There鈥檚 more to breeding a champion pigeon than one would think.

Beyond providing them with food and a clean enclosure, you have to be able to spot the characteristics that make a winner.

Grant Lunggren would know.

He has been raising pigeons for 70 years.

鈥淭here鈥檚 more to it than just good feed and lots of practice. It鈥檚 the birds with the drive to get home that make it far,鈥� he said.

Lunggren received his first pigeon at the age of five and has been a fan of the birds ever since. With 100 pigeons nestled on his one-acre property in 91原创, he continues to race them today.

鈥淕uys that are in it that had them when they were kids, they seem to never lose the interest in them,鈥� he said.

Traditionally used to quickly relay messages, pigeons have been used by organizations such as Reuters, the early stock market and even in battle during the First and Second World Wars.

Known as 鈥渟ilent messengers,鈥� pigeons were a way to transport important messages without being intercepted.

Modern pigeon racing didn鈥檛 begin until the early 1800s in Belgium. As races became longer and breeding more precise, the 鈥榩oor man鈥檚 race horse鈥� caught on and spread across Europe.

Popularity of the sport in Canada began in the late 19th century. With more than 20,000 registered lofts in North America today, new generations continue to find excitement in setting pigeons free hundreds of miles away from their lofts, and seeing how quickly they can make it home.

91原创 is home to three pigeon racing clubs, but Lunggren says he鈥檚 seen interest in the hobby decrease over the past few years.

鈥淗ere, the prizes are fairly negligible now,鈥� Lunggren said. 鈥淭here are not many people in it anymore, and they鈥檙e not big betters. In the 鈥�80s there were guys who would make $1,000 bets. There would be up to 2,000 pigeons in one single race from one single club.鈥�

Such numbers don鈥檛 exist locally anymore. However, the sport remains popular in Europe, where races can involve as many as 30,000 pigeons.

For Lunggren it has had no effect on his love for the sport.

鈥淚 was just a kid, thrilled at having some pigeons,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I love just the everything that鈥檚 involved in selecting and  mating certain pairs 鈥� coupling them so you figure the young from them are going to be real good. It鈥檚 exactly what they do with race horses.鈥�

The racing season begins each spring with the older pigeons that have raced in years past, giving time for the young ones to be trained.

Lunggren鈥檚 training process takes about two months and consists of letting the pigeons fly around home, then taking them one mile away and letting them go, then two miles away and so on, until they are taken to the end of the Fraser Valley and beyond.

He says that sometimes he doesn鈥檛 train them at all. He simply takes them up to the race and lets them fly home. Sometimes it doesn鈥檛 make any difference at all.

鈥淛ust like humans and race horses, there鈥檚 smart ones and dumb ones. There鈥檚 some that can figure everything out easy,鈥� he said.

After letting the pigeons out to fly at least once a day, he gives them good feed and water, a clean enclosure and a little love.

鈥淪ome people are real fanatics,鈥� said Lunggren.

鈥淭hey keep the cages so clean you could eat off the floor. But that鈥檚 not the healthy way to keep them. My floors are covered with dried pigeon droppings. And then when another dropping goes in there all of the moisture dries right out of it in 30 seconds and it stays dry and nothing lives in there. So you don鈥檛 have lice, you don鈥檛 have problems that way.鈥�

On race night, pigeons are loaded into boxes and trucked to the starting point. A band with an electronic chip is fastened to the bird鈥檚 leg to time how quickly it flies home.

In the past, timing was done with a rubber countermark that was attached to the pigeon鈥檚 leg and then inserted into a clock that would print the day, hour, minute and second the pigeon arrived home.

And they are fast.

Lunggren says depending on the weather conditions, his pigeons can fly from Manning Park to his home in 91原创 in 45 minutes.

That鈥檚 far faster than driving a car.

鈥淚n the Okanagan I would put them in a 650 mile race. And one year up there we had them home from 650 miles in a little over 10 hours. It would take you a day and a half to drive there,鈥� he said.

But many of them never make it home.

With hawks and falcons preying on them from above, usually the pigeons with the odd colouring or spots are weeded out right away.

鈥淭hese days you want to breed as much as you can so they don鈥檛 have a white patch on their back,鈥� said Lunggren. 鈥淏ecause when they are flying in the group, if there鈥檚 a white one, and a falcon is above, he鈥檚 got something to aim at.

So if the club starts out shipping 100 pigeons, and there are 10 white ones in there, after a few races there will be no more white ones.鈥�

But above the physical characteristics of a bird, to breed a winner you have to strategically play on their emotions as well. Lunggren jokes that one of the best things to do is send out a pigeon with a girlfriend waiting for him back at the loft. This will motivate him to fly home very quickly.

鈥淵ou can see signs in a pigeon that says. 鈥榦h this one is just superb and will win the race,鈥� but the same signs can be in a dud that won鈥檛 even get home. You just need one that has got the real drive to get home. The real 鈥業 don鈥檛 like it out here, I鈥檓 going.鈥欌��

After a lifetime as a pigeon fancier and with many races won, Lunggren says that one of the most exciting moments for him was when his pigeon set a new record.

鈥淔or 70 years or more they鈥檝e been trying to fly from Edmonton into the Lower Mainland, and I had the first pigeon to do it,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hat was 1972, and only a dozen have done it since.鈥