The national race from Orange on the 28th of June had 4.588 pigeons ready at the start. On Saturday morning at 7 o'clock the baskets were opened, the pigeons had a very tough task before them, because in the Rhône valley the Mistral was blowing head-on whilst on the rest of the route (in the north of France) there was a firm wind from the western sector. There was a good chance that the national winner would be from somewhere between Luik and Limburg, which turned out to be true
although we must half-honestly add that it became a millimetre spurt for the national victory.
After the national Brive victory of Jean-Marc Jacquemain from Trooz in the Luik province, the national winner from Orange was hardly a stone's throw away in the same region, this time by Georges Dubuisson in Theux, who clocked his winner at 17h31 from a distance of 714,679 Km, good enough for a velocity of 1132,61 m/min
just ahead of Jos Joosen from the Antwerp's municipality Brecht, while the 3rd national place was for the West-Flemish Vincent Van de Walle from Helkijn. 
The national top pigeons were well distributed across the country, which is more or less normal with heavier racing conditions and/or head wind, because the pigeons are more 'open' and have to race more 'alone', in other words, correct their flying route better.
Once more Wallonia at the top
The national victory from Orange is the 4° victory for a fancier from Wallonia out of the 6 national Long Distance races that have been raced up until now
for the 2° time then in the same area. Maybe these people can take the bus together in November towards the 'national podium' in Oostende to cheer on their fellow villagers and to fraternise with their fellow Flemish sportsmen, because Trooz and Theux lie near to each other in the province Luik. Theux is a tourist attraction lying between Spa and Verviers. A village with an architectural patrimony so as the 'place du Perron' and the 'Romany church'
picturesque places such as 'La Bouxherie' and 'Le Rocheux'
but also with historic legends about the 'Château de Franchimont' with its imposing ruins. An area where one can take beautiful walks or bicycle rides (3 MTB-routes), or take a ride on a horse
round the 'Valley of the Hoëgne'. On top of one of the hills with a beautiful view over the area lives our brand new national winner of Orange: Georges Dubuisson
a 54 year-old man, who practises the pigeon sport purely for pleasure. He invariably belongs to the stars of his club in Stavelot, George's home port
a sociable club where they don't race for 'money', but purely for pleasure
and where you can have a pleasant stay with your pigeon friends and have an enjoyable chat and a pint
In short, pigeon sport as folklore and that perfectly fits the objectives that Georges has for the pigeon sport: hobby, pleasure, delight!
His colony consists of 12 breeding couples and 22 widowers, and he also races a few hens with a nest. It was these hens of the widowers that were coupled with the breeding cocks at the end of May, and that had ideal nest conditions (read: with small youngsters) who were entered for Barcelona (old hens) and St.Vincent (yearling hens).
And the widowers then?
Once their hens were coupled with the breeders, they were not allowed to see a hen again. The widowers were not allowed to see a hen for nearly 6 weeks, and yet in this way Georges still won the 1° National Orange! When we enquired about the motivation of the national winner, Georges told us the following: Look, for me, the pigeon sport is pure hobby.. which I try to practise and experience as simply as possible. For the longer distances (read: Long Distance and Grand Distance) the hens don't play a decisive role anymore
but rather the 'territorial instinct' of the pigeon! The instinct to return to his 'box', his 'possession'
in addition to the 'class' and 'condition' of the pigeon in question at that moment, are according to Georges the trump cards in the 'Long Distance'!
His "Orange" ring 1050058/06 delivered with his 'national victory' from Orange the purest evidence of this plan. He hadn't seen a hen for one and a half months. This pigeon never missed his prize, and last year won as yearling 6 prizes from the 6 times basketted. This year he also won 6/6, including Bourges, Montélimar 1.404 p. 190 and now 1° National Orange 4.588 p. On father's side, he comes out a widowers cock from 2005 (out a crossing Germain Imbrecht x Paul Tossens) who self first won 3/3 in 2008
but never returned from his 4° race
what a pity! Georges obtained his mother via his brother
she is from 1996 and comes from a certain Mr. Matthijs from Luxemburg
the man probably doesn't keep pigeons any more. Georges isn't certain because he doesn't know the man personally. Georges will probably win 2 prizes nationally from the 3 pigeons entered. Both also won previously (3 weeks ago) from the very tough Montélimar.
So as you see and hear, says Georges I'm a pigeon fancier of the 'old sort'. He writes down his results , and the ring numbers of his breeding couples and their youngsters in a sort of diary but commercial pedigrees on the computer etc is not for him. So as already mentioned, he keeps things as simple as possible. Everyday 'more than enough' breeding mixture except for the last 3 days before basketting, then they are mainly given sport mixture. He 'never' visits the veterinary surgeon, except for the compulsory Paramyxo vaccination. For the remainder, the pigeons are sometimes given a spartrix when they return home (only twice this season), but they are given a lot of natural products such as 'Natural tea', brewer's yeast and garlic oil, but 'never' vitamins. These must be made by, and in, the body of the pigeon itself, according to Georges!
In this way Georges Dubuisson delivered the evidence that one can practise the pigeon sport in a simple and effective manner
and in this way a 'small fancier' can easily reap his rewards in our oh so lovely pigeon sport, and can definitely compete with all the 'greats' in our sport. Maybe we are all searching too hard, and the over-surplus of extremely expensive products and by-products that are praised everywhere and can be found universally, the many success methods that are read about in all the reports concerning our 'toppers' etc
all good for nothing. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, and not in the extreme extremes
everyone decides for themselves in the end, how high he will place his ambition! Sport friend Georges Dubuisson proves that simple brewer's yeast, garlic oil and tea
in addition to a simple caring method
are more than enough, for a national victory. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Dubuisson family with their marvellous national victory from Orange, and we wish them further success with their cherished hobby: the pigeon sport!
