In the Netherlands, there is only one national one day long distance race per season. The one in 2019 was flown from Vierzon last Saturday. Besides a national result, there is also a result per sector. There were 26.141 pigeons in this national race. A total of 26,141 pigeons were basketted for this race. The shortest distance was ±480 km, the longest about ±750 km. It was not an easy race. The fastest pigeon managed to fly the distance to its loft at a speed of 1,193 m/m and the last prize was achieved with a speed of 999 m/m. The winners in the four sectors, which we further introduce to you below, are:
Sector 1 8.582 p.: Ide Hoefs (Rekem). Also National winner of 26.141 p. Sector 2 6.402 p.: Gebr van Oort (Klaaswaal) Sector 3 8.065 p.: R.C. Bakker (Veenendaal) Sector 4 3.092 p.: H. Marsman (Zwartsluis)
Ide Hoefs (Rekem), winner Sector 1 8.582 pigeons (also 1th National 26.141 p.)
Through his father, Ide came into contact with the pigeon sport at the age of 13 and after the death of his father in 2003 the pigeons moved to the current address. He works as a production operator at the Celanese in Lanaken. Here he works in varying shifts and during midday shifts he gets some help from his wife Chantal. Together they are the proud parents of the 19-year-old twins Sander and Niels. Total widowhood is raced in a 15-meter long loft. Many successes have already been achieved in recent years, but the National victory over Vierzon that was won by the cock NL18-1350712 is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in his career. "The 712" came exactly from the right direction and after making a half turn it fell on the valve at 14.35.37. With a speed of 1193 m/m he was not only victorious in Sector 1 but he also won the 1st National against 26,141 pigeons. As a yearling, he already won 11 prizes this season, of which his best are:
1th Vierzon S1 8.582 p. (also 1th National 26.141 p.) 11th NPO Montlucon 4.201 p. 28th NPO Rethel 17.242 p. 60th NPO Sens 10.572 p. 72th NPO Rethel 11.086 p. 89th NPO Chalons 5.672 p. As a young bird, he already won 2nd Rethel (1.309 p).
The 712 was bred from the NL14-1351502 x BE13-5140260 pair as you can see here on the pedigree. The 502 itself flew 4 times a 1st prize and the 260 even 5 times. In addition, the 260 is also of great value as a breeding star and, besides being the dam of 1st National Vierzon, she is also dam of 1st NPO Sezanne (19,008 p), 1st Reims (3,539 p), 10th NPO Chalons (5,672 p) and 1st Marche (1,358 p).
Gebr. van Oort (Klaaswaal), winnerr Sector 2 6.402 pigeons
With the van Oort family we end up with a real pigeon family. 'Gebr. van Oort' consists of Kees (42 years old), active as a fancier since 1992, and Gerard (32 years old), active since 2008. In addition, brother Paulus was also active in the pigeon sport (from 1992 to 2008) but became a beekeeper after he moved to another place. Brother Corné was also active with pigeons from 1999 to 2016 and then started racing pigeons for himself in Numansdorp. The favorite distance of the brothers is the long-distance. The victor of Vierzon in Sector 2, Diamond Magic (NL16-1485016), was clocked at a distance of 533 km at 15.26.08 and achieved a speed of 1157 m/p/m. It is not surprising that she was the first nominated pigeon, because she has proven several times that she is capable of achieving great performances. Some nice performances of her are:
1 NPO Vierzon 4.072 p. (also 1 6.402 p. Sector 2) 10 NPO Argenton 5.849 p. (also 11 8.702 p. Sector 2) 14 NPO Issoudun 5.531 p. (also 16 9.766 p. Sector 2) 28 NPO Blois 15.362 p. 16 Melun 3.482 p. 18 Argenton 2.335 p. 18 Bourges 2.845 p. 36 Chateauroux 1.396 p. 38 Chateauroux 1.130 p. 53 Melun 7.156 p. 62 Pontoise 10.995 p. 73 Chateauroux 2.232 p. You can check her complete overview with achievements (updated till 29/06/19)here.
Diamond Magic was bred by Kees and Gerard out of two super performance pigeons (see her pedigree here). Her brother (017) was also a top performer on the races with, among other things, 30th NPO Argenton (5,849 p.), 59th NPO Gien (12,689 p.) and 62nd Chateauroux (1,130 p.). He is now in the breeding loft where he is already father of NL19-323 with a 2nd Quievrain of 511 pigeons.
R.C. Bakker (Veenendaal), winner Sector 3 8.065 pigeons
With the winners of Sector 3 we end up in one of the top lofts concerning the one day long distance races in the Netherlands, father Dolf and son Ruud Bakker. As owners of a confectionery trade, they also have a colony of top pigeons in which the name Koopman is key. As mentioned, their preference goes out to the one day long distance. That they are true specialists on these races, well they prove that once again on this National Vierzon race. Against 8,065 pigeons, they start with the first 5 prizes as you can see below:
Nat. S3 Vierzon 591 km 8.065 p.: 1-2-3-4-5-8-16-19-20-36-47-61-72-etc. (38/50)
Total result: 13x 1:100 (26%), 30x 1:10 (60%) and 38x 1:4 (70%)
Winner is Gérard (NL18-1725369) a 100% Koopman pigeon (Here you can check his pedigree). He was registered at a distance of 591 km with a speed of 1155 m/p/m. His full result on the Vierzon flight is as follows:
1e NPO 2.676 p. 1e Sector 3 8.065 p. 1e Northern Union 11.191 p. 21e National 26.141 p.
H. Marsman (Zwartsluis), winner Sector 4 3.092 pigeons
The 53-year-old Henk Marsman, like so many, also ended up in pigeon sport through his father. Henk prefers the middle and middle distance races. We can say that Henk is a great player in these distances. With a distance of no less than 667 km, Henk managed to win with his 2nd nominated Blue Power (NL17-4287971) in Sector 4 against 3,092 pigeons. Henk basketted 24 pigeons on Vierzon, of which no less than 15 won (1: 4), so also the entire result was fantastic.
Blue Power is a beautiful cock and he is a grandson of the hen 'Bonte Superkweekster'. This Bonte Super breeder is now mother of Suarez (1st NPO and 1st Sector 4 Chateauroux 2015), mother of Miss Leonie (1st NPO Sens), grandmother of Mr. Morlincourt (1st NPO Morlincourt) and now also from Blue Power (1st NPO and 1st Sector 4 Vierzon). Click here for the pedigree of Blue Power. Even as a yearling, Blue Power already won 3rd NPO Chalon and Champagne, so we can speak of a real front-rider here.
National Vierzon with great winners
National Vierzon was definitely a tough flight. Both the speed of the first pigeons and the duration of the competition show this. It is therefore almost obvious, and nice to see, that every Sector is won by a top fancier. Ide, Dolf, Ruud, Kees, Gerard and Henk, enjoy this victory and congratulations again.