Dublin People - Holly takes King's Cup with a lofty performance

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Holly takes King's Cup with a lofty performance

Thursday, 07 August 2008

A COOLOCK pigeon fancier has won a top pigeon-racing competition after one of his flock managed to fly from France to Dublin in just 10 hours.
David ‘Big Bird’ Browne, with his winning bird, ‘Holly’, called after his young daughter, beat over 4,500 other birds to win the King’s Cup, one of pigeon racing’s biggest honours.
The race from Saint Malo, France, to Dublin covered a distance of over 600 kilometres, an extraordinary feat for the small homing pigeons that had to battle intense winds.
The race involves taking the birds from their lofts and releasing them between 100 to 1,000 kilometres away.
The distance between the birds’ home loft and the race point is carefully measured by Global Positioning System (GPS).
The time taken by the bird to return is measured using official timing methods, and the fastest bird is declared the winner.
David said he was thrilled by Holly’s performance in the race.
“Holly is just two-years-old but she really put on a great performance that day,” he told Northside People.
“It’s a great thrill to win a race like this and I’m absolutely delighted to have the trophy and a bit of prize money.”
“I’m not in it for money though, despite my success.
“It’s just a great hobby and a fairly inexpensive way to spend your time.”
David has been involved in pigeon racing since he was a young child and inherited his love of the sport from his father.
“I’ve been involved in racing pigeons as long as I can remember,” he added.
“My father is 84 and he has a great knowledge of the sport, even my daughter, Holly, is getting interested.
“I keep a small team of birds myself but I’m happy with how they perform and I’m hoping to breed two birds to auction off for charity now.”
David said it’s great to see so many young people getting involved too.
“A lot of the lads from Belfast commented on how many younger people are interested down here,” he stated.
“It’s a really social sport that provides a chance for people to get together and have a chat; there are some real characters involved.”
David said the sport can be quite dangerous for the pigeons and half a flock can be lost in a year.
“You can have up to 14 races in a year, so you have to keep breeding new birds,” he added.
“If they’re lucky they can still be racing when they’re as old as six.”
Ireland has had a long pigeon racing tradition with the Irish Homing Union serving as the official body for racing in the country since 1895.
The all-Ireland organisation currently has almost three and a half thousand members with 121 racing clubs spread across the 32 counties.

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