The Racers

The Racers

‘The Racers was a piece of land about 300/400 yards long ( as my memory goes ) maybe longer, at the end of the Timbers, that ran alongside the railway, the grass was short, and the ground was flattish

In those day’s gambling was illegal, no betting shops and if you wanted a bet, you contacted a “ Bookies Runner “ as he was known by

This piece of land was used to train Greyhounds, us youngsters were given a few bob ( Pennies ) to be look-outs, 1. On the railway looking towards the Strone, 2. On the railway looking towards the 9 Arches, 3. Looking towards the Timbers, 4, down by the allotments, and 5. Looking towards the Wee Bridge, Gibshill Brae, any sign of Police or strangers, we blew a whistle to alert the trainers, the Police came in numbers and often, and never the same way twice

A Bicycle was used, upturned and the handle secured to the ground, 2 tent pegs, the back wheel had no tyre or inner-tube, a line of thin strong twine about 300 / 400 yards long, tied to the wheel at one end, and at the other end the skin of a rabbit, one trainer would take the skin to one end of the racers, and at a given signal, the men at the bike would turn the peddles by hand very quickly, bringing the rabbit skin towards him, stop watches timed the dog over the distance, this was done over & over, to bring to Greyhounds time down

We constantly played football on the racers, the Gibby didn’t have a football park then, this kept the grass down, which helped the trainers…….that is why that piece of ground became known as “ The Racers “