My Life with Madison McElhone: Meet the 16-year-old pigeon racer with 700 birds

The teenage pigeon racer shares her bond with her birds, the worries of race day and her hopes of encouraging more girls into the sport

16-year-old pigeon fancier, Madison McElhone with her favourite bird Miss Maddie.

It would be great to see more girls my age involved in pigeon racing, but at 16-years-old I continue to be one of very few.

Before I fell in love with the sport I had been spending a lot of time on my phone. It was starting to impact my eyesight and I ended up needing glasses. These days I am on my phone a lot less because all my time is spent with the birds. I have more of a connection with them and it’s been a lot better for my education.

When my dad asked me to help him with the pigeons at the age of 13 I didn’t have much interest. He wanted me to feed and water them when they were having babies. I’ll never forget watching the babies grow up. They were really adorable.

Pigeons begin their lives very ugly but after sprouting feathers they start to turn very cute. I don’t know why but I loved them so much when they were like that. After some time I began to watch them fly. It made me realise this was something I really wanted to do. When the pigeons were going to races I loved sitting with the babies.

My dad never really wanted me to get into racing pigeons because they can be such an affliction with all the time they take up. He bought me some show pigeons, hoping I would take an interest in them instead. Show pigeons are a bit easier because they don’t fly about and just sit and chill with you. You are having to feed them constantly and ensure they have enough water.

It’s also very important to give them the medication they need, whereas show pigeons are more easy going. Despite my dad’s best efforts I still got into the racing. Three years later and I have around 700 birds.

There are too many to name but I do name my favourites. They all have their own personalities. One of them is called Friendship because she won the Friendship National. The other one is called Grunter. She doesn’t like people in general and always grunts when you hold her, hence how she got the name.

Madison McElhone with her father David McElhone who inspired her love of pigeon racing.

I always sit with the pigeons and pet them before a race. I feed them peanuts which makes them very happy and excited. Sometimes I talk to them. I tell them not to be scared and that they will make it home. It’s funny to see them just sitting there and wondering what I’m actually saying.

It can be a worrying time when you are preparing pigeons for a race. Some of my favourite pigeons have never made it back. While it worries me, it worries my daddy even more. He’s the worst for it but I’m not much better. I try to reassure myself that they will do their best to make it home and that my dad and I have done our part. If any of my pigeons don’t make it home I’m still very proud of them because of how far they have come.

Often times people will find the pigeons and return them to us. Most people are very nice but you can definitely tell the people who own pigeons from the ones who don’t.

The majority of us will try to sort out a location and time for us to collect. One man was getting very impatient with us because he really wanted to go home. We told him that we could be there in an hour but this wasn’t soon enough for him.

He wanted us to be there in a matter of minutes but we were too far away to make it that soon. It was the end of the day and he was very tired. I think all he wanted was to finish his day and go home.

We made it to him in 45 minutes. He had left the bird there in a box. Luckily, there was nothing wrong with the bird and it was perfectly fine when I got there.

Some people don’t understand what attracts me to pigeon racing. Even one of my best friends thinks they are disgusting. Others are curious, but they are also scared of them so I don’t think they would come out to see them. I do have one friend who enjoys the pictures I send of the pigeons from my phone. I don’t really take the negative things people say about pigeon racing to heart because this is just their opinion.

Sometimes people can be critical of pigeon racing on social media. You get the few people who say that it’s cruel and that we shouldn’t do what we are doing. However, in my opinion they were born to do this.

Flying and coming home is what they enjoy most. They want to come home because they know that they are loved.

• Madison will be among the judges at a charity pigeon event set to take place at the Woodford Dolmen Hotel in Carlow on October 24 and 25, with a charity auction to raise funds for St Lazarian’s Special School.