Cor de Heijde admiring his Marianne (1st National St.-Vincent 2014)
A super season
Cor de Heijde can look back on a highly successful 2015 season. Many fanciers assumed it would be difficult for him to match the results of 2014, the season in which Cor won a 1st National St.-Vincent (sector 1) with Marianne. However, nothing is impossible for the fancier from Made (NL). He did manage to win another national first prize from St.-Vincent in 2015, and this time he also had the fastest pigeon overall (sector 1 through 4). That was not the end of the story: Cor added two second places in national races to his palmares three weeks later, in Bergerac and Barcelona. He closed the long distance season in late July in a race from Bergerac, settling for third in Province 2 Brabant 2000. In this province Cor became 4th Loft Champion Marathon of 2015. In addition, he won the title of 2nd Ace Pigeon in this discipline as well. We take a look at his most successful racing birds of last season.
NL13-1330942 De Kleine Blauwe, 1st National St.-Vincent 2015
Kleine Blauwe, 1st National St.-Vincent 2015
The leading name in Cor's racing loft is NL13-1330942 Kleine Blauwe, winner of no less than three victories. He had already won a national first prize from Bordeaux (ZLU 2012) and St.-Vincent (Sector 1 2014), and he went on to win another national first prize from St.-Vincent, his third national victory in just three seasons. St.-Vincent 2015 is a classic with an afternoon release, and the pigeons took off on Friday 12th June at 2pm. Kleine Blauwe had already covered 998km by saturday morning 6:22am, reaching his home loft with a velocity of 1657 m/min. Click here for the NPO certificate. The pedigree of Kleine Blauwe shows that this was by no means a lucky win. One of his grandfathers, the NL07-3728528 Boemerang, represented The Netherlands in the 2011 Olympiad in Poland for the Kieboom brothers (Raamsonksveer, NL), in the marathon category. Kleine Blauwe is the result of a successful joint breeding, in which Cor's own breeders are paired to top class pigeons from other lofts. Click here for the pedigree of Kleine Blauwe.
NL12-3220500 Grijsje Bergerac, 2nd National Bergerac (sector 1) 2015
Grijsje Bergerac, 2nd National Bergerac 2015
The national race from Bergerac (822km) in sector 1 took place on 3rd July. The pigeons were released at 10am for this marathon race with a morning release. Again, Cor did not have to wait long for his first racing bird: NL12-3220500 Grijsje Bergerac arrived home at 7:11am that Saturday, claiming victory in the Province of Brabant 2000 (1201 p.). She had to settle for second at national level, finishing behind a pigeon of Gijs Baan (Middelburg, NL). The pedigree of of Grijsje Bergerac shows that she is closely related to several top class pigeons, including Cor BE05-4344528 of Etienne Meirlaen (Deurle, BE). Racing bird Cor won the titles of 1st International Ace Pigeon Barcelona-Perpignan and 1st National Ace Pigeon extreme long distance KBDB in 2008. Grijsje Bergerac is related to NL97-9751488 Geja from her mother's side, and Geja is also the grandmother of Kleine Blauwe. Grijsje Bergerac ended the 2015 racing season as 2nd Ace Pigeon long distance in the province of Brabant 2000, and as 8th National Marathon Pigeon in the national WHZB-TBOTB competition.
NL10-3054650 Naomi, 6th National Barcelona 2014 (5423 d.)
A successful Barcelona campaign
We will discuss the 2015 edition of Barcelona in just a moment, but we start with a look back on the race of 2014, which was deservedly won by Jelle Jellema (Nijverdal, NL). It was an unforgettable race for Cor thanks to his NL10-3054650 Naomi, which was clocked at 04:48am. She managed to reach her loft well before sunset at 04:48pm, which is unfortunately within the neutral period. As a result, her time of arrival was corrected to 05:08. She was only beaten by a number of pigeons that covered a longer distance, and in the end she had to settle for 6th place at national level (5423 p.). Naomi is a granddaughter of Perpignan Doffer, which is in turn a son of NL84-1870149 Klamper, the undisputed number one stock sire of Cor de Heijde. Click here for the full pedigree of Naomi. Naomi turned out to be victorious after all, winning the title of 1st International Ace Pigeon Barcelona 2013-2014.
NL12-3220448 Blue Dream, 1st National Barcelona hens 1742 p.
A memorable Barcelona 2015
Cor had high expectations for Barcelona 2015: Grijsje Bergerac had already put in a great performance, and Cor was enjoying the race. However, the most exciting moments were yet to come: at 09:47 the NL12-3220448 Blue Dream appeared on the horizon, and she was the number one at national level for a long time. As the wind started to turn, hopes of another national first prize were crushed. In the end, only one pigeon had been able to exceed the performance of Blue Dream. It was Kees Droog (Andijk, NL) who claimed victory in the most prestigious marathon race of the season. Blue Dream did win the national race in the hens' category (1742 p.), but she had to settle for fourth (19,089 p.) in the international race overall. Blue Dream is another successful descendant of the Klamper bloodline. The sire is NL08-3818593 Jonge Don Michel, winner of a 17th National Perpignan (4978 p.) and winner of the title of 1st National Ace Pigeon ZLU Barcelona. Both the sire and the dam of Jonge Don Michel are related to the Klamper bloodline as well. Click here for the pedigree of Blue Dream.
Cor de Heijde on the award ceremony of Barcelona ZLU, flanked by his right-hand man Bert van Beek
Barcelona in other lofts
Cor's invaluable breeding lines have been leading to great results in many other lofts as well. The 2015 race from Barcelona is a perfect example: in The Netherlands and Belgium no less than 10 different pigeons related to Cor de Heijde have finished in the national top 60. Click here for an impressive overview, which starts with Blue Dream, 1st National Barcelona hens.
NL12-3220480 Marianne, 1st National St.-Vincent 2014 (Sector 1)
Marianne
The national winner of St.-Vincent 2014 deserves a mention in our report as well: the national victory of NL12-3220480 Marianne was without doubt the highlight of 2014. She is another descendant of the renowned Klamper bloodline, which continues to prove its value in the long distance across several generations. Click here for the full pedigree of Marianne.
De Klamper
It often only takes one pigeon to achieve great results in pigeon racing, and Cor de Heijde was lucky enough to have one such pigeon in his collection. The descendants of this renowned breeder Klamper have been winning quite a number of prizes, and Cor has been enjoying many early arrivals over the years together with his right-hand man Bert van Beek. Other fanciers reaped the benefits as well, winning top prizes with descendants of these same Klamper bloodlines. It resulted in an impressive number of references by numerous Klamper descendants. This overview should give you an idea of the value of this bloodline.