Cor (r) and his trusted assistant Bert van Beek (l)
There is not a lot that has not been said about Cor de Heijde, who achieved some truly exceptional results in the marathon competition in the last decade. He has won numerous national first prizes, and an impressive number of other fanciers have been very successful with Cor's pigeons both at home and abroad. It would be almost impossible to include them all. The pigeon that is mainly responsible for this success story is Cor's breeding bird Klamper, an exceptional pigeon that bred hundreds of descendants that were able to win a top result in the national classics. Cor could no longer keep up with the impressive number of references but feel free to take a look at the palmares of Klamper's many descendants here. The results in the Barcelona classic are particularly eye-catching. It appears Cor's pigeons have really excelled in this race season after season. For instance, the 2015 edition saw no less than 10 De Heyde pigeons finish in the national top 60 in Belgium and The Netherlands. These ten pigeons can be found here. As we said, Klamper is the undisputed number one stock breeder of this loft. He was obtained during his comeback in the 1990s as an old bird with ring number (NL84-1870149). 25 years later this breeding cock continues to demonstrate his value every season. It would be impossible to include every top result from Klamper's many descendants but we will be discussing some of the most successful ones below, just to give you an idea of his breeding value.
The impressive accommodation of Cor de Heijde
De Klamper dynasty
In 1991 Cor decided to focus on the overnight long distance. Only his very best pigeons would be joining the team, and he also wanted to strengthen his existing breeding loft by introducing some national champions. He obtained 8 old birds of Piet Lazeroms (Zegge, NL), which Cor got to pick himself. Among them were NL84-1870149 (Klamper) and a half sister (NL81-308), which was one of the strongest long distance pigeons in Netherlands at the time.
Klamper never competed in any races because he had once been attacked by a bird of prey. Cor obtained three youngsters of Piet de Weerd's Oude Kruk, the sire of a 6th and 8th National Barcelona 1987, as well as one of his granddaughters. He also purchased a daughter of Spinnetje Barcelona and an inbred daughter of De Smaragd from Jan Hermans. Both ther parents had won a national Barcelona. These pigeons, along with his existing collection, allowed Cor to make a fresh start.
Klamper showed his impressive breeding value already in 1993, when he was paired to a granddaughter of Oude Kruk. Together they bred racing bird NL93-9345559, winner of a 1st, 7th and 15th Perpignan and a 21st national Barcelona, which resulted in the title of 4th International Ace Pigeon in 1995. Klamper was paired to Mooi Donker (Piet Lazeroms) that season, and together they bred quite some prize winners as well, including Perpignandoffer.
Perpignandoffer won a 7th Nat. Perpignan (5,042 p.) as a one year old, as well as a 59th Nat. Perpignan (4,342 p.) and a 242nd Nat. Pau (2,156 p.) as a two year old. He proved to be an invaluable breeder as well: he is the sire and grandfather of many national and international prize winners both at home and abroad.
Naomi is a granddaughter of Perpignandoffer and she won a 6th national of 5,423 pigeons in the 2014 race from Barcelona. She finished in 21st place national of 2,181 hens. Naomi's full pedigree can be found here.
Marianne is a great-grandchild of Perpignandoffer and winner of a 1st national St. Vincent (Sector 1) of 9,672 pigeons in 2014. Marianne is another exponent of the renowned Klamper bloodline, which both her parents are closely related to. Click here for her full pedigree. Besides the two aforementioned pigeons Perpignandoffer is also the grandfather of:
NL99-1142635 : 3rd nat. Barcelona for Jan Hooijmans (grandchild) NL00-1211188 Miss Waalre: 1st nat. St.-Vincent, 1st nat. Ruffec for Gerard Koopman (grandchild)
Two other grandchildren, NL04-1038448 and NL04-1038468, won a 4th and 7th national Bergerac of 17,160 pigeons respectively. Racing hen Perpignanduivin is another granddaughter, and she won a 17th and 50th national Perpignan of 4,719 and 6,300 pigeons. But one of the most important youngsters of Perpignandoffer in Cor's own loft is Don Michel (NL96-9659671), which has won the following prizes:
1998 17th Nat. Perpignan 5,479 p. (60th Int. 16,025 p.) 1999 164th Nat. Marseille 4,919 p. (762nd Int. 16,784 p.) 1999 306th Nat. Perpignan 6,857 p. (1,359th Int. 17,574 p.) 2000 39th Nat. Dax 3,755 p. 2000 21st Nat. Perpignan 7,195 p. (41st Int. 18,426 p.) 2001 179th Nat. Dax 4,328 p. (761st Int. 12,176 p.) 2001 149th Nat. Perpignan 7,567 p. (347th Int. 20,859 p.) 2002 58th Nat. Dax 5,617 p. (480th Int. 14,507 p.) 2001 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon ZLU 1999-2001 Perpignan 2002 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon ZLU 2000-2002 Dax
Don Michel is now the sire of Miss Marseille (NL99-9829107), 3rd Nat. Marseille (5,884 p.), and Zoon Don Michel (NL05-2173785), 16th Nat. Perpignan (5,409 p.) and 13th Int. Ace Pigeon Barcelona-Perpignan). An extended overview of the palmares of Don Michel's youngsters and grandchildren can be found here. Don Michel was paired to a granddaughter of Klamper in 2008, and together they bred Jonge Don Michel (NL08-3818593) - his pedigree can be found here.
Jonge Don Michel (NL08-3818593)
This Jonge Don Michel has a 94th, 100th and 355th nat. Barcelona on his palmares, as well as a 17th and a 74th Nat. Perpignan. It resulted in the title of 13th International Ace Pigeon in the PIPA ranking Barcelona-Perpignan (2011) and 51st International Ace Pigeon Barcelona ZLU 2013. His very own descendants appear to be quite talented as well, judging by the results of his daughter Blue Dream. The full pedigree of Blue Dream can be found here.
The last pigeon that deserves a mention is Kleine Blauwe (NL13-1330942), a young but promising pigeon and yet another successful descendant of the Klamper bloodline. She won a 105th Bergerac of 3,854 pigeons as a yearling, before claiming a national first prize from St. Vincent of 15,918 pigeons as a two year old in 2015. Click here to learn more about Kleine Blauwe.
A phenomenon
The youngsters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Klamper have been crushing the national marathon races in the past 20 years. Cor won a 1st National Perpignan with a direct son (NL93-9345559) already in 1997, and 20 years later the Klamper descendants are still competing for hte top prizes in the national races. Just take a look at Cor's list of achievements in recent years:2012 1st National Bordeaux ZLU 4,447 p. 2012 2nd National Kampioen Marathon ZLU 2013 2nd National Kampioen Marathon ZLU 2011-2013 1st Ace Pigeon Barcelona over 3 seasons 2014 1st National St.-Vincent Sector 1 9,757 p. 2015 1st National St.-Vincent 15,507 p. 2015 2nd National Barcelona 5,183 p. 2015 2nd National Bergerac 4,662 dp.
You have probably figured out by now that Klamper has been an invaluable pigeon for Cor, who has won numerous first prizes and top results at national level thanks to this pigeon. Many other fanciers have been very successful with Klamper's descendants as well. The list of achievements continues to grow over the years, and Cor himself continues to perform at a very high level as well. Cor's list of references and his achievements at home does not really reflect the enormous breeding value of Klamper and his descendants.