A spectacular result from Jim & Mick Hameeteman in province 5
The 59 year old Jim Hameeteman and his son Mick, 21, are doing our favourite sport a special favour: they illustrate the unpredictable nature of pigeon racing. Fanciers with smaller teams and limited space that would give themselves no chance against the big names have every reason to be hopeful. With a team of no more than 13 widowers, this father and son combination has been incredibly strong in the province of South Holland for a number of years now, where they are racing against some very renowned teams. And it seems the performance of their Super Keesie is the culmination of an increasingly successful pigeon racing career. This one year old cock has been victorious in province 5 on two occasions already. High time to get ourselves acquainted with Jim and Mick and their fantastic racing bird Super Keesie.
Jim & Mick
Father Jim Hameeteman had had his first taste of pigeon racing at an early age (from 1976 to 1984), through his uncle Henk Visser, from the renowned Nipius-Visser combination from Middelharnis. But he decided to leave the sport in 1984 to work as a supervisor for the hunting grounds of his father and uncle. The year 2010 was a turning point, thanks to Mick. His son had been keeping a few ornamental pigeons but he eventually transitioned into racing birds. It led to the start of a new pigeon racing career in 2013, with the installation of a small pigeon loft. They also obtained a second loft from fellow fancier Jan Bakelaar, who ended his racing career.
Grandmasters
One of the more prestigious titles that a pigeon fancier can win is that of grandmaster. Every week, pigeon racing magazine Het Spoor Der Kampioenen comes up with a ranking for the best-performing lofts in each province. And in 2019 Jim & Mick made it into the top three of this ranking both with the old birds and the young birds. And they did more than that:
- 2nd best end result overall old birds sprint
- 3rd best end result overall young birds
Their team is clearly in great form again in 2020, scoring a promising fourth place in the demanding province 5 last weekend.
2020 - a very strong start
It appears that they picked up where they left off, having won two victories in three races in their Entente (Souh Holland islands) already. In fact, their winning bird in Peronne was the strongest overall in province 5. Here are the results in the Entente:
- Niergnies 192 km 3808 p. 6-7-9-10-100-125-etc.(13/13)
- Peronne 221 km 4381 p. 1-7-etc.(3/10)
- Pont St. Max 295 km 3930 p. 1-2-4-5-14-35-etc.(11/13)
Super Keesie - the fastest of 37,837 pigeons
Jim & Mick have quite a star in their team with Super Keesie NL19-1626915. In the race from Peronne, this fantastic blue coloured yearling was the fastest bird overall in the entire province of South Holland of 37,837 pigeons. Super Keesie had already been the fastest in Province 5 in Pont St. Maxence of 13,509 pigeons when he was still a young bird. And this year he finished in the top ten in all three races that he was basketed for in his Entente. This is his list of achievements so far:
- 1 Peronne 37,837 p. prov. South Holland
- 1 Pont St. Max 13,509 p. prov. South Holland
- 9 Pont St. Max 11,285 p. Rayon West prov. South Holland
- 10 Niergnies 3808 p. Z-H eilanden
The two parents of Super Keesie were obtained from Kees van Es from Nieuw-Lekkerland. Kees obtained each of his grandparents as an egg from the iconic Koen Minderhoud from Zeeland. And the achievements of this 19-915 did not come out of nowhere: a nest brother of Super Keesie, the 19-914, has a first prize to his name as a young bird, and he was also the fastest of 2622 pigeons in Duffel. Unfortunately this nest brother fell pray to a hawk later on.
Victory in Pont St. Maxence
Jim and Mick already had something to celebrate this season. They took the win in the third race of the 2020 season from Pont St. Maxence, in Rayon West of Province South Holland. Their winning bird, NL19-1626936, De 936, was the strongest of 11,285 pigeons. Both his sire and grandmother used to excel in the one day long distance.
An efficient approach
The strategy that is used in the racing lofts in Ouddorp is fairly straightforward but very efficient. They rely on the mixtures of Versele Laga for their nutrition: the pigeons get Gerry Plus, Champion Plus and Energy mixtures in the buildup towards the races. At home, their diet consists of Beute Bak and the Gerard Koopman Variamix, both from DHP. When they arrive home from a flight, some Belgasol is added to the drinking water. They occasionally use BS and Belga Tai of Belgica De Weerd as well. For the 2020 season they darkened both the old birds and the young birds until 23rd of May. The pigeons are lightened from 21st of June onwards.