Tjeerd and Jouke Elzinga
Tjeerd & Jouke Elzinga had a few great races this season: they won a 1st Quiévrain in the province of Friesland against 20,000 pigeons in May. This loft also won a teletext prize in three NPO one day long distance races later this season. Their winner from Quiévrain, NL13-4242338 Mr Sky, showed his potential once again in the one day long distance race NPO from Souppes sur Loing (10th against 6892 pigeons). We will take a closer look at the impressive results by the young bird team in the race from Tilburg but we start with another important prize winner of 2015.
NL13-4242334 Crystal - 5th National Chateauroux sector 4
Crystal
The chequered two year old hen NL13-4242334 Crystal finished in fifth place in sector 4 against 3,535 pigeons in the national race from Chateauroux. In addition, she took a national first prize in Zone 4 in the Northern Union against 1,841 pigeons. Two weeks later, she won another top prize in the demanding race from Argenton, finishing in 9th place in the province of Friesland (763 p.) over a distance of 805 km. These two impressive results enabled her to become Ace Pigeon in the Northern Union. Crystal is a granddaughter of NL07-1128113 Bleu Hope, the stock breeder for team Elzinga. The winner from Quiévrain was also a grandchild of this exceptional breeding bird. Click here for the pedigree of Crystal.
Tilburg 1-2-3 District 2
The main reason for us to write this article was the impressive result in the race from Tilburg. The pigeons in the province of Friesland were basketed for the race from Vervins, which would prove a great warm-up race for the national young bird classic from Morlincourt. However, the weather conditions on Saturday decided otherwise. The race was postponed to Sunday, and the pigeons were released from Tilburg instead, to cover a shorter distance. It proved a race to remember for Tjeerd and Jouke. A total of 5,176 pigeons were basketed in District 2, and the fanciers from Harkema clocked three pigeons in just three seconds’ time, winning the first three prizes. These are the overall result for this partnership:
Tilburg 198 km 5,176 pigeons 1-2-3-12-21-25-48-62-65-66-70-etc. (37/54)
NL15-4273589 1st Tilburg District 2 Province Friesland (5176 pigeons)
NL15-4273589 1st Tilburg
The chequered young cock NL15-4273589 was the first of three pigeons that was clocked in short succession. He had already won a 21st Weert (2,798 p.). This first prize winner is another grandson of stock sire Bleu Hope. Click here for the pedigree.
NL15-4273546 2nd Tilburg 5176 pigeons
NL15-4273546 2nd Tilburg
Mere seconds later the de NL15-4273546 was clocked too, finishing in second place. This beautiful blue coloured hen originates from several top class Pieter Veenstra pigeons (Drachtstercompagnie). Her sire is a grandchild of Rolex (1st National Ace Pigeon WHZB 2009), Chanel 05 (1st int. Ace Pigeon Allround W.E.N.C. 2010) and Mr. Blue (1st and 3rd Best Cock WHZB). This top prize from The 546 did not really come as a surprise. Click here for the full pedigree.
NL15-4273541 3rd Tilburg (5176 pigeons)
The third place was won by the blue band cock NL15-4273541. Stock sire Bleu Hope can be found both on his mother’s side (his grandfather) and his father’s side (his great-grandfather). The grandmother of The 541 is NL12-1005204 Esmee, one of the great champions of Tjeerd and Jouke Elzinga. She was 1st National Ace Pigeon WHZB TBOT and 2nd National Ace Pigeon NPO one day long distance in 2014, and she was also sent to the Budapest Olympiad for The Netherlands that year. The pedigree of The 541 can be found here.
The young birds' approach
The old birds were paired in mid-January, and the eggs of the best pairs were sat by other pairs. It is remarkable that the young birds were released for the first time only in late May. This approach has been quite a success in recent seasons. The young birds are darkened from the third week of April until a week after the longest day of the year; lightening starts one week later. The young birds have had five training flights before the actual start of the season in late July; they are released twice a day for an hour.
The young cocks and hens are separated three weeks before the first teletext race, and they are raced with the sliding door from then on. The young birds are taken away every Wednesday in the week before an NPO race, and the hens and cocks are then put together for an hour. The young birds were particularly motivated for the race from Tilburg, because they had been released simultaneously before the race. They were allowed to stay together after this training flight and they had another joint training on Thursday morning as well.
Morlincourt
The entire team of 54 young birds that was basketed for Tilburg will also be competing in the national race from Morlincourt next weekend. The partnership has great confidence in their racing team after the successful race from Tilburg. The pictures of the young birds in our article were shot on the day when they were basketed for the most important young bird race on the calendar. As you can see, all young birds appear to be in great shape and have well shaped wings. This sure looks promising; they are ready for a great finale of 2015.