Scotland Home of Long Distance Champions Pt2

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Scotland the home of the long distance champions. (Part 2).

The late, George & Gareth Rankin of Glasgow.

For many years the name Rankin has been at the top of the Scottish National Flying Club long distance results with outstanding consistency. The Rankin loft won 66 S.N.F.C. certifi-cates from 1975 to 1996 and over £11, 700 in national racing. The loft was the only one in the S.N.F.C. to be in the first 25 open positions from the Niort (673 miles) races in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995 and 1996, with the same bloodlines. The loft’s star performers from Niort in the S.N.F.C. races are: ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’: 1989 3rd West Section, 23rd open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Westbound’, son of ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’, 1989 20th West Section, 88th open S.N.F.C. Niort, 1990 1st. West Section, 4th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Hat Trick’, daughter of ‘Westbound’, 1991 3rd West Section, 17th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘The Blue Hen’, granddaughter of ‘Red Rocket’, George’s S.N.F.C. Gold Award winner and ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’, 1995 5th West Section, 25th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Westbound Junior’, son of ‘Westbound, 1995 7th West Section, 36th open S.N.F.C. Niort, 1996 1st West Section, 24th open S.N.F.C. Niort. What a family of pigeons!

George Rankin was born in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland and as a lad kept all sorts of pigeons on his father’s farm in Drumawhey. He sold his tipplers and tumblers and at the age of 11, he purchased his first racing pigeons, including a wonderful black hen from Robert Smith of Newtonnards. Her sire had won Penzance three times to three different addresses. George joined Donaghadu R.P.C. in 1956 and raced 13 young birds, lost two and won a 6th. prize from Bray. In 1954 , the 11 yearlings won the old bird average, winning the last old bird race from Penzance (310 miles), 14 hours on the wing, with a black cock from the Smith black hen. This game cock had reared seven youngsters before going to Penzance. In 1955 he won the coveted ‘Miller Gold Cup’, then valued at £32,000 from Landerneau (427 miles) in a north east wind, liberating at 07.00hrs and clocking the only bird on the day at 21.04hrs, velocity 913 y.p.m., and winning six other trophies and a Gold Medal. A wonderful performance by the young George, as there were only 17 birds clocked in the three days of the ‘Miller Gold Cup’ race. Sire of his Gold Cup winner, ‘Landermeau Express’, was a gift from the top national loft in Ireland of Sloan & Whytes and George said he learned how to race pigeons from 600 miles from Leslie Sloan, a master of racing on the long distance. From 1948 to 1970 Sloan & Whytes were on the Irish National Flying Club , Northern Ireland and Co. Down Federation results from France every year, and the system that George works today is just about the same as the Sloan & Whytes winning system. Leslie Sloan died suddenly in 1971 and George sold his pigeons for his wife in the Muckamore Clubroom in Co. Antrim. In 1968 George won 7th. Open Young Bird I.N.F.C. Penzance (310 miles), 1st. Open East Down Combine and in 1969 won 11th. Open I.N.F.C. Nantes (550 miles), 1st. East Down Combine, with only 99 birds clocked in three days.

The Rankins had several old bird lofts in their Blantyre, Glasgow set up, which totalled a length of 34ft, but only housed 35 natural racing pairs. The 50 young birds were housed in their own 16ft x 7ft loft and although they had a small stock loft, they liked to pair stock birds to the best racers, so all were flying out. George’s son, Gareth, said on my visit to the loft, ‘Good ventilation is very important in a loft and a fancier must keep using a hammer and saw until it is right’. The partners breed about 76 youngsters each year, with about 20 going to charity and club sales, and the rest race through to the young bird national (260 miles). All the old birds are paired about March 10th. each year, as in Lanarkshire in Scotland where they live they have cold Easterly winds early on and they are only interested in the National races from France, in June and July. The young birds fly out to 160 miles with the Lanarkshire Federation, which is the largest in Scotland and about ten are sent to the young bird Worcester National. All two year old and other pigeons are sent to the main four Channel races, if fit, with the S.N.F.C. Sartilly (500 miles) twice, Rennes (540 miles) and Niort (673 miles).

