From two locations
Before talking about last weekend's astonishing result, we'll go back in time. Stefaan Lambrechts decided in 2016 to start racing from two different locations. Berlaar would continue to be the home base for his favourite competition, the shorter middle distance. His second loft in Nijlen would be used mainly for sprint races (Quievrain and Noyon). He races in the highly competitive "Tienverbond" Entente, which has several national and provincial champions among its members (think of Leo Heremans, Stickers-Donckers, Dirk Van Den Bulck, Jos Cools, etc.). 2016 was by no means a transition season: he became 14th National Ace Pigeon shorter middle distance KBDB YBs and 9th National Champion sprint KBDB YBs in his loft in Berlaar.
A fantastic 2017 season
2017 proved yet another great season in the successful career of the young birds' specialist from Berlaar. And he won several top prizes with the old and one year old birds as well.
Some of his best results with the old birds/yearlings:
- 1st prize Chevrainvilliers of 1,649 old birds (Union Antwerp).
- 1st prize Chevrainvilliers of 1,036 yearlings (Union Antwerp).
- 1st prize Chevrainvilliers of 2,879 old birds (joint union middle distance Hafo Turnhout-Regio Mechelen).
- 1st prize Chevrainvilliers of 878 yearlings (Entente Regio Mechelen).
The young birds' results leave nothing to the imagination:
Loft in Berlaar:
Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 1,438 young birds: 1-5-11-16-35-43-54-79-… (15/21) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp – S.E.) - 691 young birds: 1-5-11-14-26-30-37-52-... (14/21) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 1,864 young birds: 16-24-36-49-… (16/25) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 2,063 young birds: 3-6-8-29-42-… (13/26) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp – Z.O.) - 909 young birds: 1-3-5-19-24-... (12/26) Pont.-St.-Maxence (Union Antwerp) -2,667 young birds: 5-13-… (7/9)
Loft in Nijlen:
Quievrain (Tienverbond) - 767 young birds: 9 (2/2) Noyon (Tienverbond) - 1,502 young birds: 3-5-8-10-15-29-42-44 (8/16) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 667 young birds: 2-14-18-28 (4/4) Chevrainvilliers (joint union) - 1,000 young birds: 6-11-12-13-14-20-25-26-… (57/63) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 1,438 young birds: 3-7-8-12-14-20-27-28-29-… (37/71) Noyon (Tienverbond) - 1,405 young birds: 8-9-11-12-16-19-27-... (12/13) Quievrain (Tienverbond) - 879 young birds: 2 (1/2) Noyon (Tienverbond) - 2,018 young birds: 6-17-48-... (8/10) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 1,864 young birds: 6-7-8-11-12-15-17-22-29-...(56/77) Chevrainvilliers (Union Antwerp) - 2,063 young birds: 7-10-14-26-34-... (45/77) Pont - St.-Maxence (Union Antwerp S.E.) - 1,109 young birds: 3-11-14-15-21-23-29-... (35/60)
The following championship titles were won last season:
- 1st Provincial Champion young birds middle distance KBDB PE Antwerp 2017
- 3rd Provincial Ace Pigeon young birds sprint KBDB PE Antwerp 2017
- 4th National Champion young birds shorter middle distance KBDB 2017
- 5th Provincial Ace Pigeon young birds middle distance KBDB PE Antwerp 2017
- 1st Champion young birds shorter middle distance Union Antwerp 2017
A solid foundation
This list of achievements could not be possible without a fantastic team of breeding birds, which took many years and a lot of hard work to put together. Among the pigeons that really stood out in the breeding loft are Lincia, Super 188, Tornado, Blauw Gert and Van Loockduivin. These pigeons have provided the loft with several talented new racing birds every season. And the Lambrechts pigeons were successful outside of their own lofts in Berlaar and Nijlen as well; here is a brief and incomplete overview of top prizes that were won with Lambrechts racing birds in other lofts:
- 1st PIPA-ranking 'Best sprint-middle distance pigeon in The Netherlands' (Willem de Bruijn - 50% Lambrechts)
- 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon young birds middle distance KBDB PE Antwerp 2017 (Paul Wijns - 75% Lambrechts)
- 1st s-Prov. Ace Pigeon sprint and middle distance 2017 (Stouwe -Douna - 50% Lambrechts)
- 2nd Ace Pigeon national competition 'de allerbeste' sprint-middle distance (Willem de Bruijn - 50% Lambrechts)
- 4th National Ace Pigeon sprint Eijerkamp - 50% Lambrechts)
- 5th National Ace Pigeon KBDB shorter middle distance KBDB 2017 (Laenen - Mariën - Olen - 50% Lambrechts)
- 11th National Ace Pigeon young birds shorter middle distance KBDB 2017 (Paul Wijns - 75% Lambrechts)
- 16th National Ace Pigeon WHZB -TBOTB middle distance (N.W. de Wit - 50% Lambrechts)
- 25th National Ace Pigeon 'de allerbeste' competition sprint-middle distance (Buck de Kruijf - 50% Lambrechts / bred by Willem de Bruijn!)
