As many of you undoubtedly know, since 2019, three different countries have participated in the races under the Jan Hooymans flag. In the Netherlands Jan together with Christian van de Wetering form Team Hooymans NL (Wijk en Aalburg, NL), in Belgium the sceptor is held in the lofts of Gregory Bekaert in Mol for Team Hooymans BE (Mol, BE) and since 2020 Wout Spierings represents Team Hooymans WVL in Desselgem. In England Jan together with John Crehan form Team Hooymans UK (Salford, UK). All these lofts are annually supplied with youngsters that are bred in the breeding lofts of Jan Hooymans in Kerkdriel, and it will hardly surprise you that almost all these young talents carry the blood of the legendary Harry. (NL07-2007621). The performances in all these lofts above have been at an exceptionally high level for years. Below we will review a number of highlights of the past year that were achieved by the various teams. You can read all of the highlights for the 2019 season here.
Team Hooymans BE
Super year! This is the best way to describe the 2020 season. With as many as 7 provincial victories in the strong Province of Antwerpen, and this all with yearlings, the first season competing with old pigeons is therefore one to frame. Below is a summary of a number of highlights, as well as a number of toppers of 2020:
7x 1e Provincial Antwerpen
45x top 100 National KBDB
1e PIPA ranking Extreme Long Distance Int. races
1e PIPA ranking best Chateauroux Pigeon
NL19-1022194 Brenda, 1e National Argenton yl. 26.085 pigeons 2020
Brenda (named after the daughter of Gregory) is a compact checker hen. As a youngster she won 14e National- Zone from Argenton against 4.796 pigeons. Her father is De 400 (1e Nat. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance, Harrie Kennes). Mother of Brenda is an inbred daughter of Harry x 5005 (daughter Da Vinci x Hilde , Sister Harry). From this pairing Team Hooymans UK also had a top pigeon. In addition, Brenda's nest mate is an excellent racer and won 143rd against 26,085 pigeons in the same Argenton. some of Brenda's great performances are:
14e Nat.Z Argenton II 4.796 p.
124e Chateauroux III 549 km 19.529 p.
NL19-1021441, 1e PIPA Ranking Extreme Long Distance Int. Races 2020
The 441 can rightly be called a topper. As a yearling he won a 7e National Narbonne yl. (1e Provincial) and on National Agen he was top again with a 41e National yl. We also see the legendary Harry line in the pedigree of the 441 with the granddam of the 441 being a full sister of Harry.
NL19-1022973, Best Chateauroux Pigeon 2020 (2 prizes) PIPA Ranking
This granddaughter of both Harry and New Harry wins a 4th and 7th National 2x peaking at National Chateauroux. With this she became the Best Chateauroux Pigeon 2020 in the PIPA Ranking. as a yearling she won no less than 4 top prizes in the one day National Long Distance races:
7e Nat. Chateauroux 33.833 p. (also 1e Prov)
71e Nat. Argenton 26.085 p.
329e Nat. Issoudun 18.176 p.
NL19-1023151, Did It Again, 2x 1e Provincial
A topper that should not be missing from this list is Did It Again. A yearling cock who won 2x 1st Provincial and has therefore more than earned his name. In the pedigree of this topper we find a.o. Beauty Harry (son Harry) and also Alexia (sister Harry). The 2 Provincial victories were also 2 absolute top prizes National:
3e Nat. Argenton 4.606 p.
