By Barbara-Ann MacEachern

Pigeons have a long history of esteem dating back to Belgium in the 1800s, be it as message carriers during both world wars or as a hobby for the Queen of England, who is the patron of the sport and has her own racing team.

In spite of all this, pigeons are often perceived as flying rodents and not given proper credit for their navigational ability.

How many other animals could you drop off upwards of 1,000 kms from home knowing they would find their way back in a matter of a day or two?

That is exactly what the racing teams of the Lindsay and District Pigeon Racing Club do on a weekly basis.

For Hans Verkruisen, president of the seven-member club, "pigeon fever" kicked in early. "I was eight or nine years old, playing hooky from school to help clean my uncle" [pigeon] loft. You get the fever, he said.

Tom Powers, another member, has been involved with pigeon racing for almost 40 years, in Canada as well as in the U.K. Growing up, he always wanted to have his own pigeons - and got very close, with his father starting to build him a pigeon coop in the backyard. Unfortunately, because of some misbehavior Mr. Powers can no longer remember, the pigeon loft was never finished.

"So as soon as I had my own house, the first thing I did was put a pigeon coop in the backyard," he said. Training a racing pigeon, also known as a messenger dove or homing pigeon, can be difficult, said Mr. Verkruisen, but well worth while.

"It's a lot of work, but it keeps me going."

Though keeping racing pigeons is very time consuming, most people who become involved keep a love for it, Mr. Powers said. He joked that often young boys get into the sport through their fathers, but lose interest because of another kind of "bird" through adolescence, before coming back to the feathered variety a little later in life.

It's a challenge, you're always learning, it keeps you out of trouble, Mr. Powers said. Derick Schleifer, owner of Fenelon Falls Marina and winner of a car for his racing efforts at the June 20 Fraserdale race, exercises his pigeons twice a day: at 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Just like an athlete, you've got to have a run in the morning and then a little bit of a jog after and that's about it, he said.

Racing pigeons are generally trained for eight to 10 weeks before embarking on their first race. The racing season begins in April and runs until late September.

Race distances can range anywhere from around 500 to 1,000 kms, depending on the age and experience of the birds.

Each bird is outfitted with a small band permanently attached to its leg with their number and club location to tell them apart. The other leg is adorned with a red electronic band for race day that registers through an electronic scanner upon the bird's return. The scanner reads the bird's number, serial number, date and time the bird made, right down to one-tenth of a second.

Even when they have been trained, some pigeons will never return from a race, explained Mr. Verkruisen, who lost one of his favourite birds in a recent race. Bad weather not only slows the birds down, but can also force them to land to dry out before continuing on their way, he said, elongating the race and lessening the chances of the bird making it home.

If they get in high grass, hay or grains, then it takes a long time for them to come home - or not come home if there are foxes, raccoons and everything walking around to find them, Mr. Verkruisen said. Losing one of your team can be very disheartening, but unfortunately it is a risk that comes with the territory. Mr. Scheifer said it is normal to become attached to the flocks.

Sometimes you say they are just like your kids. I've got some that are 05s - that's 2005 - they might have 6,000 kms on those birds. They are my faithful birds. I expect them home on race day early. [But} If it's a tough wind against them on race day, I know another one might be faster - I just know each bird and they have their own little quirks, he said.

The pigeons used for racing are of a particular pedigree, and come complete with certificates and ancestry charts, explained Mr. Schleifer. These pigeons are bred specifically for speed, endurance and a drive to get home. A pedigree pigeon in Canada can run anywhere from around $300 to $500. In the U.S. the prices range in the thousands, and in the U.K. a pigeon once sold for about $300,000.

The club, which consists of a generally older crowd, is looking for new members to pick up the sport. "Overseas, it is a bigger sport, but it is still a dying sport - not as many young people joining," Mr. Powers said.

Doug Rufenach, also a local club member, explained that many younger people don't get involved in the sport because they don't have the space or the start-up money, something members are trying to change. Club members generally offer to help out newer members, said Mr. Schleifer, giving them birds and mentoring them.

"So it's very inexpensive for them to get started because we're looking for new members and we help them," Mr. Schleifer said.