Blauw Gert, still an invaluable stock breeder
This team would not be the same without Van Loockduivin
A few of the stars born in 2017
You can tell from the palmares of 2017 that the team has yet again bred some high quality racing birds. The entire racing team was in great shape throughout the season but there were two young birds that caught our attention in particular:
BE17-6229432 - 3rd Provincial Ace Pigeon KBDB Antwerp Sprint 2017
The 432 is quite a talented sprint pigeon. He won the following prizes in the Tienverbond union, each time from Noyon:
3rd Noyon of 1,976 pigeons 6th Noyon of 2,018 pigeons 8th Noyon of 2,694 pigeons 10th Noyon of 1,502 pigeons 11th Noyon of 1,405 pigeons
This champion was bred following a joint breeding with Keven Blonck (NL). The sire is a son of stock pair Blauw Gert (Gert Heylen) x Van Loock-duivin. This pair has an impressive palmares indeed, not only in Stefan's lofts. Their descendants have won numerous top prizes in other lofts as well. The 1st Olympiad Pigeon 2012 Cat. F for Dirk Van Den Bulck was a grandchild of Blauw Gert x Van Loock-duivin, and a grandchild of Van Loock-duivin became 6th National Ace Pigeon KBDB in 2010. The dam of the 432 is an original Keven Blonck (through joint breeding) but she is in fact a 100% Dirk Van Den Bulck (Grobbendonk, BE). She is a half sister of Kittel, 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB Sprint 2013.
Click here for the full pedigree.
BE17-6084228 - 5th Provincial Ace Pigeon KBDB Antwerp Shorter Middle Distance 2017
Racing bird 228 has won quite a few top prizes as well, including a title of 5th Provincial Ace Pigeon KBDB Antwerp in the shorter middle distance:
1st of 1,438 6th of 2,063 36th of 1,864
The sire is a direct Leo Heremans, and he is now the sire of Olympic Bolt 611/12, 1st Ace Pigeon Olympiad Nitra 2013. The dam is another daughter of stock pair Blauw Gert x Van Loock-duivin.
Click here for the full pedigree
A new season in the spotlight with the Lincia bloodline
Stefaan decided to only race pigeons from his loft in Nijlen as of 2018. The new season started a few weeks ago, and he already claimed a few top prizes in the Tienverbond union. We reckon 2018 will be yet another great season for Stefaan Lambrechts. If anything, the team is off to a great start, having already won the following top prizes (we only included the first pigeon):
1st Quievrain - 472 pigeons (1 April 2018) 2nd Noyon - 805 pigeons (28 April 2018) 5th Quievrain - 1,123 pigeons (8 April 2018) 8th Noyon - 2,355 pigeons (28 April 2018) 9th Noyon - 2,485 pigeons (22 April 2018)
Last weekend the first middle distance race of the season was scheduled. In Antwerp they chose to race from Ecouen. Excellent weather and fanciers who already had their pigeons in the right shape were present. Stefaan Lambrechts was part of them with the following slendid result:
Ecouen (289 km): 4,661 yearlings: 1-8-22-23-24-84-129-163-211-220-269-270-279-... (23/34)
When examining the pedigrees of the first pigeons, it is clear that Lincia, 1st Nat. Ace Bird Middle Distance 2015, is leaving her mark on the Lambrechts pigeon family. The winning bird from Ecouen is BE17-6229457 (click here for her pedigree). She was bred by a brother of Lincia and already showed her potential last year. Her prize list so far:
1st Ecouen 4,661 p. 25th Pont-St.-Maxence 2,667 p. 62nd Chevrainvilliers 1,000 p. 64th Chevrainvilliers 1,737 p. 86th Chevrainvilliers 1,778 p. 154th Nat. Chateauroux 12,149 p.
Stefaan's second bird BE17-6084311 (click here for her pedigree) is a granddaughter of Lincia. She has already won:
6th Chevrainvilliers 1,000 p. 8th Ecouen 4,661 p.
The Lincia bloodlines also performed excellently on other lofts last weekend. Eijerkamp for example won the 8th prize from Niergnies against 2,122 birds with a daughter of Esther, a half-sister of Lincia! This prize-winning bird already achieved much success in the past for Eijerkamp:
3rd Isnes 2,120 p. 4th Feluy 2,732 p. 6th Soissons 1,932 p. 6th Meaux 3,332 p. 8th Niergnies 2,122 p. 13th St.-Quentin 3,305 p. 20th St.-Quentin 4,738 p.
Lincia's descendants have been particularly successful recently. Team Lambrechts does have a bright future ahead!