Vegas lures a different pigeon

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 9 a.m.

More than 180 homing pigeons were released in Northern Nevada on Monday to make a 330-mile trek to their loft near Blue Diamond Road in the fourth annual Vegas Classic race.

The race, which finishes on a strip of desert owned by the airport in a rural residential area near Blue Diamond Road and Arville Street, pays the first-place bird about $50,000.

Las Vegas is home to four major pigeon races, due in part to zoning regulations that allow homeowners in areas known as "ranch estates" in Las Vegas to house 300 birds. Clark County allows 20 pigeons per lot in rural residential areas.

Vegas Classic organizers Ed Sittner and Rick Phalen were granted a special use permit by the county to hold the race. They house the pigeons in a loft on Sittner's property in Enterprise Township.

Racers from across the country ship their birds to Phalen and Sittner to train for the race. The birds are taken short distances from the loft and released so that they can home in on the loft and return. As race day gets closer, the birds are released from farther and farther away.

For $1,500, four pigeons can be housed at the loft and entered into the race. Each of the birds, which can cost up to $2,000, is fitted with a band on its leg that contains a computer chip, which records which pigeon crosses the finish line first.

Officials with the American Racing Pigeon Union, a national organization that represents more than 600 clubs and 10,000 members, say that the sport is growing slowly but surely.