Klaas and Rik van Dorp (Rotterdam)
The 74 year old Klaas and his 52 year old son Rik have made a reputation in The Netherlands. Klaas started keeping pigeons almost half a century ago but he had to get rid of them when he became a father. Later on, his son Rik was given a few pigeons, which he kept in the rabbit hutch. Rik was still very young at the time. Klaas then made a fresh start as a fancier in 1977, in his father’s farm in Rotterdam. He managed to gain great results at a regular basis, winning for instance a 1st national Cahors sector 2 in 1995. 2013 saw him win the title of 4th national loft champion sprint and the title of Superstar sprint for the De Duif magazine, and it was the lead up to a sensational 2014 season. Father and son Van Dorp celebrated an NPO victory from Argenton that year, and they also won the title of Golden Pigeon in The Netherlands. In addition, they were awarded the title of 3rd Ace Pigeon Old Birds in the national WHZB/TBOTB competition. The culmination of two outstanding seasons in pigeon racing came with the selection of two of their pigeons for the Budapest Olympiad: Olympic Mistery and Olympic Gipsy became 1st Olympiad Pigeon for The Netherlands in category G and H respectively.
Achievements of 2014
Klaas and Rik compete in all the races of the province of South Holland, except for the marathon races. These are some of the most eye catching results of 2014 in province 5, in entente Groot Rotterdam:
03-05 Peronne 247 km. 5478 p. 2-5-9-18-22-27-32-54-61-62-etc.(73/99)
17-05 Meaux 350 km. 4973 p. 3-5-6-15-18-38-52-91-92-98-etc.(60/95)
24-05 Bourges 558 km. 2650 p. 2-4-12-15-35-37-38-etc. (19/40)
21-06 Duffel 94 km. 1970 p. 1-2-3-4-5-6-10-11-21-23-26-29-30-
33-36-37-38-39-40-43-etc.(38/46)
21-06 Argenton 631 km. 963 p. 1-2-15-22-23-28-31-32-39-40-57-etc.(23/30)
28-06 Mantes la Jolie 380 km. 1817 p. 6-12-14-28-30-37-39-48-80-etc.(29/60)
16-08 Asse Zelik 118 km. 3906 p. 7-8-10-11-12-14-20-31-etc.(59/77)
23-08 Quievrain 178 km. 3439 p. 3-4-7-8-27-33-42-53-66-etc.(53/73)
NL04-2082680 Kleine Jan, his youngsters have won no less than 12 first prizes
The breed
It all started in 1977 with the introduction of pigeons of Piet Brecht (Rotterdam, NL), which carried the outstanding bloodlines of the Belgian grandmaster Louis van Loon (Poppel, BE). In addition, a group of late youngsters was obtained from Jan Ouwerkerk (Ledderkerk, NL) in 1987. Jan used to really dominate the one day long distance competition, especially with his undefeatable pigeons 83 and 84. It was partly thanks to these amazing brothers, bred from the renowned H8 pair, that Jan managed to become national loft champion one day long distance 2005. One of the daughters of this famous pair then bred NL04-2082680 Kleine Jan, whose youngsters have won an impressive 12 first prizes in major competitions.
Father and son Van Dorp started looking for reinforcements from abroad in 2006, and they did particularly well with pigeons of LB&J Geerinckx (Wommelgem, BE), whose breed combined really well with their own Van Dorp pigeon family. Both their Olympiad pigeons are heavily based on these Geerinckx pigeons.
Olympic Gipsy
The blue coloured hen NL12-1586919 Olympic Gipsy is 1st Olympiad Pigeon in The Netherlands in category H superior old birds, which means she was sent to the Olympiad in the capital of Hungary Budapest. Besides, she was third ace pigeon allround 2014 in the national WHZB/TBOTB competition. The sire of Olympic Gipsy is NL08-1508267 Zorba; the dam of Zorba originates directly from the loft of the Belgian champions LB&J Geerinckx, and she is a daughter of BE97-6157740 Geschifte Tom.
The dam of Olympic Gipsy is NL11-1711208 Zinzi, a daughter of 04-2015110, winner of a 2nd NPO Tours (10,979 p.) and a 2nd Ablis (7299 p.). The dam of Zinzi is BE06-6413724, which originates from the Geerinckx breed as well: the sire of Zinzi’s dam is in turn BE96-6618311 Blauwe Yzeren, and Zinzi is a sister of Miss Mantes, a pigeon with a proven record (1st Peronne 9730 p. and 1st Mantes 2050 p.). Click here for the pedigree of Olympic Gipsy - click here for a list of achievements.
N13-1207816 Olympic Mistery, Olympiadedeelnemer Boedapest 2015 en winnares 1e NPO Argenton (6926 p.)
Olympic Mistery
The second Olympiad Pigeon of the Van Dorp combination in 2014 is NL13-1207816 Olympic Mistery. She won the title of first Olympiad Pigeon in The Netherlands in category G superior yearlings. Her blue coloured sire BE07-6229293 illustrates that the introduction of Geerinckx pigeons was a great success. The sire of Olympic Mistery is a son of BE02-6354012 Tarzan, which was paired to BE04-6202063 Blauw Vierzonneke, another daughter of Blauwe Yzeren and a sister of Luc, 1st National Argenton 2012 (12,447 p.). The dam of Olympic Mistery is NL10-1655775 (Poelman brothers, Rotterdam). Click here for the full pedigree of Olympic Mistery. Olympic Mistery has an impressive palmares, including a 7th Peronne (16,716 p.), a 9th Mantes (5943 p.) and an 8th Quievrain (3439 p.). However, her most impressive achievement was a first prize NPO from Argenton (6926 p.). Click here for a list of achievements of Olympic Mistery.
Olympic Mistery wins a 1st NPO Argenton Province 5 South Holland 6926 p.
NL11-1711394 Miss Mantes, winner of two provincial first prizes from Peronne and Mantes La Jolie
Miss Mantes
The two Olympiad Pigeons are not the only excellent racing pigeons in the loft of father and son Van Dorp. One of the other outstanding pigeons is the invaluable blue coloured hen NL11-1711394 Miss Mantes, winner of two provincial first prizes. She won a 1st provincial Peronne 9730 p. in 2012, and she won another provincial first prize from Mantes La Jolie (2050 p.) in the following season. She is a sister of Zinzi, the dam of Olympic Gipsy. This means her sire is the 110, an exceptional breeder that has become an integral part of the Van Dorp pigeon breed. He was paired to a daughter of Blauwe Yzeren of Geerinckx. Click here for the pedigree of Miss Nantes.
To conclude
2014 was a great season and we have had several ceremonies recently. Rik visited the Budapest Olympiad last weekend and he really enjoyed this special event. We assume this has something to do with his two Olympiad Pigeons, which were there as well.