Many of you know that Falco Ebben is not only a pigeon fancier but also a pigeon photographer and owner of PigeonPixels (specialised in photography and movies on pigeon racing). Click here for a short clip of their 1st Châteaudun. He races together with his uncle Willy in the town of Beneden Leeuwen as W. and F. Ebben. In this loft, they race a team of old and young birds, which are looked after by Willy. Falco also has a pigeon loft in Boven Leeuwen, home to the Ebben Combination, where he used to race young birds exclusively, just until last year. But since he did not enjoy this quite as much (increasingly shorter distances, late starts and regular cancellations, etc.), he opted for a small team of old birds for 2020 instead.
He started the season with just 15 racing birds, a third of which are late youngsters. Falco and his daughter Renée are responsible for caretaking. They obviously had limited ambitions for the 2020 season due this new approach. The main goal was to discover a few talented racing birds along the way, so that they could start the 2021 season with a bigger and stronger team, including a few two year olds. But Falco would have never dreamt of such a strong 2020 season. He won two prizes in the Grandmasters competition (Spoor der Kampioenen) in four races in his loft at home, and he won an additional Grandmasters prize with a pigeon from his uncle Willy. Along with that comes a victory NPO from Châteaudun and some high scores in the different championships both in Boven-Leeuwen (the Ebben combination) and in Beneden-Leeuwen (W. & F. Ebben). This has been quite a strong season for them.
We will be taking a closer look at the best performing birds of Willy and Falco, but we begin with an overview of some of their best results and (preliminary) championship titles, which were all won in the one day long distance:
6 July Orleans 504 km 833 p.: 7-12-37-43-47-etc. (10/15)
18 July Bourges 578 km 1,451 p.: 7-29-58-101-etc. (7/15)
15 Aug. Châteaudun 517 km 996 p.: 7-24-37-46-56-62-etc. (7/10) (3rd best result in Prov. 8 Grandmasters)
Ebben Combination:
18 July Bourges 579 km 1,451 p.: 5-12-22-10-113-127 (6/10) (7th best result Prov. 8 Grandmasters)
1 Aug. Orleans 505 km 1,387 p.: 4-14-25-33-132-142 (6/ 8) (3rd best result Prov. 8 Grandmasters)
Region 3 Prov. 8 One day long distance:
1st Not nominated (W & F Ebben)
2nd Not nominated (Comb. Ebben)
1st Nominated (W & F Ebben)
2nd Pigeon Champion (W & F Ebben)
Province 8 one day long distance:
4th Not nominated (W & F Ebben)
5th Not nominated (Comb. Ebben)
3rd Nominated (W & F Ebben)
8th Pigeon Champion (W & F Ebben)
Northern Union Int.:
2nd Not nominated (Comb. Ebben)
3rd Nominated (W & F Ebben)
3rd Overall (W & F Ebben)
NL19-7001814 Odina, 1st NPO Châteaudun of 4,058 pigeons
Racing hen Odina claimed a 1st NPO Châteaudun with an 8 minute lead of 4,058 pigeons, while finishing in second place N.U. of 15,639 birds. She had won four top prizes as a young bird, and she already has two top results in major competitions to her name as a one year old. We take a look at her best achievements so far:
1st Morlincourt 1,060 p. (and 4th Prov.T.T. 7,852 p.)
246th Bourges 16,447 p.
92nd Quievrain 5,139 p.
47th Nanteuil 1,879 p.
68th Niergnies 2,650 p.
10th Morlincourt 164 p.
The parents of Odina are top breeder Diablo x Kabira, which is a daughter of the phenomenal Indy (6 first prizes). Diablo is also the sire of Linus, winner of a 1st NPO Châteaudun of 12,511 pigeons.
NL18-1682481, Naomie
Naomie was the strongest bird in the loft of Willy and Falco in Beneden Leeuwen this year. She was for instance 1st Pigeon Champion one day long distance in the District and 8th Pigeon Champion one day long distance Prov. 8/GOU. Here is the palmares of this granddaughter of Indy:
5th Prov 8 Morlincourt 7,852 p.
5th NPO Nateuil 5,215 p.
1st Nanteuil 561 p. (and 4th 1,790 p.)
7th Bourges 1,451 p. (and 29th NPO 5,856 p.)
27th Morlincourt 4,028 p.
100th NPO Orleans 9,218 p.
11th Vierzon 800 p.
5th Etroeungt 305 p.
Like we said, Naomie and Odina are granddaughters of Indy. Indy was a very talented racing bird with six first prizes to Her name. But she proved particularly valuable when she became a breeder. In fact, her name features in the pedigrees of many of Willy and Falco's best racing birds.
NL19-1466483, Orpheus
Orpheus was the strongest racing bird this year for the Ebben Combination in Boven Leeuwen. He was pigeon champion in the CC as a young bird and 14th National Pigeon Champion in the "Allerbeste" competition. Both his sire and dam are 100% Ad Schaerlaeckens descendants. He already has four first prizes at club level to his name. This is his list of achievements:
28th Orleans 22,706 p.
4th Niergnies 2,499 p.
2nd Sezanne 568 p. (and 40th Prov. 9,303 p.)
4th Melun 898 p. (and 11th NPO. 2,659 p.)
8th Sens 1,027 p. (and 26th NPO. 3,659 p.)
NL18-1682491, Nanko
And there is one more pigeon that deserves an introduction: Nanko. he played an important role in the one day long distance season of Willy and Falco, since he was the first pigeon back home in Beneden Leeuwen both in Orleans on 1st of August and Châteaudun on 15th of August. He finished in the top 85 NPO on three occasions this season:
29th NPO Orleans 5,735 p. ( 1 Aug.)
36th NPO Châteaudun 4,058 p. (15 Aug.)
The sire of Nanko is Hannibal (7th NPO Chateauroux 2,335 p., 9th NPO Peronne 6,668 p.), while the dam of Nanko is Katja (Peter Janssen, DE). Together, Hannibal and Katja are also the parents of a 9th Nat. Ace Pigeon PIPA Ranking 2019 (300-700km).