Last Saturday at 13h30 the go-ahead was given for St.Vincent. In the south of France thousands of pigeons took to the air to return home to the Netherlands. ‘De Bonte Sjra’ braved rain, gusts of wind and darkness. After having raced for 998km he arrived in Grathem just after midnight, to then dive into the trap.
‘De Bonte Sjra’, with ring number 09-1478602 has the following honours list:
1st National St.Vincent 2011 Sector 1, fastest of 25604 pigeons 15th National Cahors 2010 Sector 1 against 13185 pigeons 110th National Bordeaux 2010 Sector 1 against 13242 pigeons 1st yl Ace bird Multi day long distance Cahors and Bordeaux 2010, Provincial
Huub Joosten lives with his wife Hannie in Grathem. Last year his pigeons performed remarkably:
12th prov. Cahors morning liberation 15th national Cahors afternoon liberation (9th provincial) 18th national Perpignan 61st national St.Vincent 62nd national Perpignan 110th national Bordeaux afternoon liberation (46th provincial)
Huub had nest pigeons for St.Vincent wherefrom 6 cocks and 5 hens. ‘De Bonte Sjra’ left as second nominated. This nest cock left behind 3-day old youngsters. The name refers to Huub’s father, as homage. Huub clocked the 11 nest pigeons at 02:03,07:27,08:07,08:35,08:54,09:14,09:24,10:02,10:40,10.43 and 12h03, and all home. Seven pigeons have won a prize provincially and probably eight nationally. Huub has raced his pigeons with a nest since 2007. He has 36 to 40 couples. He prefers to race the whole couple in the same race. The nest pigeons train compulsory ever morning between six and seven o‘clock and also between six and seven in the evening. In preparation to St. Vincent ‘De Bonte Sjra’ raced the following races: Rethel (200 km.), Reims (250 km.), Sezanne (300 km.), Sens (400 km.) and Tours (500 km). The majority of the pigeon stock from Huub consists of Saya pigeons. He obtained them via Jan Straetemans from Thorn and P.Stammen and son from Horn. He also has pigeons from a.o. Theelen, Ravelli-Ramakers, Ton Vorselen, Har Rous and Jan Corstjens . From 1997 up to and including 2003 Huub raced in combination with his friend Lalieu. They now both race independently. In addition to the remaining friendship there is also the joint breeding. ‘De Bonte Sjra’ was bred out a very good family line. So is the ‘602’ a.o. family of the 2nd national Tarbes and the 7th national Barcelona. Last year Huub Joosten was 1st General Multi day long distance not nominated in District Maasdal. And in 2008 he was 1st loft champion Multi day long distance from province Limburg. Winning first prize National St.Vincent has put Huub Joosten firmly on the card. The opposition will have to adjust the sails to keep up with the pigeons of Huub Joosten in the future. On Saturday the pigeons literally had the wind in their sails. But the pigeon stock of Huub is no driftwood, it is fashioned out of the best wood. This ensures that by headwind Huub has the wind on his side, figuratively speaking. In other words, the Huub Joosten loft in Grathem won’t blow over, it’s here to stay.
Huub Joosten with his wife Hannie Congratulations are conveyed by Chairman Mr. Lalieu