Keith Mott
Three Borders Federation: Season News 2023 (Okehampton Race 2).
The Three Borders Federation were at Okehampton for the last old bird race of the 2023 season and the convoyer, Dom McCoy produced a good steady race when he liberated at 10.30hrs in to a South West wind. A partnership who appears in the Federation results on a regular basis is, Mirek and Malgorzata Burczak of the Isleworth club and they won 1st, 13th, 14th, 18th, 23rd, 24th Federation Okehampton, recording their second Federation winner of the season. The husband and partnership had a brilliant race from Bodmin earlier in the season, recording 1st, 2nd, 16th Federation, with the first two birds being on the same yardage. Well done to Mirek and Malgorzata! It was the Isleworth club’s day, with another club member, Graham Evans recording 2nd Federation after winning 1st Federation from Yeovil two weeks previously. The Ashridge ‘master’, Terry Goodsell, won 3rd Federation Okehampton and is leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 48 points. This was the last old bird race of the season and the young birds kick off at Wincanton on 29th July.
The first ten in the Okehampton Federation result were: 1) Mirek & Malgorzata Burczak 1405: 2) Graham Evans 1404: 3) Terry Goodsell 1382: 4) Jim Andrews & Son 1380: 5) Terry Goodsell 1379: 6) Jim Andrews & Son 1378: 7) Vic & Lou Emberson 1357: M/M B. Rice & Son 1355: 9) Vic & Lou Emberson 1350: 10) Terry Goodsell 1346. This was race number twelve of the season and at this point the Esher club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 44 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 42 points.
Mirek and Malgorzata Burczak enjoyed brilliant season racing in the Isleworth club and Three Borders Federation in 2022. The weather had been very kind to pigeon racing in that season and it allowed the Three Border Federation convoying crew to produce some great racing for the members. It was no exception for the second to last old bird race from Honiton. The Federation convoyer, Dom McCoy produced a cracking race when he liberated at 07.00hrs in to a South, South West wind. Four week prior to this Honiton race the Isleworth partnership of Mirek and Malgorzata Burczak recorded their very first Federation winner from Kingsdown with their super blue hen ‘Blu’. Two weeks later she came up and won 2nd Federation Yeovil, and then she was the first bird on the ETS again to win 1st Federation Honiton. What a fantastic hen, winning 1st Federation twice and a 2nd Federation in four weeks! Mirek and Malgorzata clocked three birds in six seconds from Honiton to win 1st, 2nd and 3rd Federation and then another seven birds to take 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 24th Federation. The husband and wife partnership race in the strong Isleworth club and although only recorded their first Federation winner that season, they feature on a regular basis in the Three Borders results. Their wonderful ‘Blu’ is a two year old Gaby Vandenabeele roundabout hen and she was bred from Ken Wise stock birds. Mirek told me, he was over the moon with his recent performances, as that was only his fourth season racing pigeons and was delighted to win the Federation twice. Great pigeon racing, well done Mirek and Malgorzata!
Mirek Burczak had pigeons when was a lad back in Poland, but never raced until Malgorzata and he set up their loft up in Isleworth in 2018. In the early days they started with a batch of youngster from Louella Pigeon World and bred babies to enter ‘one loft’ races, and won some good positions, including 5th, 14th and 16th open. Mirek and Malgorzata’s smart loft is 30ft long, with five sections and the ETS clocking system. The present racing team are all bred from stock birds from Ken Wise, John Bradley and Geoff Kirkland, which they are trying to create they own family with. The 25 pairs of racers are all on the roundabout system and are paired up in March, with Federation racing in mind. The racers are put on the roundabout system after sitting their first round of eggs for about a week and during the racing season are fed on a first class ‘widowhood’ mixture, but are never broken down. They are given five training toss up to 45 miles before the first Federation race and then are only exercised around the loft for an hour twice a day during the season.
Mirek says he loves week to week racing in the Three Borders Federation, but once the present channel racing problem is sorted out he would like to have a crack at some long distance racing from France. The Burczak partners like grizzles and say they have produced some good ones from their present stock birds Mirek told me treats and vaccinates the birds in early January and then pairs the stock birds up a couple of weeks later. They breed 50 youngsters to race every year and these get about 15 training tosses up to 45 miles before the first race. They all fly the Federation programme, with some being paired up, but most of them are race to the perch. The babies are fed on ‘Junior UK’ mixture and then go onto the old favourite, ‘Gerry Plus’ for the racing season.
