TWO brothers have shown they have the golden touch when it comes to racing pigeons.

Fanciers Brian and Keith Simpson have recently won their fourth gold medal for pigeon racing after one of their birds was first home again.

Explaining the duo's recipe for success, chemical worker Keith, 45, said: "It's hard work, dedication and faith in your birds and giving them motivation.

"It's like a boxer preparing for a fight.

"He can prepare three months for a fight, but knock his opponent down in the first round.

"For the next fight he will train the same way. We do this on a weekly basis, 26 weeks of the year."

The pair, specialists in inland races, have become legends in the Up North Combine, which stretches 60 miles from the fishing village of Staithes to the Scottish Border.

Both are members of Skinningrove Homing Society where the last time anyone won four gold medals was in 1928.

The brothers first topped the Combine in 1987 when Dark 18 streaked home ahead of 24,644 birds to win the Up North Combine old bird race from Folkstone in 1987.

Dorothy won the same race in 1999, against 22,359 birds.

Their third gold came last year, when O Carole won top Combine honours in the old bird Ashford National, out of an entry of 23,041 birds.

Their fourth gold was won by Dorothy's daughter, Gone in Sixty Seconds, which covered 254 miles in only four hours and 57 minutes.

Brian and Keith have become one of only three lofts to win the Up Combine on four occasions since the 1920s.

One pair of their pigeons bred 36 winners. "We have been lucky," said Keith Simpson.

"We stick to a routine. We feed them at the same time and exercise them at the same time."

He said: "We have faith. Our pigeons have the ability to go and win a fifth gold."