THE NEW PIGEON SPORT

by John Clements

‘The Boys'. L to R: Gary Wall, Ray Lunt, Alan Curtis and Graham Walker outside their new loft.

Relying on Pedigrees

Pedigrees are in fact a kind of authentication but as we all know, pedigrees may be not all they seem and even if they are genuine, they may still have a detrimental effect on how your colony of birds develops, if, as so often happens, the pedigree birds end up in the stock loft because they cost a lot. There is a new wind blowing these days. This new wind puts performance above and in front of pedigree. This new wind requires testing in the basket, proof from results and breeding from successful pigeons. This new wind is now fast becoming the basis of value.

A New Pigeon Sport

A few of today’s best modern fanciers have used performance from the start. They were not hoodwinked by pedigree any more than they were hoodwinked by how a pigeon handled or how it was presented in an advert. It is from within the ranks of these few modern fanciers the ‘New Pigeon Sport’ is beginning to emerge. I visited one such loft over the weekend and in my usual way I tried to assess their situation and where they were going with their pigeons.

Curtis Wall & Lunt

The loft I visited was the partnership of Curtis, Wall & Lunt. They are already quite famous. Unfortunately, from one point of view their fame has derailed them. They have moved their loft a few times and always won but unfortunately their last move to a new location in Lymm, Cheshire resulted in their not being able to get into the local club. The local club understandably are not in the business of putting their head on the block to be chopped off every week by incredibly strong organized competition.

The Problem

Being unable to fly locally is a problem and one that has to be faced. “The Boys”, as they are commonly known, are specialists they specialize in sprint racing and are very good at it. It is not unusual for them to take the first 15 places in the Federation in which they fly. The understanding they have brought to sprint racing is the knowledge that pigeons travel faster in groups than they do as individuals. Most will say this is an obvious fact but what the ‘Boys’ have done is to put this fact into how they race and train their pigeons. Most fanciers do not do this. Not being able to compete locally may be a blessing in disguise and instead of a  problem may indeed turn out to be a benefit. 

The Solution

With all these thoughts running around in my head I tried to imagine myself in their situation. I asked myself what would I do and how would I tackle the problem of not being able to race and establish top club and federation performances? I took into consideration all the hard work of moving to a new location and investing a lot of time and money in their lofts, pigeons and in their own particular future. The solution I came up with was that their sprint team could and would be forced to find new and possibly longer and wider competition. There would still be perhaps a few ‘open’ races but these races are not as frequent as they used to be. Eventually I came up with the idea that the Curtis, Wall & Lunt partnership, known to be at the top of the sprint scene, would be forced to extend their range and go for the earlier and shorter ‘National’ races races of about 300 miles.

The Thoughts of Ray Lunt

I telephoned Ray Lunt one of the partnership members and in the course of the conversation related him my thoughts and what they could possibly do to safeguard their future. I was speaking to the right man for Ray told me they had already thought of doing exactly what I had thought. They were thinking of extending the range of their sprint pigeons and indeed thinking of having a go in National races just as I thought. He further told me they were in fact already members of both the Midlands National and the National Flying Club.

My prediction

Putting on my ‘forecast’ hat I now predict they will not only do well but do well as a team. Of course, National events are raced mainly for the ‘Section’ it just is not possible to overcome wind and do well in the ‘Open’ every time if the wind is not blowing in your direction. National competition is too fierce and the standard of competition too high for that but even a top section performance in a good section such as section ‘L’ is no mean feat and if, as I predict, the ‘Boys’ do better than expected, I am sure they are capable of a top section performance and this section performance could be ‘mind blowing’.

A Learning Curve

Of course we all should not count our chickens before they are hatched and even the ‘Boys’ acknowledge moving up a league and extending their range will not come without its problems. The whole thing will be a steep ‘learning curve’ but a ‘learning curve’ they are happy to take on as part of their overall development as a top sprint loft. Some fanciers, shouting from the side lines, will of course be happy to forecast failure but here we are not dealing with ordinary fanciers. We are dealing with thinking investigative fanciers and this type of fancier, as we all know, will always have the edge on the type of fancier who forecasts doom and gloom at every turn. What I am doing is to forecast success before the event. 

The Specialist

I for one expect a few teething problems but it would not surprise me to see an organized sprint loft of this kind take the first ten in their section. If they did this such a result could well determine how big clubs organize pigeon racing in the future. Today it is the specialist who is taking the sport forward. It was Ray Lunt who told me “Unless you specialize these days you won’t achieve anything meaningful”. Specialization is the key to racing success it is no longer depends on specializing on pedigree or specializing with a particular strain, it is the specialist with outstanding loft performances from a whole team. The new modern sport and the new modern fancier now demands a new kind of credibility and credibility in the modern world is from top team results against top competition.

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Elimar October 2013