As mentioned above, the lofts in Mol have won no fewer than 45x top 100 National this year. The top 10 National is shown below:
2e Nat. Argenton I KBDB 26.085 p 579 km nl 1023202-19 Child H.Junior
2e Nat. Chateauroux III KBDB 2.721 p 550 km nl 1023151-19 Gr.c Beauty H
3e Nat. Chateauroux III KBDB 2.721 p 550 km nl 1023235-19 Gr.c H
3e Nat. Argenton II KBDB 4.606 p 579 km nl 1023151-19 Gr.c Beauty H
4e Nat. Tulle KBDB 4.451 p 677 km nl 1023134-19 Child Hali
4e Nat. Chateauroux III KBDB 2.721 p 550 km nl 1022973-19 Gr.c H & NH
7e Nat. Chateauroux I KBDB 33.833 p 550 km nl 1022973-19 Gr.c H & NH
7e Nat. Narbonne KBDB 4.120 p 910 km nl 1021441-19 Gr.c. Alexia
8e Nat. Argenton II KBDB 4.606 p 579 km nl 1022958-19 Gr.c H
9e Nat. Chateauroux III KBDB 2.721 p 550 km nl 1022109-19 Gr.c NH
In Mol (BE) it was also a successful season in 2019, when starting with the youngsters, as shown by the results below:
1e Prov. Champion KBDB (Long Middle Distance Youngsters)
2e Prov. Ace Pigeon KBDB (Long Middle Distance Youngsters)
4e Best Youngster PIPA ranking (4 pr)
4e Best Youngster PIPA ranking (4 pr)
Team Hooymans UK
We can also speak of a successful collaboration between Jan Hooymans and John Crehan at Team UK, which has been flying under this name since 2019. Also in the years before flying under the name Team UK, John was already very successful with Hooymans pigeons, and two seasons ago (2018) he had no less than 2 Olympiad pigeons for England. Both were direct Hooymans. Team Hooymans UK also became legendary by winning the “Gouden Duif UK / Ireland” title 2 years in a row!
In 2019, Team Uk won no fewer than 24 times 1st prize, of which you can see the best below:
Worcester 779 p.: 1-2-8-etc. (1e prize NL17-709 from son James Bond x dgtr Harry)
Tewkesbury 968 p.: 1-5-8-etc. (1e prize NL17-561 from brother Harry x dgtr Dream Pair Mevr. Snellen)
Nat. Carentan 1.947 p.: 1 (1e prize NL19-668 (Lilly Bear) from son New Harry x dgtr. Harry x Alexia)
In 2020 a relatively small racing team (25 couples) competed in the races. You can see that the results were again of a very high level in the highlights below:
4x 1e prize in Groot Verband plus 1e Grand National:
1e Wollaston 4.273 p. 115 km
1e Cheltenham 3.511 p. 180 km
1e Hullavington 1.951 p. 225 km
1e Tewkesbury 1.470 p. 170 km
1e Grand Nat. Yeovil 1.045 p. 295 km
The 1e Wollaston (4.273 p) and the 1e Hullavington (1.951 p) were won both by children of Prodigy. Prodigy, the nestbrother of Olympic Jan and bred by Jan Hooymans, was himself a talented racer on the racing team of Team UK. Prodigy himself is now in the breeding lofts of Jan in Kerkdriel and he already produced 2 winners for Team UK.
Team Hooymans NL
In Netherlands Jan together with Christian form Team Hooymans NL. Christian has been flying direct Hooymans pigeons from his home location in Wijk en Aalburg since 2015. This success has more than been proven for years. In the tough season of 2018 he ended up winning the title of Best Fancier of the Netherlands by WHZB/TBOTB and 2e National Champion One Day Long Distance NPO. Also in 2019 there were again great successes such as for the 2nd season in a row 1e Provincial Champion Short Distance Department 7 Middle Netherlands, the 1e National Ace Pigeon Middle Distance of the Netherlands with “Eva” and the 1e National Chateaudun against 12.995 pigeons with “Brave Harry”. In addition, the prestigious Gouden Duif title of the Netherlands was also won. A unique achievement because Team Hooymans won in 2019 both the Gouden Duif title in the UK/Ireland and also in the Netherlands!
Even now in 2020, a relatively small racing team of 25 couples achieved countless success, the most important of which:
2x 1e Total release
19x top 100 on NPO One Day Long Distance Races
2e Prov. Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance Department 7 (NL18-5002185)
4e Nominated Olympiad Pigeon Short Distance (NL18-5002454 Lieke)
6e Nominated Olympiad Pigeon Middle Distance (NL16-1663249 Special boy)
9e Nominated Olympiad Pigeon Allround (NL16-1663249 Special boy)
NL18-5002454 Lieke
Lieke is a daughter of New Harry, and also a grandchild of Harry, which plays an important role in all satellite lofts. Lieke won the following prizes below 2x TT and earn a.o. 4e Nominated Olympiad Pigeon Short Distance:
1e Lessienes 1.472 p.
2e NPO Sezanne 11.709 p.
3e Lessienes 4.097 p.
4e Niergnies 2.986 p.
7e NPO Roye 5.996 p.
7e Bierges 2.124 p.
