Pigeon fancier Keith brings home international trophy

Keith Young's pigeon gave him one of the best results of his racing career, but it was not quite enough to win him the big cash prize in the race from Fuerteventura to Tenerife.

He said that he wanted his success in the Derby Internacional to spark more interest in the sport in the island.

Mr Young, 77, said that preparation for the event started more than six months before the race took place.

‘All of the competing pigeons have to get transported to where the event is being held many months in advance to give them time to acclimatise and familiarise themselves with the area, so that they know where they have to fly to on race day,' he said.

‘On this occasion the race was from Fuerteventura to Tenerife, which is a distance of about 250km. It took the pigeons that completed the race over 11 hours.’

Pigeons are tracked electronically via a ring that is placed on one of their legs, which allows for their race time to be logged into a computer.

To get them in a position where they are able to fly over long distances, Mr Young said that a significant amount of nurturing and training had to take place when the birds were very young.

He is able to do most of it himself thanks to the loft in his back garden at his home in St Sampson’s, which is currently home to 80 pigeons.

‘Training them in Guernsey presents its own unique challenges because obviously it is a small island surrounded by water. When the birds are around two months old and are familiar with their surroundings I usually start them off by taking them to places that are between two and four miles away from the loft.

‘Gradually you build up the distance, so I will then release them from Sark, then Alderney or Jersey, and then from even further away.’

He added that in the last 20 years the furthest distance some of his pigeons had flown was the 600-mile journey from St Malo to Barcelona. Longer distances however mean greater challenges posed to the pigeons.

‘For distances as long as that it takes up to three years of training, but even then you have to be prepared for a high number of losses due to the weather or predators. Sometimes you release 100 birds and only one makes it back to the loft.’