David
The 38 year old fancier who works as a builder started the middle distance season with two provincial first prizes. In the first flight of the season from Vierzon he took the win with ‘Amber’ and ‘Merdart’. Two more provincial victories would follow: one with the young birds from Vierzon and one with the old birds from Gueret. His loft houses about 40 breeding pairs, 28 racing hens, 32 widowers and approximately 120 young birds.
Until 1994 David had no idea what pigeon fancying was. It was his friend and colleague Alfond Dossche who introduced him to the sport. Alfons bred a round of youngsters for David and in no time he became a pigeon enthusiast. Some time later David came into contact with Freddy Vandenheede and Johan De Vroe. David was very successful with the bloodlines of De Vroe in the late 1990s. His Iron Lady won the title of Provincial Ace Pigeon East Flemish Youth Club and he achieved many top results with pigeons of Freddy Vandenheede and Andre & Patrick Desmet as well.
The stock pair of the Vermassen family is Bonte Crack x Sayenne. The two birds originate from excellent pigeons. Bonte Crack is for instance a pure son of ‘Frans’ of Freddy & Jacques Vandenheede. Frans is in turn a direct son of the “Dream Couple De Rauw-Sablon” x Griezel 934/96, which makes it a descendant of the world famous ‘Topkweker Freddy’ from the late Pros Roosens. The dam of David’s stock pair, Sayenne, is a daughter of Iron Lady, the hen that won the title of Provincial Ace Pigeon East Flemish Youth Club, as well as a first National Argenton Zone A. This breeding pair has bred superior descendants, including the national winner from Gueret, the second Olympiad Pigeon Middle Distance Ostend 2007 and the first Olympiad Pigeon Cat. H Poznan 2011.
David met zijn trouwe helpers
Top results in 2012
At the end of the season he had 18 first prizes, four of which were at provincial level:
22/04 Noyon reg. 1st against 156 yearlings 22/04 Noyon reg. 1st against 81 old birds 06/05 Noyon reg. 1st against 300 yearlings 19/05 Noyon reg. 1st against 754 old birds 19/05 Vierzon reg. 1st against 363 old birds 19/05 Vierzon prov. 1st against 5,893 old birds 19/05 Vierzon prov. 1st against 2,738 yearlings 26/05 Bourges reg. 1st against 492 yearlings 02/06 Limoges reg. 1st against 326 old birds 21/07 Dourdan reg. 1st against 721 young birds 21/07 Soullac reg. 1st against 190 old birds 04/08 Vierzon reg. 1st against 720 young birds 04/08 Tulle reg. 1st against 137 old birds O4/08 Tulle reg. 1st against 331 yearlings 04/08 Vierzon prov. 1st against 4,058 old birds 08/09 Guerret reg. 1st against 59 old birds 08/09 Guerret prov. 1st against 411 old birds 08/09 Guerret Beide Vlaanderen. 1st against 154 old birds
Championships 2012
Fanciers who achieve good results every week will automatically win prizes in the championships at the end of the season as well. These are the most important championship titles:
3rd General Champion East Flanders 2nd Provincial Ace Pigeon Long Distance 6th Provincial Champion Long Distance 7th General Champion FVOV 3rd Championship FVOV young birds 4th Championship OVV interprovincial young birds 4th Championship Belgium National Long Distance Trophy 3rd Championship Light Long Distance four days Zwalmvallei 1st Champion Extreme Middle Distance old birds Union&Liberté 2nd Champion Extreme Middle Distance yearlings Union&Liberté 2nd Champion Long Distance and Extreme Middle Distance Union&Liberté Ace Pigeon one day long distance Lokeren
The highlights of 2012
Amber, a wonderful hen
Amber is one of the stars in this loft. This is a hen many fanciers can only dream of. Up to now she has already won 63 prizes per ten, including doubles. She is for instance winner of Blois prov. 8th against 2,595 birds, Montrichard 11th against 2,191 birds, Bourges prov. first against 1,558 birds, Bourges nat. 9th against 10,906 birds, Gueret nat. third against 2,953 birds, Vierzon prov. 23rd against 8,336 birds, Argenton nat. 81st against 11,001 birds, Vierzon prov. first against 5,893 birds, Chateauroux 147th against 3,833 birds and Montluçon 840th against 17,865 birds. This is only a small selection of top prizes. She has already won five first prizes in her career.
