The great start in April and May after having won the title of 1st National Champion Heavy Middle Distance Old birds & Yearlings in 2022 was described in this article. Thereafter, the Vercammen pigeons went on to complete another successful season.
It is known that the pigeons of Jos and Lars do well in warm weather and in races with headwind. There were plenty of races with such conditions in May and June. It is no surprise that on the first National heavy middle distance races they achieved beautiful results:
On 27th May 2023, Bourges I (472km) was raced and Hok Jos Vercammen immediately placed 4 pigeons within the Provincial Top 10, all good for a National Top 100 result:
National 21,075 Old birds: 67-73-83-…
Provincial 3,130 Yearlings: 10-…
National 18,729 Yearlings: 84-…
It was the super hen Blanca (BE21-6138132), who was the first to arrive on Bourges I and thereby won 1st Club and 4th Prov. Bourges I against 2,468 p. Blanca is a granddaughter of stock breeder Elektro, and was already important last year in winning the National title Heavy Middle Distance Old birds & Yearlings.
A week later on Argenton I there were again 4 pigeons who won prizes within the National Top 100. Moreover, on Melun there were several pigeons at the front of the pack, amongst the fastest pigeons of the whole release.
National 15,210 Yearlings: 10-80-…
National 11,295 Old birds: 18-90-107-164-…
24/06/2023 Melun (310km)
Fastest pigeons of the complete release in the province Antwerp against 4,033 pigeons: 5-7-8-9-18-21-22-23-…
Even after the weather change halfway into the season, the top results continued under very different conditions. On 22nd July for instance, the national race from Chateauroux was flown. It would be a great success for the whole team! A total of 64 old birds and yearlings were basketed, of which 47 pigeons won prizes. A staggering 21 pigeons won prizes in the National Top 200! Seven pigeons even won prizes in the National Top 100.
National 13,096 Yearlings: 16-35-55-77-101-116-122-123-141-165-186-189-192-200-235-… 30/45
National Zone 2,312 Yearlings: 5-10-14-22-29-34-36-37-47-53-61-62-63-67-80-81-83-91-92-…
National 8,075 Old birds: 6-28-78-122-152-171-173-240-242-… 17/19
National Zone 1,332 Old birds: 3-11-32-48-60-65-67-91-92-…
6th National Chateauroux against 8,075 pigeons was won by Blue Widow (BE21-6138360). She is bred from top racer and breeder Puncher (BE17-6025361) (son of Olympic Elektro) and Daughter Elektro (BE08-6174630). This was not her first top result, as she had previously won the following prizes during her racing career:
1st Sermaises 1,044 p.
3rd Quievrain 389 p. (behind 2 loft mates)
12th Fastest Provincial Quievrain 9,452 p.
Another noteworthy result was on Bourges of August 13th. That day, Jos and Lars added another victory to their palmares. In the Zone they took the win in the old birds race with Green Queen (BE21-6138069). This granddaughter of both Elektro and Mustang, won 1st Nat. Zone Bourges against 1,653 pigeons. Another true winner descending directly from the heart of the Hok Jos Vercammen colony. Father is Green Elektro and mother is Mustang Princess.
This Zonal victory is another highlight on the beautiful palmares of Green Queen:
1st Fastest Melun 2,013 p.
1st Melun 725 p.
2nd Melun 513 p.
2nd Fastest Provincial Noyon 290 p.
2nd Melun 126 p. (behind loft mate)
4th Fastest Provincial Melun 1,279 p.
Besides the Zonal victory, the total result achieved on Bourges was spectacular. With 26 pigeons in the Top 80 Zonal and 42 pigeons winning prizes 1:10, almost the whole loft managed a great result:
1-5-8-12-16-18-21-24-33-35-36-37-48-49-50-54-55-56-57-59-60-65-66-74-75-80-90-96-97-…
National 9,922 Old birds:
10-31-45-55-67-75-94-105-132-136-146-147-180-183-191-214-216-219-220-226-227-… 57/98
The result from Argenton on 26th August is worth taking a closer look at. With 12 pigeons from Hok Jos Vercammen in the National Top 100, it was another success. Impressively, 34 out of 96 pigeons won prizes 1:10.
The first to arrive was the blue hen with ringband BE22-6020065. The 'Het 065' won 13th Nat. Argenton against 3,990 pigeons and has several stars from the Hok Jos Vercammen colony in her pedigree. She is a granddaughter of Iron Man and Shakira (daughter Elektro) and we also find Origi in her pedigree.
The second arrival on this Argenton was BE21-6138112 another grandson of Elektro and Mustang. He thereby won 14th National Argenton against 3,990 pigeons.
Even though the season is over, the ambition stays sky high right until the end. On September 3rd on Noyon this was also the case. The young birds were raced on the short distance on Sunday as preparation for Chteauroux a week later, the final race of the national program. It was the first time these youngsters had to take on tough conditions in 2023. Heat and wind were not in their favor, but like we mentioned before, these are the conditions in which the Vercammen pigeons excel...and it showed!
With the two fastest pigeons of the whole province and 9 pigeons amongst the 20 fastest pigeons of the whole province, there was no stopping these youngsters...
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-17-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-35-36-37-39-… 60/91
Fastest pigeons province Antwerp 5,511 pigeons:
1-2-4-9-11-14-15 -17-18-32-35-38-39-47-55-68-100-…
First to arrive was the blue hen BE23-6062309. She won 1st Fastest Provincial Noyon against 5,511 pigeons. She previously also won 2nd Noyon against 1,219 pigeons, good for the 25th Fastest Provincial against 10,599 pigeons. Parents of the 309 are Golden Milos and Sugar Mama.
Supreme Allrounders
Their colony's class also results in a load of references. We will come back to the topic of references in-depth at a later date, but these pigeons thrive around the world. For instance, the most important race in Sweden (the King's Cup) was won by a pigeon with primarily Vercammen blood. In the Netherlands, Combinatie van Rooij managed many top results thanks to the Vercammen stock, and Vercammen pigeons also performed in Poland, Taiwan and China. In short, the pigeons from Hok Jos Vercammen seldom disappoint!