Mirek and Malgorzata have only been racing pigeons a short time, winning many first in the very strong Isleworth club and their many performances in that time in the Three Borders Federation have been outstanding, winning: 2020: 2nd, 3rd, 24th Federation Blandford (1,003 birds), 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th Federation Okehampton (660 birds), 7th Federation Wincanton (761 birds), 14th, 15th Federation Wincanton (783 birds), 22nd Federation Newton Abbot (414 birds): 2021: 8th Federation Wincanton (927 birds), 8th, 14th Federation Okehampton (735 birds), 7th Federation Bodmin (698 birds), 3rd, 4th, 6th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 23rd Federation Kingsdown (485 birds), 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th Federation Wincanton (396 birds), 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10h, 11th Federation Yeovil (407 birds), 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th Federation Honiton (362 birds), 19th, 20th, 23rd, 25th Federation Wincanton (466 birds). The 2022 season has seen them win so far, several firsts in the Isleworth club and 9th, 14th Federation Blandford, 13th Federation Wadebridge, 17th Federation Honiton, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 15th Federation Kingsdown. Well done to Mirek and Malgorzata Burczak and the Isleworth club on a great result!
Text & Photos by Keith Mott (July 2023)
Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang (Scotland). I did two, one week video tours of Scotland in the 1990’s and I was lucky enough to visit many of the ‘legends’ of pigeon racing and showing north of the border. When we hit Glasgow I visited the great show racer loft of Jimmy Fitzpatrick, who was a great help at that time in setting up other loft visit for me in that lovely part of Scotland. This is my account of my loft visit at that time! The great Jimmy Fitzpatrick! A good friend of mine in the Show Racer world is someone I admire for his skill in producing so many show champions, is Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang, near Glasgow. ‘Wee’ Jimmy was in partnership with Roddy Fleming and they had won countless classes and trophies at every Classic show, including B.I.S. R.P. Old Comrades Show (twice), B.O.S. Old Comrades (twice), B.Y.B. Old Comrades (three times), many premier prizes at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show and three times Champion of Great Britain. Jimmy had kept show pigeons over 30 years, previously racing pigeons with his father, and 1971 won three races on the trot in the very strong local club, with over 55 members competing. At the end of the 1971 season Jimmy attended his first classic pigeon show and fell in love with the wonderful show birds he saw. He got rid of his racing pigeons and made his start in Show Racers, with a gift pair of eggs from Charlie Hanner. Later Jimmy met the ‘Master’ show man, Don Spedding of Cumbria, whom he considers to be the greatest stockman of them all! Jim’s show team was housed in a smart six section loft at Cambuslang and the inmates enjoy an attached 24ft. aviary. The 25 pairs of Show Racers didn’t fly out, but were fed in the flight, to encourage them to exercise. Jimmy told me, he let all the birds out once, to try and get them flying out and they were all alright until they went around the house roof out of sight of the loft, and they were lost. Wood chips were used as a litter on the loft floors and the loft had heaters which were used on the night before the big show. The birds were paired up at the end of January and were fed a Channel mixture of beans, peas and tares. Jimmy made up his own seed mixture and fed groats when rearing. This loft competed in about 40 shows in a season and Jimmy maintained he had no favourite colour, but only liked good type. The birds got a bath the day before the big show, but just prior to travelling, the birds drinking water was withheld as the partners maintains their droppings were dryer for the show pen. He liked to enter a team of about 40 pigeons in the Classic and National shows, and had judged all over the U.K. In fact the first time I ever met Jimmy, was when he was judging the Devon & Cornwall show in the West Country, with Alan Spedding of Cumbria. One of the partner’s best pigeons in recent years was the wonderful Red cock, ‘Red Rum’, and he was off Harry Spratt of Belfast bloodlines. This cock had won countless first prizes in big shows and was a champion breeder, being the sire of Classic winners. The many quality stock birds owned by the partners were housed at the Aberdeen home of Gary Coutts and about 150 youngsters were bred each season. Jimmy was a very hard man when it comes to selecting young birds and was happy to retain just one youngster from the whole season’s production. He maintains that when competing at National level only the very best stock will do. There you have it, Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang! Text & Photos by Keith Mott (May 2023)
