Ralston
Graham of Scotland
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One
of the best pigeon fanciers in Scotland
at present and indeed in the island of
Britain as a
whole is Ralston Graham, past winner of
the Scottish National Flying Club Gold
Cup. The year
was 2002 and the racepoint was Rheims
in France.
Ralston
lives in the Eskvalley and his pigeon
accommodation is known as the Eskvalley
Lofts.
There in nineteen sixty four he started
in the sport where his first stock was
birds received from
a number of local fanciers. From the off
so to speak these lofts were winning as
Ralston won
the Solway Federation Open Young Bird
Race in his first year of racing - nineteen
sixty five.
And the trend continued as the lofts won
1st Sect, 3rd Open Scottish National Flying
Club in
nineteen sixty nine.
With
continuing success- for example the South
Section of the Scottish National Flying
Club
was won on three occasions- and with his
sights set high Ralston brought in new
blood in
nineteen eighty seven and had a re think
in relation to his management regime upto
that time.
Until them it was natural but the Widowhood
(or more to reality- the widowerhood)
system
was introduced and this saw a spate of
wins at the sprint distances. But it was
the desire to
succeed at the longer distances which
saw the introduction of the round about
system and some
new bloodlines. And as the following results
confirm the lofts began to score in the
classics:
1999 SNFC Rennes Blue Riband - 7th Sect,
11th Open, 84th Open
2000 SNFC Messac Blue Riband - 2nd Sect,
2nd Open
2001 SNFC Hastings - 16th Sect, 34th Open
2002 SNFC Rheims Gold Cup - 1st Sect,
1st Open, 5th Sect, 9th Open
2002 SNFC Clermont - 5th Sect, 70th Open
2003 SNFC Reims Gold Cup - 5th Sect, 18th
Open, 23rd Sect, 111th Open
2003 SNFC Clermont - 1st Sect, 6th Open,
7th Sect, 139th Open, 19th Sect, 317th
Open
...
The above results are very good by any
standard especially as the continental
races into the
north of Britain are tough ones. The Scottish
fancier must have the right bloodlines
and proper
management as well as a strong love of
the sport to succeed. And I have no doubt
that Ralston
Graham has what it takes to conquer this
tough route and more will be heard of
the Eskvalley
racers in the future.
In
fact at time of writing, Ralston, I am
told has just won 1st Section B, 1st South
Section, 2nd
Open with his Sporting Challenge entry
Eskvalley Jacky in the 2005 SNFC race
for the Gold
Cup
from Alencon, recording a velocity of
1070.52 ypm. A modern national achievement
from a modern loft and family.

by: Liam O Comain
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