1st FCI Continental Racing Pigeon Fair in Budapest: report

After arriving at Schiphol we saw the first familiar faces, so as Evert Jan Eijerkamp and Albert de Jong. After 1 hour and 45 minutes we landed at the airport in Budapest. We then took a taxi to my good friend László Gotthard, also a passionate pigeon fancier. We were allowed to stay in one of his houses in the beautiful centre during our visit to Budapest.

In the evening, together with László and his wife Regina, we dined in a friendly restaurant. The next day we went to the country retreat ( Pigeon Farm as László calls it) together with Harm Vredeveld and Robert Leemhuis. Here we admired his breeding pigeons and racing pigeons. It all looked perfect and the pigeons were in very good condition. László is a nature person and this is also how he keeps pigeons. The breeding pigeons reside outside in the aviary for the entire winter period. By our visit the breeders had just started brooding small youngsters. It is clear that he has good pigeons as 7 of the best 10 pigeons from Hungary are from him.

One pigeon stood out by the racers and that was the Heisenberg a slate cock: a Sangers x Koopman pigeon. He has raced so well that he will definitely be present in the following Olympiad in Slowakia! Harm Vredeveld was very impressed with this pigeon.

The exhibition was officially opened on Friday the 27^th of January at 12 o’colock. On Friday afternoon we visited the exhibition for the first time, it wasn’t very busy. On Saturday there were about 2500 visitors and it was very sociable. Many well-known stallholders were present so as Atx Heating, Geraldy pigeon transport, Van Der Sluis, Taurus, Travipharma, Compuclub, DAC – GPS and Versele Laga. A few stalls with pigoens were: Eijerkamp & Son, Loft M Reijnen, Piet Manders, Emiel Denys. An auction was also held on the Saturday, in which there were a few pigeons from Jan & Kathy Lotterman.

The following countries had enrolled for the 1st European Continental Cup: Romania, Ukraine, Belgium, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Italy (For the official result: see photo gallery). There was a lot of interest in the pigeons enrolled and the security was perfectly handeld. The organisation can loo back at a very successful exhibition.