For those looking to jump right into owning racing pigeons, teams consist generally of about 50 pigeons. With housing, food and all the gadgets, including electronic clocks and scanners, one could spent $1,000 on setup alone no problem, said Mr. Schleifer.

For more information about the local club, contact Mr. Verkruisen at 705-374-4059 or e-mail verkruis@aol.com. To learn more about pigeon racing, visit www.canadianracingpigeonunion.com.

By Keith Mott

In spite of recent health problem, Brian Goodwin, tried to kick them into touch and enjoy his pigeon racing hobby in 2008. He installed the ETS system, but could only race four young bird races and scoring in all four. As in previous seasons Brian racing activities were short, but very sharp recording: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th Federation from the longest young bird race from Yelverton, setting a new Berkshire Federation record and 1st club 4th Federation Lulworth. Brian’s 2008 Federation winner was his good Maurice and Gregory Casaert pencil blue cock, ‘ETS’, and he was raced to the perch. Right behind ‘ETS’ on the trap to take 2nd Federation was the handsome blue cheq pied cock, ‘Claire’s Boy’, and he is a son of one of Brian’s favourite Federation winners, ‘My Claire’, and she was bred by Willy Thas. The Lulworth winner was the Litherland / Casaert blue pied cock, ‘Peanut Boy’, and he recorded 4th open in the very strong Berkshire Federation.

While I was convoying for the London & South East Classic Club in 2008, my assistant for three of the old bird races was my good mate, Brian, and I must say he has worked out of his skin for the three Classic races he has covered with me last season. The life of a pigeon convoyer is a very hard one and Brian did a brilliant job as my assistant, in spite of his recent health problems. He told me, he really enjoyed the experience, especially going to Tarbes, but would never do it again!

For many years now my good friend, Brian Goodwin, has be threaten to arrange some Continental loft visits for us to enjoy and finally the month of February 2008 saw us get on the Euro Tunnel train to kick off a two day pigeon trip of Belgium and Holland. The weather was freezing and to beat the traffic hold ups we caught the 03.00hrs train out of Dover. Brian has been commuting to the Continent and purchased the very best racing pigeons available in Belgium and Holland for the past 30 years, so he was the best man to arrange the trip. He is not a guy who messes around and in past years has purchase whole rounds of youngsters from the very top loft on the Continent, including Willy Thas, which have produced several Federation and Combine winners in recent seasons. Through the years he have been well known for racing the direct Emiel Deweerdt pigeons with brilliant success, but in recent seasons Brian has been over to Belgium and brought back several new strains, which have also performed very well. Our good mates, Darren Watson and Peter ‘Fat Wallet’ Mercer, came along for the trip and I must say they were a great laugh and their good company made the two days extra special. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been over the English Channel to Belgium and Holland, but had never visited pigeon lofts out there, apart from spending two days at the ‘Ponderosa’ in Holland, with Hans Eijerkamp and his family in the mid 1990’s. We visited several premier lofts including Schoors & DeWaele of Maldegram and Ronald Heesen of Laren.

I think in this great sport of ours, there are many fanciers who achieve success, but fancier who consistently achieve success over many years are not so common. One such loft that has achieved outstanding success at the highest level for well over 30 years is that of Brian and Angela Goodwin of Hanwoth, near Feltham in Middlesex. In spite of one or two health problems, Brian, had a few races in 2007 and won the Berkshire Federation twice with old birds, winning ten of the thirteen old bird club races he competed in. One of his 2007 Federation winners was the blue chequer hen, ‘My Claire’, bred by Willy Thas of Melle, Belgium. These Thas pigeons are certainly racing well for the Goodwin loft and this game hen has a string of prizes, including 1st Federation Yelverton and 20th Federation Kingsdown. His other 2007 Federation winner, bred by Foxwood Lofts, was the chequer cock, ‘Mercer’, and he topped the Berkshire Federation from Yelverton.

