The Elzinga combination consists of the 58 year old Tjeerd, who has a job as a carpenter, and his 28 year old son Jouke, who is self employed. Father and son formed this combination in 1999. Tjeerd had been keeping pigeons for many years, after getting involved in the sport through his family. The combination has been doing great for many years now. They compete in every competition (except for the marathon races) but their main focus is on the NPO races of the one day long distance and the young birds, in which they have been performing really well. They demonstrated this again in 2014, winning for instance 8 teletext prizes, including two first prizes. 2014 saw them win the following teletext prizes:
1st and 4th NPO Morlincourt against 6,663 pigeons 1st NPO Chalons-en-Champagne against 4,296 pigeons 4th and 9th NPO La Louvière against 8,004 pigeons 7th NPO Sittard against 21,493 pigeons 11th and 12th NPO Menen against 11,978 pigeons
Several more top results have been won in 2014, let's have a look:
Morlincourt 457 km 1363 p.: 1-2-3-4-7-7-12-13-14-23-24-25-27-40-43-46-48-49-54-78-
79-95-100-115-116-119-etc. (38/57)
Chalons-en-Champagne 479 km 628 p.: 1-8-14-17-25-32-45-etc. (9/20)
La Louvière 332 km 1600 p.: 3-6-7-10-11-18-34-46-47-49-51-52-53-73-83-85-97-113-
115-116-117-119-139-141-142-148-155-161-etc. (45/57)
Weert 218 km 481 p.: 1-6-8-9-12-17-39-50-51-53-etc. (25/49)
Sittard 241 km 624 p.: 1-2-3-4-12-14-17-21-31-32-38-39-40-44-45-47-50-52-53-
56-etc. (39/70)
Weert 218 km 594 p.: 1-2-3-4-5-11-12-20-21-27-28-29-30-31-36-39-44-
47-53-etc. (40/69)
Sezanne 526 km 243 p.: 1-5-6-7-16-18-etc. (15/30)
Tongeren 270 km 396 p.: 2-3-4-5-6-7-10-11-12-14-17-20-24-31-32-35-
37-etc. (33/50)
Menen 335 km 4661 p.: 1-2-25-53-68-93-194-208-236-246-287-292-319-338-339-
352-363-etc. (26/70)
The breed
We will discuss some of the stars in this loft but we start with a closer look at the origins of this breed. This loft’s number one stock sire is without doubt Blue Hope. Descendants of this 50% Van Loon pigeon have won 13 first prizes NPO, including a 1st NPO Morlincourt, a 4th NPO Orleans, a 4th NPO Morlincourt, a 4th NPO Pommeroeul, a 5th NPO St.-Quentin and a 5th NPO St.-Truiden. It is no coincidence that many pigeons in this loft originate from Blue Hope. He is also related to the bloodlines of Pieter Veenstra (direct pigeons and through the Fokkinga combination) and Gerard Koopman (direct pigeons and through Jacob Poortvliet).
Stock sire NL07-1128113 Blue Hope
NL11-1109542 Ariane
One of the most important youngsters is without doubt Ariane - click here for the full pedigree. She has won an impressive 33 prizes, including six top 20 prizes in NPO races and in the province:
12th Prov. St.-Truiden 274 km 20,435 p. 5th NPO St.-Quentin 421 km 7,710 p. 4th NPO Orleans 657 km 4,502 p. 15th Afd Den Bosch 172 km 15,390 p. 11th NPO Sens 590 km 5,984 p. 20th NPO Orleans 657 km 5,972 p.
Click here for the palmares of Ariane.
NL12-1005204 Esmee
Tjeerd and Jouke's number one racing bird today is Esmee. The sire of Esmee is Pieter Veenstra's Seiko, paired to a son of Rolex, the best pigeon WHZB 2009. The dam of Esmee comes from the loft of Dr. Schwidde (DE) and she is an inbred pigeon to Raket, a talented pigeon that won four first prizes in major competitions in Germany. Click here for the pedigree of Esmee. Esmee has an exceptional palmares, winning for instance 17 top prizes 1:100, including:
1st NPO Ch.-en-Champ. 479 km 4,296 p. (with a 23 min. lead, as the fastest of 10,935 p. with a 13 min. lead) 4th NPO St. Truiden 274 km 20,435 p. 2nd Sittard 241 km 6,763 p. 7th Duffel 259 km 4,022 p. 8th Gennep 168 km 2,788 p.
Esmee was 9th ace pigeon all round 2013 (5th hen) and 12th yearling (9th hen) in the TBOTB competition. She did even better in 2014, claiming the title of 1st ace pigeon old birds and 19th ace pigeon one day long distance in the new, combined competition of WHZB/TBOTB. She also won the title of Best one day long distance pigeon in provine 11, while finishing as second ace pigeon general long distance. She proved not only a great racing bird but also a top class breeder, since two of her youngsters have already won an important victory. Esmee is to represent The Netherlands in this year’s Olympiad in Budapest, in the sports category all round. You can find the palmares of Esmee here.
NL10-1031410 De Sven
Another successful pigeon in the Elzinga combination is De Sven. His sire is Dylan, a direct Gerard Koopman from a brother of Doran (1st NPO Orleans 9,670 pigeons). The dam of Sven is Lady Gaga, a granddaughter of Mister Emmerveen, national pigeon champion middle distance in 2000. Lady Gaga has never competed in races but she proved an invaluable breeding hen for the Elzinga combination. Click here for the full pedigree of Sven. Sven was 2nd pigeon champion one day long distance 2013 in the Noordelijke Unie. These are some of his best results:
4th NU. Chateauroux 776 km. 2,906 p. 6th NU Sens 590 km. 6,036 p. 9th NPO Chateauroux 776 km. 3,534 p.
Click here for the list of achievements of Sven.
NL14-4260015 Silvana
Silvana is one of the two winners of a first prize NPO in 2014. This was obviously not a lucky win; she has achieved several more top results as a racing bird:
1st NPO Morlincourt 457 km 6,663 p. 22nd Prov. Tongeren 270 km 9,261 p. 29th NPO La Louvière 332 km 8,004 p. 38th Prov. Weert 218 km 14,501 p.
These results have made her 6th nat. Olympiad Pigeon young birds. Silvana is another great-grandchild of the outstanding Blue Hope. Click here for the full pedigree.
Final words
We said earlier that the Elzinga combination focuses primarily on the NPO races of the one day long distance and the young birds. They have been doing really well in this competition, as their results demonstrate: 8 teletext prizes with two NPO wins have been won in 2014, and an additional 34 top 100 prizes and 6 top 10 prizes NPO have been won between 2012 and 2014. Last but not least their champion Esmee will be sent to the Budapest Olympiad. It takes top quality pigeons to perform at the highest level, and it seems this loft has plenty of them. This is a pigeon family that is expected to achieve great results in the near future.