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THREE BORDERS FED

by Keith Mott

YEOVIL - JULY 2014

The Three Borders Federation sent 764 birds to Yeovil for the last old bird inland race of the 2014 season and with the convoy being liberated in a fresh South West wind, the members enjoyed a brilliant finally. Jim Rookledge and Ray Mearns of the Esher & Dist. RPC won 1st Federation by a ‘country mile’! The real buzz for me and I’m sure for the other members of the Esher club was to see Jimmy Rookledge win the Federation out of Yeovil by 19ypm clear. Jimmy is advancing in years and has carried on racing the pigeons this season in spite of the very sudden passing of his pigeon partner and the club’s dear friend, Ray Mearns, in February of this year. Ray was a very good pigeon racer and had flown in partnership with Jimmy Rookledge since the 2000 season, and they enjoyed some wonderful success racing in one of the strongest clubs in the south of England. Ray was a great worker in the Esher club and if there was anything to be done, he was always there first to sort it out. Jim and Ray have obtained several outstanding Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons from former Esher member, John Barrett, and the Yeovil Federation winning widowhood cock was produced by these stock birds. The Epsom partnership have had a wonderful 2014 old bird season winning: 5th, 7th Federation Blandford (1,397 birds), 22nd Federation, 40th SMT Combine Fougeres (1,073 birds), 4th Federation, 7th SMT Combine Messac (1,160 birds), 9th Federation, 14th SMT Combine Nort sur Erdre (699 birds), 1st, 23rd Federation Yeovil (764 birds).

 

The first ten in the Yeovil Federation result were: 1) Jim Rookledge & Ray Mearns 1926: 2) Frank & Sue Carson 1909: 3) J. Turner & son 1902: 4) Dave & Ben Taylor 1899: 5) Paul Arnold 1993: 6) Paul Arnold 1891: 7) Paul Arnold 1888: 8) Paul Arnold 1886: 9) Bob & Danny Carter 1884: 10) P. Clements 1879.

 

The Epsom partnership of Jim Rookledge and Ray Mearns have enjoyed some wonderful racing success in recent season, flying in the Three Borders Federation, and have previously won 1st Federation Exeter, 2nd Federation Alencon, 2nd Federation Exeter, 2nd Federation Lulworth, 8th Federation Plymouth, 12th Federation Messac and 13th Federation Lulworth. A brilliant loft performance put up in a very strong Federation! Jim and Ray were both old hands at pigeon racing, forming their successful partnership fourteen years ago after 40 years in the sport. They raced mainly Gaby Vandenabeele from Johnny Barrett, Medina Busschaerts and top-class Staf Van Reets from Paul Arnold of North Cheam. Two teams of widowhood birds are worked, one for sprint racing and the other for racing from the Continent. They race both hens and cocks on widowhood and pair up on 10th December. They have several lofts, the main one being 18ft long, with three sections and open-door trapping. When I asked Jim how far he sends the widowhood racers, he told me all the way through to 450 miles and his best position was 1st Open Combine Alencon in the 2000 season. He and Ray raced a very basic widowhood system by training lightly up to the first race, then exercise twice a day around the loft, and the break down system until Tuesday morning. The partners feed a first-class Super Widowhood mixture and show the hens on marking night.

 

Rookledge & Mearns's earlier Three Borders Federation winner was their good Arnold / Van Reet blue white flight cock '90094' which beat 1,090 birds from Exeter. This handsome three year old widowhood cock had plenty of good previous form having won in the previous season, 1st club Yeovil, 1st club Newton Abbot and 5th club, 5th Federation Honiton. A brilliant sprinter! The partner’s best pigeon at that time was their three year old blue Van Reet / Houben widowhood cock '90071', bred by Paul Arnold of North Cheam, which won four times 1st club in the Esher Club and 2nd, 8th and 13th in the Three Borders Federation. This game cock had also won firsts racing inland in previous seasons and has scored in the Federation several times. Another star of the Rookledge & Mearns loft was their good Busschaert hen '87210', which recorded 2nd Three Borders Federation from Exeter (1,090 birds). This five year old widowhood hen had been a brilliant racer for the partners, winning twice 1st club, five times 2nd club and twice 2nd Federation.

 

Jim Rookledge likes all Federation racing, short and long, and he pairs his five pairs of stock birds at the same time as the racers so that he can underlay the first round of eggs off the breeders. The 30 young birds he breed are trained hard up to 40 miles before the first race, then once a week during the racing season and race the programme naturally to the perch. Jimmy raced natural for many years and says his best nest condition for a racer flying the Channel was feeding a big young bird or sitting fourteen day old eggs. Jim maintains that when he is selecting pigeons to breed from he has no special type, looking at only good performance pigeons and quite often pair winners to winners. Congratulations to Jim on his brilliant success this seasons racing in the Three Borders Federation!

 

That’s it for this week! Next time we are going to have a look at the last Three Borders Federation race from Bergerac, which turned out to be a very hard affair. Robert Winton of Guildford won the Federation and we have photographed his champion mealy cock for the article. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com

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