8e Soissons 15.127 p.
28e Prov. Pont S.Max 11.845 p.
29e Niergnies 6.938 p.
8e Nat. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance WHZB/TBOTB 2019
9e Nat. Ace Pigeon The Allerbeste Yl. 2019
11e Nat. Ace Pigeon Short/Middle Distance PIPA ranking 2019
4e Nominated Olympiad Pigeon Short Distance 2020
As you have already read above, New Harry is Lieke's father. New Harry has been in the breeding loft for 3 and a half years and has already put together a mega list of refernces with more than 40 prizes won in the top 10 Nat. / NPO / or Provincial races! According to Jan Hooymans, he lives up to his name as the new Harry.
NL16-1663249, Special Boy
Special Boy has been one of the eye-catchers in Christian's loft for years. As a son of Strong Trilboy x Sister Harry 512 he has a whole series of top prizes (20 x 1:100) with no fewer than 2 nominations for the Olympiad , and was 6e nominated Middle Distance and 9e nominated Allround. Below you can see some top performances of Special Boy:
6e NPO Pont St. Max. 5.658 p.
7e NPO Chateaudun 2.796 p. (also 12e Nat. 8.435 p)
10e NPO Melun 7.140 p.
15e Nat Bourges 8.019 p.
16e NPO Fay aux L. 4.050 p.
18e NPO Chateaudun 1.974 p.
2e Lessines 4.097 p.
2e Pont St. Max. 1.207 p.
5e Morlincourt 1.555 p
10e Niergnies 2.986 p.
10e Asse Zellik 1.000 p.
15e Melun 3.447 p.
17e Peronne 4.097 p.
17e Nanteuil 3.607 p.
etc, etc..
6e Nominated Olympiade Pigeon Middle Distance 2020
9e Nominated Olympiade Pigeon Allround 2020
1e NPO Afd.7 Ace bird Middle Distance 2018
2e Prov Ace Pigeon Middle Distance Afd. 7 Midden Netherlands 2018
7e Nat Ace Pigeon Pipa Ranking Middle Distance of the Netherlands 2019
NL18-5002185, 2e Provincial Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance Department 7
The 185 is a son of Blue New Harry (son New Harry). This Blue New Harry is the father of this 2e Provincial Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance 2020 but also the father of NL19-1022956, 8e Provincial Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance 2020 which was won in the lofts of Jan in Kerkdriel. So in the same year the 2nd and 8th Provincial Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance were bred from the same cock, but raced from 2 locations.
The 185, 2e Provincial Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance 2020, has been a winner for 2 years, especially in the one day long distance races. You can see his best titles and results that he has achieved below:
2e Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance Department 7 2020
22e Nat. Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance WHZB/TBOTB 2019
23e Nat. Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance PIPA ranking 2019
46e Nat. Ace Pigeon Yl. PIPA ranking 2019
2e NPO Melun 7.140 p.
22e NPO Fay aux L 4.050 p.
31e NPO Chateauroux 4.653 p.
49e Prov. Niergnies 6.938 p.
59e Nat. Issoudun 14.086 p.
81e NPO Salbris 6.779 p.
82e NPO Chateauroux 3.243 p.
89e Nat. Chateauroux 12.995 p.
90e NPO Vierzon 2.671 p.
26e Lessines 1.950 p.
129e Prov. Pont St.M 11.845 p.
13e Lessines 603 p.
Team Hooymans WVL
Partly due to the aforementioned successes at the various locations, Jan had been thinking for some time about the idea of also competing in West Flanders against the top lofts there. He found a suitable partner in Wout Spierings and a new start was made last year in Desselgem with the youngsters. The past season was therefore dominated by training a team of youngsters in order to be able to start with yearlings in a new loft to be built in 2021. Despite the fact that last season was dominated by a new start, there are already some nice achievements to report. Racing with a child of New Harry x Alexia Future (NL20-1608686) a 1e Pontoise against 787 pigeons was won. This race was held under very warm conditions. This 686 was also the fastest pigeon that day of all pigeons raced on Pontoise in Belgium. Another young talent, the NL20-1608723, won 10 Prov. Bourges against 3.777 pigeons. This 723 is a brother/sister of Eva (1e Nat. Ace Pigeon 2019 and 5e Nat. Ace Pigeon Youngsters 2018).