George moved to Scotland in June 1872, with his wife, Marcia, and children, Richard, Gareth and Sharon. In 1984 the racing name was changed to, G. Rankin & son, when his son Gareth became very interested in the birds, at the age of 13, and he is a very good pigeon fancier. Gareth, a 6ft. 6in.tall 30 year old, when I visited the Rankin home, was very keen on long distance racing and had never missed a day at the lofts. The partners’ present family of pigeons has been blended together by themselves to produce pigeons that can fly 16 hours on the day and get going again the second day if needed to finish the job from the long distance. They are nearly all bred down from pigeons flying into Lanarkshire from 500 and 673 miles for the past 45 years. In 1993 they received, as a gift from Joe Murphy & son of Kirkcaldy, Fife, a son of ‘Mystical Rose’, 1st open S.N.F.C. Sartilly. In 1992 and 1994 he was paired to a daughter of ‘Red Rocket’, and result was the Rankin’s S.N.F.C. Gold Award winner and they bred, ‘Double Delight’, winner of 1st West Section, 13th open S.N.F.C. Sartilly in 1996. A young blue cock from David Mawhinney, in 1996, won 1st open Strathclyde Combine, a total of six Federations, from Stafford (220 miles), lifting £641 and a gallon of whisky. George said that it’s a thrill to clock pigeons in from France after 16 hours on the wing, but many of his good birds have been killed by Sparrowhawks and Peregrines, including some with three certificates in the S.N.F.C.

He fed high protein for racing and a super widowhood mixture with best peas for the long distance events. The old birds got lots of safe 18 mile training tosses south of the loft, then after that there are hundreds of Hawks and Peregrines for the next 33 miles to Lockerbie. The young birds got training for only one week before the first race, because of the Hawks, then, just fly out around the loft daily. Most of the birds were sent to the long distance races sitting 14 day old eggs, due to hatch the day of the race. George told me on my loft visit, ’you have to find out what each individual pigeon likes to race to’. He had been Secretary, Treasure and President of the Lanarkshire Social Circle and at that time had been Vice President for many years. They did their stint marking at the local club and Gareth was on the clock committee.

The late, Bobby Carruthers of Bonnyrigg.

On my second trip to Scotland, I visited the National 'ace', Bobby Carruthers. Bobby started up in 1952 with nine young birds and after racing them through to 200 miles was left with eight. He started up when he left school and said all his childhood friends had pigeons. He had recorded countless positions in the first ten of the Scottish National Flying Club results through the years, including 1st open and three times 2nd open. He had had four Gold Award winners and in 1997 won 1st Federation and 4th open Sartilly, 496 miles Scottish National Flying Club on a very hard day. Bobby loved long-distance and said it's for him. He showed us many of his best racers including a blue chequer hen, which in 1995 was raced in the two Sartilly Nationals, being the only bird on the day in Mid-Lothian both times, recording 18th and 24th open Scottish National Flying Club. She had scored many times sent feeding a small youngster, including 7th Federation from a hard Fareham, 360 miles, as a yearling.

Bobby only raced natural, and never paired his long distance team until the end of March. They were not put in a basket until the cold north-east winds have gone, and the weather is warm. They then got a 50-mile training toss every day until they were fit to do their work. They were hopper-fed beans and peas all the year round, but when racing starts they were given a sport mixture as well as the hopper. His hoppers were self-built and had a sloping board on the front, so when the birds threw the beans about, they just roll back into the hop-per. His main old bird loft was double decker, made of brick and had grilled floors with sputnik traps. All his nest boxes were closed in, ideal for long distance racers. The old birds used to get an open loft all the time, but because of the hawk problems in Scotland, Bobby couldn’t do it anymore. They were never let out of the loft in the winter, as he would have birds killed every day by hawks.

The main family was Kirkpatrick originally from the late John Carrnichael of Lockerbie. Bobby bred a lot of youngsters each year because of the hawk problem and the race team was normally about 120 birds. The 26ft young bird loft was kitted out with nest boxes, as he liked his youngsters to pair up for racing and they went to all the way to the National race. He said at the time of my loft visit, the darkness system is bad for the birds in the long term, so he practiced the light system where the young bird loft lights are left on until 22.00hrs every evening until the end of April which pushes the moult on. Bobby maintained basket training is more important than lots of road work. He took a lot of trouble to teach his youngsters to eat and drink in the basket and their first three training chucks were from his front garden to teach them how to come out of it. The young birds got lots of training tosses up to 50 miles before the first race and they raced every week, up to 280 miles. Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (October 2022)

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