The Goodwin’s breed many winners for other fanciers and in the 2007 season the Charlie and John Cudmore partnership of the Bedfont club won the Federation twice, once with an old bird which also topped the UBI Combine and the other was a youngster. The young bird was a Willy Thas blue hen named, ‘Katie’, which won the Federation from Kingsdown and she was bred by Brian Goodwin from direct Belgium stock birds. The partner’s old bird UBI Combine winner was a Willy Thas blue chequer hen named; ‘Christine’ and she won the combine from Fougeres in France, being sent sitting 12 day old eggs. She was also bred by Brian Goodwin and on her build up to her Combine win she had a couple of inland races, recording 2nd club Kingsdown. The Cudmores have brother to ‘Christine’, bred by Brian and he has been to Bergerac (450 miles) four times with the Classic and has been home four times on the day of liberation, flown natural.

Brian and Angela race in the very strong Spelthorne club and have won many firsts every year, including 1st. Berkshire Federation four times in the last four seasons with young birds. When I asked Brian if he raced on the ‘dark’ system, he replied ‘I tried the system one year and didn’t like it, so race the young birds completely natural. They don’t look as good in the feather, but he finds the natural birds race just as well as those he put on the ‘darkness’. The partner’s champion blue cock, ‘The 22 Cock’, recorded 1st. club, 1st. Berkshire Federation, 2nd. open UBI Combine Poole, 1st. club, 4th. Berkshire Federation Wincanton in the 2005 season and was the champion young bird in the Spelthorne club. Brian and Angela won the Berkshire Federation twice with young birds in the 2006 season and the first was their little Casaert blue chequer cock, named ‘The Casaert Cock’, and he topped the Federation from Lulworth. Brian has had several outstanding racers from Maurice and Gregory Casaert who live at Nichin, on the Belgium / French border. The second Federation winner of the 2006 season was bred by Brian’s good friend Freddy Vandheede of Zingem in Belgium and this handsome blue white flight cock, now called ‘Freddy’, won from Exeter. The Vandheede loft is outstanding on the Continent in middle distance racing, but Brian has had young birds off him every season since 2003 and they have been outstanding at all distances.

Through the years the Goodwin’s have been well known for racing the Emiel Deweerdt pigeons with brilliant success, but in recent seasons Brian has been over to Belgium and brought back several new strains, which have also performed very well. In the 2006 season, Spelthorne club members, Don Herbert and Peter Mercer, won 1st. and 2nd. open UBI Combine Wadebridge and both these two young birds were bred from Brian and Angela’s Willy Thas stock birds. The Goodwin’s have several Schoors – De Waele of Maidegem in Belgium stock birds which have bred some good winners since they imported them. Brian bred a blue pied cock from these birds, now named ‘Bert’, for A. Hand & son of Feltham and in won 1st. club, 1st. Berkshire Federation, 4th. open UBI Combine Saintes. The Hand partnership are relations of the late Feltham fancier, Bert Hand, who was well known many years ago for his good work for the Old Comrades Show. ‘Bert’ is a wonderful looking cock and was bred from a grand-son of the champion Schoors – De Waele blue white flight cock ‘Den Bonten Vincke’.

I have known Brian and Angela Goodwin for over 35 years and you couldn't ask to meet two nicer people. The Middlesex couple won 1st Open SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles) recently and recorded their fourth 1st Open Combine winner in 35 years in the sport. They have won the SMT Combine an incredible four times – from Penzance, Melle and the longest old bird Bergerac race (twice). Brian's latest winner was a little blue Belgian hen raced on the roundabout system having had several good Channel races before winning the very strong SMT Combine from Bergerac. Every now and again he has a trip to Belgium and brings back a few fancied young birds. The blue hen was one of these imports, being purchased at a little loft in Belgium, and he doesn't even know the breeder's name.

Brian first became interested in pigeons at the age of 10, after following his big brother, David, to his friend's house in Isleworth, where they kept pigeons in the back of an old television. Young Brian started catching pigeons under iron railway bridges, with a torch, at night and built up his first flock. Some years later, after upgrading his team, he started racing in the very strong Isleworth Club and won from Exmouth (150 miles) with 196 birds competing. The late Johnny Sampson of Isleworth gave him a lot of good advice and help in those early days. He maintains he owes all his success to Johnny, as he told him how to feed, train and race his birds. Johnny gave him a pair of eggs which produced his winner, with the nest pair recording 1st and 2nd Club Exmouth.

