Luc and Hilde Sioen have been performing very well throughout the spring of 2013 and this national victory was not a surprise. In the last few weeks they have won quite a few provincial top prizes as well.
Luc and Hilde holding their national winner
For the race from Poiters 2,621 yearlings were basketed in the coastal province for the provincial duplication. Luc and Hilde did a great job with a 1-3-31-44-45-63-80-149-181- and 14 prizes with 27 pigeons.
Below you can find the achievements of their yearlings in 2013. These are mainly of Rik Hermans x Willem De Bruijn, except for the second prize from Bourges, which was won by a hen which originates from Eric Vermanderer. This is the list of achievements of 2013:
04/05 Fontenay (club) 116p: 1-2–3–4–10-… (10/19)
11/05 Orléans (club) 145p: 1-3–4–5–7–10-… (13/18)
18/05 Fontenay (club) 376p: 2–3–5–7-… (15/18)
25/05 Fontenay (club) 229p: 2–4–8–10-… (10/13)
Bourges (club) 267p: 2–13–21-… (4/5)
01/06 Chateauroux (club) 572p: 2–3–4–5-… (17/22)
(prov.) 3,469p: 6–10–11–12-…
(zone1) 4,107p: 5–9–11–12-…
08/06 Poitiers (club) 542p: 1–2–7–9–10–11–15–25…
Two pigeons on top in the national results
Nomi (BE-12-3142056) is a 100% Willem de Bruijn hen with quite a few impressive results. She was basketed as fourth nominated and she did the race with a velocity of 1103.74 m/min. A few minutes later Anouk (BE-12-3142054) arrived home as the winner of the third provincial prize with a velocity of 1095.63 m/min. She is in turn a descendant of 50% Rik Hermans and 50% Willem de Bruijn. Anouk was basketed as first nominated. This is obviously an outstanding racing hen, especially when you take a look at her list of achievements. Anouk is likely to win the fourth national prize as well. Let’s run through the achievements of the two birds:
Nomi (BE12-3142056)
Poitiers ’13 (nat.) 1
(prov.) 2,621p 1
Châteauroux ’13 (zone1) 4,107p 12
(club) 572p 5
(prov.) 3,469p 12
(nat.) 19,691p 194
Bourges ’13 (club) 267p 21
(zone1) 1,664p 183
Fontenay ’13 (reg.) 376p 23
(WVOU) 4,802p 180
Fontenay ’12 (reg.) 425p 13
Fontenay ’12 (reg.) 309p 22
Argenton ’12 (reg.) 835p 90
Her sire is NL11-1742484 (W. de Bruijn), which is in turn a son of Jeroen (NL06-1071741; two times First Ace Pigeon and already the dam of several first prize winners) x Olympic Sharon (NL09-1201894; Ace Pigeon Allround 2010 and for instance second allround Europe Cup Dortmund 2010). The dam of Nomi is NL11-1742481 and she is a daughter of Coco (NL06-1072041; 1st Blois 1,460 p., 2nd Ace Pigeon and a great breeding cock) paired to Carina (NL06-1071847; winner of 3rd NPO Breisach 8,445 p.).
Anouk (BE-12-3142054)
Anouk has been winning nothing but top prizes. This is a great racing bir with a great list of achievements:
Blois (club) 944p 4
(prov.) 5,645p 41
Fontenay (club) 376p 2
Fontenay (club) 354p 4
Orleans (club) 145p 5
Fontenay (club) 584p 8
Fontenay (club) 229p 8
Châteauroux (club) 572p 3
(prov.) 3,469p 10
(zone1) 4,107p 9
Fontenay (WVOU) 4,802p 12
Fontenay (WVOU) 5,264p 18
Poitiers (club) 542p 2
(prov.) 2,621p 3
(nat.) probably a fourth prize
This is what her pedigree looks like:
- Sire BE11-6244606, originates from Rik Hermans, a son 09-512 Broer Athena x 08-304 Tinkerbell
- Dam NL11-1742824, originates from Willem de Bruijn
These hens are raced on widowhood and they live on wooden boards that sit in front of their living boxes in the loft. Luc and Hilde adopt the system of Rik Cools. They do not use any systems (wires or rollers) to prevent their pigeons from pairing on the floor. Pigeons that do not appear to fit in the group are simply left out. “They have been in great form from the first weekend of the season”, says Luc. “Every week we were thinking: they won’t be able to keep their form, especially because of the weekly races in cold weather at the beginning of the season and the races with strong headwinds in the last few weeks. Surprisingly enough they continue to perform outstandingly well. It seems they are in great fitness”, says Luc. “That is what it’s all about: excellent pigeons in great form.”
“Our team of hens consists of 19 yearlings, 16 of which were bred from pigeons of Rik Hermans and Willem de Bruijn (NL). The other three are direct Eric Vermander pigeons. They also have five two year old birds; four direct Rik Hermans pigeons and one direct Rik Cools. Meanwhile two pigeons have been injured during a flight and a few have been removed from the loft. This leaves us with a team of 19 middle distance pigeons. 33 pigeons have been basketed for Poitiers, including a few old birds and one year old long distance birds. They were paired on 1 March and they raised one round of youngsters. After that they were placed on widowhood.”
The lofts of Luc and Hilde
We take a look at some other pigeons of this loft that have been doing very well in the last few seasons:
- EMILIA (BE11-3088148; a sister of Ranomi):
Châteauroux ’12 (nat.) 15,902p 30
Fontenay ’13 (reg.) 399p 1
(WVOU) 6,144p 17
Tours ’11 (prov.) 2,155p 20
Fontenay ’13 (reg.) 165p 3
Bourges ’12 (nat.) 16,859p 119
Châteauroux ’13 (reg.) 707p 6
(prov.) 3,600p 24
Montluçon ’12 (reg.) 588p 14
- RAFAELLA (BE12-3142012)
Brionne ’12 (prov.) 3,308p 1 Fontenay ’12 (reg.) 584p 1 Fontenay ’12 (reg.) 340p 2 Orleans ’13 (reg.) 145p 7 Châteauroux ’13 (reg.) 572p 22 Argenton ’12 (reg.) 835p 24 Blois ’12 (reg.) 944p 35
- ZUS RAFAELLA (BE12-3142078)
Fontenay (reg.) 116p 1 Orleans (reg.) 145p 1 Fontenay (reg.) 229p 4 Fontenay (reg.) 340p 6 Fontenay (reg.) 399p 6 Fontenay (reg.) 584p 7 Fontenay (reg.) 309p 12 Blois (reg.) 944p 40
- ROXANNE (BE12-3142072)
Chateauroux ’13 (reg.) 572p 2
(prov.) 3,469p 6
(zone1) 4,107p 5
Fontenay ’13 (reg.) 376p 3
(WVOU) 4,802p 16
Argenton ’12 (reg.) 835p 19
Her sire is the NL11-1742482 (Willem de Bruijn) and the dam is BE11-6244635, a full sister of Minerva.
This was the success story of the hens’ team of Luc and Hilde Sioen. The excellent fancier Luc and his great caretaker Hilde make sure that their hens are in great form every weekend. Pigeon racing is a family business in the Sioen family and it seems that they are performing at a very high level, which resulted in a national victory! We would like to congratulate them again on this impressive feat.
The wing of the national winner