiritual quality, the lofty idealism of it all. Some of these principles may be inspirational, and are all beyond the material.
---
Elimar - March 2014