The “Verbrugggen” has meanwhile acquired a permanent place in the collective international pigeon racing memory.
The rise, the first big successes, the years of incessant struggle for the preservation of the most fought for spot at the top of the pigeon hierarchy, it reads like a book.
We are thinking of the many national top notations that he has added to his name over the years.
He has won the first prize in semi-national alliance a dozen times: 1st Châteauroux 1986-1989-1991-1997; 1st from Argenton 1993-2003 (yearlings)-1st Clermont Ferrand. Zonal the colony was strongest from Limoges (yearlings-2003) and Argenton (youngsters-2005).
Being clocked 3x as 2nd national in a national Bourges race, it’s enough to make you sick and Gommaire had already resigned himself to never having a national victory. A fancier can only do his best. A 1st national falls literally and figuratively out of the air. The “Gil” thought differently and broke the national ban by winning the first national from Bourges 2006.
It is difficult to reach the top of the pigeon sport, once you’re there it is even more difficult to stay there the following year, the hardest thing of all is to surprise the pigeon world year after year. The performances this season were also very good. His victory from Blois (11/7 ll.-1840 yearlings) is without doubt the cherry on the cake. Something of interest, and please feel free to repeat it further, is that this is the 36th provincial victory of an unpublished pigeon career.
This beautiful cock-2040077/2008-
enters through the big gates into the imposing gallery of Verbruggen-toppers with his exploits from Blois. Anybody who has already paid a visit knows what this means. It belongs to the style “Verbruggen “ to breed top pigeons one after another in his carefully constructed breeding loft, the result of a few choice purchases (remember “den As” Van de Velde Maurice) and the timely transfer of the top pigeons to the breeding loft. The provincial winner finds his roots by a few so-called “basis pigeons”, each generation good for a number of toppers. A close inspection of the pedigree card shows a number of pigeons that wrote pigeon history with a capital letter.
On father’s side we come across the Wrat –(2061350/1994)-or the father and grandfather of several excellent racing and breeding pigeons and self a son of the “Blue 020” first provincial Orleans (1489 pigeons) and is grandson of no-one less than the legendary “Kletskop”. This basis pigeon of the loft “Verbruggen “ in combination with a granddaughter of the “Wittebuik” from Gaby Vandenabeele” had to produce fireworks. The lineage on mother’s side is just as impressive because here we see two performance pigeons that raced a unique performance card at the beginning of the century, namely the “Duke” and the “Turbo”.
The provincial winner “good for the thirty-sixth in a row” fully personalised Gommaire’s pigeon philosophy on s
election and racing manner. As a late youngster from 2008 he cannot present an overfull performance card. “How come?” because the young cocks are kept on the basis of the lineage and they also have to fit well in Gommaire’s hand. As a “late young” there is also the addition that things are taken gradually at the start. In pigeon terms it sounds like they are more stupid than the early youngsters. They are introduced into the widowhood system step-by-step and with a great deal of patience. The magnificent result from Blois proves that patience is rewarded.
Forty years of top pigeon sport, from the short sprint, over the middle distance to the long distance competitions. Gommaire went through all the classes of the pigeon sport school. Even though he and his wife “Annie” have had a lot of good moments, even he isn’t spared setbacks. He also had a part in the story of trial and error. It remains a fact that the greatest under the pigeon fanciers recover quickest. The fact is, that after the scandalous underhand theft of 25 top pigeons, including the first national Ace pigeon long distance 2007, Gommaire became more combative and his results also remained at an exceptionally high sportive level.
Is this the difference between the top and being Mr. Average ?