Brian and Angela used to race widowhood but say it is a waste of good hens, so now they race the roundabout system. Brian races only the south route and likes to win every Saturday from the shortest to the longest race. He raced Emiel Deweerdt of Kortemark, Belgium, pigeons, which he introduced in 1978, and pigeons from H. Beverdam of Enter, Holland. He tries six youngsters every year from small lofts in Belgium and Holland, which he started to do in the early 1990s. He maintains the Emiel Deweerdts have been fantastic for him through the years, from any distance, easy or hard, and you can count on them when others don't clock in.

The loft has won the Federation countless times through the years, with the highlights being - 1982:1st Open SMT Combine Melle (smash) 363 miles; 1983: 1st Open SMT Combine Penzance 260 miles; 1989: 4th Open SMT Combine Alencon on (young bird smash) 280 miles; 1991: 1st Open SMT Combine Bergerac 454 miles (won the Combine by 43 minutes); 1996: 1st Open SMT Combine Bergerac 456 miles. His biggest thrill in pigeon racing was when he won the Combine from Penzance in 1983 with his Deweerdt blue cheq cock called ‘The Crippled Cock’ that won the Combine after having half its foot bitten off by a dog and won three times 1st Federation in his great racing career. The Middlesex loft still houses three of their four SMT Combine winners.

Brian feeds his birds on a good mixture and pellets and they are never broken down. Birds are rarely trained beyond 30 miles, getting four tosses a week right through the racing season. His birds are housed in three 24ft lofts, with open door trapping, and he maintains a loft must be dry and likes them closed in. He cleans the birds out twice a year, once before pairing up and then again before the young birds go into their sections. He keeps six pairs of stock birds, 12 pairs of racers, which are all paired up on February 14th, and he breeds 50 youngsters each year. He races his old birds up to 450 miles and never races any further, only competing in the Federation and Combine. Yearlings go through to 300 miles but, if he thinks they are right, one or two are sent to the longest old bird race. Young birds are sent through the full programme to 210 miles. Brian used to enjoy showing his birds, winning Best in Show and Best Opposite Sex in the West Middlesex Federation Show in years gone by and he won the club's Show Shield, many times. Brian and Angela Goodwin two great pigeon racers!

There you have it, Brian Goodwin, a great fancier with a brilliant racing record! I can be contacted on the ‘dog n’ bone’, number: 01372 463480. See yer!

by Holly Klaft

GREENVILLE -- Antonio Ausiello could forget about waiting 'til the cows came home before he headed for bed.

His concern was the pigeons.

"He would sit at the loft and smoke cigars and curse the sun and the windshift," said Ausiello's son, Domenico. "It's nail-biting waiting for those birds."

Ausiello, a longtime Flushing resident and avid pigeon racer, died Saturday at a long-term care center in Greenville after battling pneumonia. He was 86.

Funeral services were planned for today at St. Robert Catholic Church in Flushing.

Ausiello grew up in a family with a passion for pigeon racing and dozens of the birds cooped in a loft in the yard.

He continued the legacy by keeping about 100 pigeons at a time in the loft at his Flushing home and would travel to cities throughout the state to race the birds against sometimes cut-throat or cocky competitors.

"There's a lot of fierce competition racing birds," said Domenico Ausiello, 50, of Greenville, who participated in the sport with his father. "The last thing you wanted was for your phone to ring because that meant someone else's bird had come in."

Though Ausiello didn't always win competitions, he enjoyed participating in them and waiting for the birds to arrive -- even if it meant coaxing reluctant returnees from rooftops, friends and family members said.

"(We'd) sit and wait and watch the sky ... and hope the weather held up," said friend and fellow pigeon racer, Manus Norton of Greenville, who used Ausiello as inspiration for a character in his children's book about pigeon racing.

"He told me to be patient and always be good to your pigeons."

Ausiello's most beloved birds were purchased from a New Orleans pigeon breeder just before Hurricane Katrina hit, Domenico Ausiello said.

Though he had an affinity for racing and raising pigeons, Ausiello's favorite pastime was complaining, said his son Sal, 47, of Flushing.

Ausiello could grumble about anything from pets to people, but the complaints never put anyone off, his son said.

"He did it jokingly because he didn't have a mean bone in his body," Sal Ausiello said. "He got along with everybody and he never knew a person he couldn't stand."

He leaves his sons Domenico and Sal Ausiello; three grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

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