Ad Fortuin has had some outstanding results in the marathon races in The Netherlands; that is why he is counted as one of the top fanciers at this discipline. Not only did he win several national top prizes; he also has an impressive collection of championship titles:
1st Not nominated Int. races long distance club Att. Zuid Beijerland in 2012
1st Not nominated Int. races district 5 (South Holland) in 2012
2nd General champion Int. races entente 3 in 2012
2nd Not nominated Int. races entente 3 in 2012
3rd Emperor champion Int. races in the long distance club Att. South Beijerland in 2012
5rd Emperor Int. races in disctrict 5 (South Holland) in 2012
This is not the first successful season for Ad, who is a project manager in the building industry. He has done well at almost any discipline. However the greatest highlight in his life is the birth of his son, who has also won a few prizes in our sport as a teenager: he was champion of young birds in district 5 and WHZB, 1st young birds and best pigeon, all won in the youth series. Ad has been racing the programme for quite some time, winning a second general championship behind Dick Leeuwkerke, who had been dominating the championship for over ten years. Since 1995 his focus is on the young bird racing, mainly with pigeons of Piet vd Merwe and Marijke Vink.
By the end of last century Ad decided it was time for a career change. He was influenced by Hugo Batenburg and Jaap vd Velden, two extreme long distance champions who were very enthusiastic about their favourite races. In 1997 the first young birds arrived in his loft in Strijen to do some overnight races once in a while, in addition to the young bird races. He basketed a few pigeons for the long distance and his birds soon proved to be of excellent quality: they won several top results including a first national prize from Mont de Marsan! This was an experience he would never forget. Ad quickly decided to concentrate on the long distance!
Every season he obtained about twenty pigeons bred from the yearlings of Batenburg-VD Merwe, in addition to some Jaap van de Velden birds. It was not an instant success but he did have some great results:
3rd Nat. St Vincent
6th Nat. Bordeaux
10th Nat. St Vincent
14th Nat. Bordeaux
By the end of 2008 he added some young birds to his breeding loft, which were bred from the sons of Euro Diamond x granddaughters of Witbuik via Hugo Batenburg. He also purchased a son of Narbonne from Nouwen-Paesen. These additions led to a performance boost for his team. From then on he focused on the ZLU morning releases and he soon had his first top class breeding bird: the direct Batenburg-VD Merwe pigeon NL08-1487710. This exceptional Diamantje stems from Zoon Euro Diamond x Kleindochter Witbuik and was the dam of the 7th National Perpignan, who would be awarded as first International Ace Pigeon Perpignan 2010-201 one year later. In 2011, a daughter of NL08-1487707 Broer Diamantje achieved a 15th National Pau; her half brother won a 20th National Cahors against more than 10,000 pigeons. Another daughter of her won a 23rd National Cahors against 8,832 pigeons. This makes Broer Diamantje and his full sister an excellent breeding couple. Meanwhile Diamantje was moved back to the breeding loft of Batenburg-VD Merwe.
In 2012 Ad Fortuin took part in the full ZLU program with a team of 24 widowers and 20 nest hens (the cocks stayed at home) and 30 yearlings in the nest (cocks and hens). He basketed an average of 10 birds per race. The six best hens of 2012 were mainly Brockamp and Batenburg-VD Merwe pigeons.
- NL10-1666617: 38th Nat. Pau / 11th Nat. Pau Sire: Grandson of George (stock cock P. & dr. H.P. Brockamp) Dam: Granddaughter of Cheeta (1st Nat. Barcelona 2003 Jaap vd Velden) - NL09-1170953: 47th Nat. St Vincent ZLU Sire: A son of Young One (1st Nat. Mt. de Marsan 2003) Dam: Diamantje (granddaughter of Euro Diamond x daughter Witbuik Batenburg-VD Merwe) - NL10-1666604: 83rd Nat. Bordeaux Sire: Grandson of Witbuik (Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: Diamantje (granddaughter Euro Diamond x daughter Witbuik Batenburg-VD Merwe) - NL08-1521872: 75th Nat. Narbonne Sire: a son of Narbonne (Nouwen-Paesen; also sire of 2nd Nat. Bordeaux & 59th Nat. Barcelona for Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: Kras Sarina (granddaughter of Sarina 1st Int. Barcelona hens for the Hagens brothers) (Kras Sarina is the dam of Cas 3rd Nat. St Vincent & Red Sunshine 6th Nat. Bordeaux) - NL09-1169530: 247th Nat. Barcelona Sire: Son of Narbonne (Nouwen-Paesen) Dam: Granddaughter of Cheeta (1st Nat. Barcelona 2003 Jaap vd Velden) - NL09-1170967: 128th Nat. Marseille Sire: a son of Euro Diamond (via Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: Kras Sarina (a granddaughter of Sarina 1st Int. Barcelona hens for the Hagens brothers)
Additional top results for 2011-2012 were won by:
- NL11-1721413: 13th Nat Cahors 8,832 p. Sire: grandson of Witbuik 153 (Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: Miss Cahors (1st Nat. Cahors 10,381 p. 2010, bred from Narbonne x ‘Sissy’ Batenburg-VD Merwe) - NL09-1169506: 15th Nat. Pau 2,607 p. Sire: ‘Broer Diamantje’ (from ‘Zoon Euro Diamond’ x ‘Kleindochter Witbuik’ Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: Koopman x Walter de Rijck - NL11-1721407: 23rd Nat. Cahors 8,832 p. Sire: ‘Broer Diamantje’ (from ‘Zoon Euro Diamond’ x ‘Kleindochter Witbuik Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: granddaughter of Cheeta (1st Nat. Barcelona 2003 Jaap vd Velden) - NL10-1666645: 20th Nat. Cahors 10,381 p. Sire: Broer Diamantje (uit Zoon Euro Diamond x Kleindochter Witbuik Batenburg-VD Merwe) Dam: daughter of Lady Tarbes (30th Nat. Tarbes & 55th Nat. Perpignan Batenburg-VD Merwe)
'Broer Diamantje'; a great breeder of Ad Fortuin
By the end of 2012 he had removed all of his sprint and middle distance pigeons, which underlines his extreme long distance ambitions. In doing so he gained the confidence of Hugo Batenburg and PIPA, who have asked him to take part in the international races from 2013 onwards as a satellite loft with a proper breeding loft of five pairs completed with children of the best breeding pigeons of Batenburg-VD Merwe. This is a great opportunity for Ad, who takes another step towards the very top!