The Schrik Brothers have been a household name in the north of the country for many years. The combination consists of the 61 year old Henk and his 57 year old brother David. Henk, married with two children and two grandchildren works as a team leader for a gardening service. His brother David also has two children and two grandchildren, and he works for a gardening service as well. They live in a two-in-one house, where they are racing pigeons together. David got involved in pigeon racing in 1975 through his teacher, and Henk joined his brother in 1979. They have been racing as the Schrik Brothers for the past 41 years.
Today they race in double widowhood with 27 pairs. They have an additional 15 breeding pairs and they breed up to 60 to 65 youngsters every season. Their pigeons are basketed for the sprint, the middle distance, the one day long distance and the young birds' competition, but the one day long distance is their competition of choice. The brothers have had many great seasons, relying mostly on the bloodlines of their old foundation (the Janssen strain of the late Boy Peters), occasionally combined with the lines of other strong pigeon families. But they usually get by with their own bloodline that was developed in the 1980s and '90s, and which continues to deliver.
The 2020 season is promising to be another successful one, with the team taking two separate victories in a single weekend: Troye and Deurne. You could tell hat their racing birds were getting in great form in recent weeks, which led to a brilliant performance in Chimay on 29th of June:
The 1st of 7,382 pigeons and 4th of 13,604 pigeons was won by the one year old hen NL19-4740549.
NL16-4787438, 1st Deurne 7,620 pigeons
The provincial sprint race from Deurne in Province 10 took place last weekend, 5th of July. With only two birds in the race, David and Henk took the win of 7,620 pigeons after 180km. And they achieved a 100% prize percentage as well, thanks to the 1:10 result of their second bird (718th).
This '438 has been a consistent performer for many years. For instance, she has 19 top ten finishes to her name, including 6 first places.
NL18-4721180, 1st NPO Troyes 6,357 pigeons
And there was another race last weekend: the first one day long distance of the season. The pigeons took off two days later due to the weather, with a release in Troyes on Monday 6th of July at 7am. The brothers took their second win of the weekend after 550km, reaching a velocity of 1448 m/min. They had another two pigeons in the top ten, and their overall result was particularly good, with a 31/47:
Their race winner is without doubt a highly gifted bird. Besides this 1st NPO Troyes she also claimed a 1st National Chateaudun just last year. We take a look at her top ten places at national level and in the NPO competition:
Fanciers with a passion
Fanciers with a genuine passion for pigeons, that would be a fitting description for David and Henk. They spend many hours in their lofts together to try and get their pigeons in the best possible shape. Every week they look forward to their next race, where they want to be at their absolute best. And they have managed to pull this off again and again, for many seasons in a row, as you can tell from their impressive list of achievements.