Jos Martens and his wife Jacqueline
The 61 year old Jos got involved in the sport at an early age. He was a son of a family of mine workers, where pigeon racing has always been a family tradition. His grandfather, his father and his father's brothers were all fanciers, and Jos was the only of four children to continue the tradition. His father had always been very supportive. Remarkably enough, Jos won an international first prize on the birthday of his passed father. Today Jos enjoys the support of his wife Jacqueline, which shows that this is a successful man-husband combination. The international first prize from Marseille has been won by a fancier with a solid reputation, since Jos has been a very successful long distance fancier in the province of Limburg for many years, and has been a familiar name among long distance fanciers across The Netherlands. In 2015, he was particularly successful in the morning releases of the ZLU. We take a look at some of his best results this season:
Limoges Provincial 3,884 pigeons: 5-6-29-113-166-183-197-252-256-258-etc. (14/22) Pau National 3,433 pigeons: 28-152-230 (3/3) Agen jl. National 5,063 pigeons: 9-345-403-435 (4/6) Agen o.d. National 6,643 pigeons: 28-30-418-425-574 (5/6) Bergerac Provincial 3,252 pigeons: 15-29-242-etc. (5/12) St. Vincent National 3,714 pigeons: 164-247-280-etc. (6/6) Cahors Provincial 2,173 pigeons: 9-223-etc. (4/5)
The breed
Another star in his team is "Asduif Bordeaux", which is heavily based on the bloodline of Kuijpers as well. He originates from Irunha of Theo Daalmans from his father's side, which in turn originates from two national winners. The winner from Marseille of Matjeu Cox can be found in his pedigree as well. Besides, international winner André originates from many of these bloodlines as well.
NL13-1540537 André
NL13-1540537 1st International Marseille
The international winner from Marseille is quite a champion, and he has a proven record. He won a 301st from 12,152 pigeons in an afternoon release from Bordeaux as a yearling, as well as a 34th against 3,107 pigeons in the same season. He also won a 33rd Agen against 3,107 pigeons in 2015, before claiming an international victory against 10,238 pigeons from Marseille in his fourth long distance race so far. The pigeons were released in Marseille at 6:40am in high temperatures and a south-southwesterly wind. André was clocked at 16:59, having covered 874km with a velocity of 1411 m/min. Jos has named his international winner after André Kuijpers of the Kuijpers brothers, the legendary long distance combination from Neer (NL). There was a funeral service for André Kuijpers on the day of the victory, and André's brother Piet Kuijpers agreed to give the winning pigeon from Marseille the name of his passed brother.
The sire of André is a cock from 2006 which Jos obtained from Busscher-Albertz (Elsoo, NL). He is a son of their top racing bird "711", which was already ten years old when giving birth to this son. Jos had been quite successful with the 711 bloodline, which is why he decided to obtain this son as well. The dam of André is a full sister of the 1st international Tarbes 2010. Click here for the full pedigree.
1st International Marseille in his breeding box
The head of the winner
Closing words
The second national prize was won by a hen of Leo Martens (Meers, NL). Jos and Lei used to exchange pigeons on a regular basis, and it is remarkable that this hen was actually bred from a cock of Jos. This proves once again that Jos has a collection of top quality birds, which have proved their value both at home and in other lofts. They have been very successful in the past (including a 1st international from Tarbes) but they achieved great results in 2015 as well, with a 1st international from Marseille as the crowning achievement.