Special to TGI – Welcome to the sport of pigeon racing. It may only be apparent to the sports fan with more eclectic tastes, but animals can make for remarkable professional athletes much like humans. Whether ‘Lemon Drop Kid’ races
Special to TGI –
Welcome to the sport of pigeon racing.
It may only be apparent to the sports fan with more eclectic tastes, but animals can make for remarkable professional athletes much like humans.
Whether ‘Lemon Drop Kid’ races for the Triple Crown or Scruffy takes ‘Best of Breed’ honors, people are often inclined to watch these animals do what they do best.
Some are there for high speed racing action, others for the sight of a shiny, well-pedicured shitzu fur.
In either case, animals have found a home for themselves in the sporting limelight.
There is one creature, though, who was either lost or never discovered by the sports-loving public.
This animal literally soars in terms of competitive nature but its scope of media penetration has, thus far, been grounded.
Some call them just pigeons. Others more accurately describe them as homing pigeons. But to those who train these pigeons day-in and day-out, these creatures are racing pigeons-Faster than most terrestrial animals (45 to 50 mph),covering distances further than some domestic flights (100-300 miles).
Welcome to the sport of pigeon racing.
Rumor has it the first homing pigeon was the dove released by Noah during biblical times. And for centuries following, these birds were often used as message carriers.
But during the 1800s, a sport evolved, and races were regularly conducted in the U.S., Belgium Holland and Great Britain.
Today, pigeon racing has spread all over the world and has nearly 15,000 active participants.
Seven of them have formed a club here on Kauai’i.
“Most people don’t know that we have this sport on the island,” said Steve Ruiz, who will be competing with his club, Kaua’i Racing Pigeon, in Northern California on Oct. 14.
“I want to get the word out about how great this sport is and why people should get into it.”
Generally, a race is conducted by five members who form a club. The club spends six to nine months training a pigeon before the racing season, which basic purpose is to calcify the bird’s homing system.
All of the birds are sent to one loft, where they are cared for and stationed for the duration of the racing preseason. Club members train the birds by travelling short, incremental distances (from 5 miles away to 10 miles, to 20 etc.) from the loft towards the race’s starting point.
On the day of the race, the pigeons are tagged and sent of from their designated starting point.
The bird that reaches the loft in the shortest amount of time wins.
Kaua’i trainers Ruiz and Ted Daligdig are almost ready to take off for their 200 mile pigeon race in Northern California. The race will begin in Red Bluff and end off in Hilmer.
For the Kaua’i Pigeon Racing team, there will be races taking off from Oahu and will be completing its Young bird season from Makawao, Maui on Nov. 3. Updates will be provided by the Garden Island.