‘Amber’ 4091372/08 is a daughter of Marcus paired with Solange. Marcus was a top class racer and he seems to have excellent breeding qualities as well. He was winner of a first prov. Chateauroux against 4,854 birds and a 5th prov. Chateauroux against 3,202 birds. He is also the sire of Jamal, winner of a 2nd prov and a 9th prov from Bourges and Vierzon respectively. He was bred by Marc Helleputte from Merelbeke as a son of a cock of Gilbert Meire from Huise and a hen of Robert De Laere from Adegem. Solange, the dam of Amber, originates from Ben-Ami, a pigeon that was obtained from a fancier from Evergem paired with Bouillonneke, bred from a pure Van Den Heede.
Amber
Medart wins provincial from Vierzon after a difficult start
Medart had smallpox as a young bird so his results were not very good. He was lucky that he had a good sister and a fancier who believed in him. His results alone would not have been good enough to keep him in the loft. He was basketed twice for Dourdan and he won a small prize. The fact that David decided to keep him proves that he is a fancier with an eye for talent.
Medart had several great races this season. He won for instance a 12th prize against 373 birds from Noyon, he was second from Noyon against 300 birds and he won a first prov. prize from Vierzon against 2,738 birds. Medart was bred from Casper, a successful cock himself with for instance a 16th prov. from Blois against 1,944 pigeons, a 9th from Toury against 434 pigeons and a 47th from Orleans against 5,510 birds. Casper stems from the stock pair of this loft: ‘Bonte Crack’ x ‘Iron Lady’. The ‘Bonte Crack’ is the sire of for instance Olympic Dreamgirl (first Olympiad Pigeon in Poznan), ‘t Superieurke (2nd Olympiad Pigeon Ostend and Kytana and dam of 2nd nat. Bourges). The sire of Medart (Bonte Crack) has the bloodlines of for instance De Rauw-Sablon, Rene Van Den Heede, Jef De Ridder, etc.
The dam of Medart is a hen of Bart Piens. He gave her to David to see what she could do as a yearling hen. When the season started she always returned to the loft immediately instead of flying around; she could not be used as a racing hen. Eventually he decided to remove her from the racing loft and to pair her with a widower.
Medart
De Fighter (BE08-4091288)
These are the results of De Fighter:
Limoges old birds:
reg. 1st zgainst 326 prov. 4th against 3,466 nat. 12th against 13,781
Souillac old birds:
reg. 5th against 190 prov. 68th against 1,934 nat. 370th against 7,760
De Jonge Fighter (BE11-4241221)
De Jonge Fighter was very successful in 2012, with the race from Tulle as highlight. His best results this season:
Chateauroux yeralings:
reg. 36th against 464
prov. 104th against 4,019
zone. 307th against 6,962
nat. 364th against 15,902
Argenton yearlings:
reg. 30th against 791
prov. 74th against 5,548
zone. 109th agaisnt 8,476
nat. 296th against 22,384
Limoges yearlings:
reg. 5th against 420
prov. 41st against 4,573
zone. 76th against 7,419
nat. 177th against 17,735
Tulle yearlings:
reg. 1st against 331
prov. 4th against 2,490
zone. 11th against 3,473
nat. 14th against 10,251
Man O’War (BE09-4030733)
Man O'War achieved three national top results:
Limoges yearlings:
reg. 7th against 326
prov. 57th against 3,466
zone. 238th against 5,957
nat. 261st against 13,781
Souillac old birds:
reg. 1st against 190
prov. 5th against 1,934
nat. 60th against 7,760
Tulle yearlings:
reg. 1st against 137
prov. 10th against 1,345
zone. 72nd against 2,460
nat. 81st against 6,817