Tjeerd and Jouke Elzinga have been among the best performing teams in The Netherlands for many years now. They have been able to claim a prestigious top result every single season, which is something that most of their opponents can only dream of. Their most notable achievement was a double first prize NPO with one and the same pigeon: their racing bird NL17-4289807 claimed a 1st NPO Sens of 4,690 pigeons (1st Nat. 8,762 p.), followed by a 1st NPO Morlincourt of 8,939 pigeons the following week (2nd Nat. 17,506 p.). Click here to reread our report on this double win. Several more first prizes were won besides these two victories NPO. Let's have a look:
1st NPO Morlincourt 8,939 p. 1st Nat. S4 Sens 8,780 p. 1st Quievrain 3,958 p. 1st Sittard 3,368 p. 1st Weert 719 p. 1st Bierges 668 p. 1st Quievrain 592 p. 1st Gennep 294 p. 1st Chimay 187 p.
And the following championship prizes in major competitions were won this year alone:
1st General Champion Entente Eenheid (5 x 1st over the past 6 years) 1st General Champion Rayon de Walden 1st Loft Champion Entente D 1st Nominated Middle Distance Province Friesland 5th General Champion Province Friesland 6th General Nominated Province Friesland
The pigeon breed of Tjeerd and Jouke is based around some world class bloodlines that continue to breed new champions. Among the pigeons that have left their mark on this father-son combination are Blue Hope, Lady Gaga, Esmee, New Hope and Hallijujah. Here is an overview of the racing birds that have delivered most of the team's best results in recent years. These are all related to the renowned breeding birds that we just mentioned.
NL14-1778393 Tims Hope
Tims Hope continues to show his exceptional potential in 2018, even at the age of five. He became 8th General Ace Pigeon Long Distance in the entire province of Friesland this season, based on 10 top results. is palmares includes 11 prizes at 1:100. Here are his best results of 2018:
1st Tongeren 815 p. 2nd Mantes Jolie 861 p. 14th Sittard 6,349 p. 18th Asse Zellik 12,290 p. 18th Chalon 4,924 p. 23rd Gien 2,788 p. 34th Quievrain 5,089 p. 34th Sens 4,485 p. 60th Gennep 8,561 p. 75th Gennep 21,899 p. 81st Nateuil 8,582 p.
The sire of Tims Hope is Salbris Tim of Mees Doornekamp (Hoevelaken, NL), winner of 4 top prizes in the NPO one day long distance, including a 1st NPO Salbris. The dam is a daughter of top breeder Blue Hope, which was the first pigeon to really raise the bar for team Elzinga. He won himself a 4th NPO La Ferte but that was nothing compared to his achievements in the breeding loft: his youngsters and grandchildren have won a 1st Arnhem, 1st Gennep, 1st St. Chislain, 1st Boxtel of 7,423 p., 2nd Boxtel 614 p., 2nd Hoensbroek 360 p., 1st Hank 2,303 p., 1st Minderhoudt 3,240 p. and 1st Charleville 1,313 p. Click here for his full pedigree. Tims Hope is now the sire of a 1st Quievrain (3,958 p.) and an 8th NPO Pointoise (9,520 p.).
NL16-4280384 Miss Morlincourt
Miss Morlincourt is the result of another successful pairing of their own top breeders with outside bloodlines. The sire of Miss Morlincourt is a cock (Big Vince) of Arie Dikstra (Oudwoude, NL), and he stems from such top class pigeons as Okidoki, Leonardo and Tinkerbel. The dam of Miss Morlincourt is another daughter of Blue Hope and Lady Gaga. Breeding bird Lady Gaga (a 100% Koopman) was never raced but she plays a key role in the breeding loft in Harkema. Click here for the pedigree of Miss Morlincourt. This hen had already won a 2nd NPO Morlincourt of 7,348 pigeons as a young bird. Here is a look at her best prizes 1:100:
1st Morlincourt 3,100 p. (and 2nd of 7,348 p.) 11th Heusden Zolder 2,185 p. 15th Duffel 4,302 p. 30th Quievrain 3,080 p. 46th Gennep 12,322 p.
NL16-4280385 Max
Max is a son of top class bird Esmee. She came into prominence in 2014 with a 1st NPO Province 11 Friesland of 4,269 pigeons. She was in fact the fastest pigeon in the race of 10,975 pigeons. She has won 17 prizes 1:100 over the course of her racing career, including:
1st NPO Châlons-en-Champagne 479 km 4,269 p. 2nd Sittard 241 km 6,763 p. 4th NPO St.-Truiden 274 km 20,435 p. 7th Duffel 259 km 4,022 p. 8th Gennep 168 km 2,788 p. 21st Weert 169 km 3,706 p. 37th Sens 590 km 6,036 p. 43rd Sens 590 km 8,725 p. 67th Gennep 168 km 2,788 p. 70th Auby-lez-Douai 374 km 12,133 p.
It was thanks to this palmares that she became an Olympiad Pigeon in Budapest in 2014, representing The Netherlands in the all-round category. Needless to say, she can win a top prize in almost every distance, and her all-roundedness has resulted in the following championship titles:
2014: 1st ace pigeon allround and 19th one day long distance pigeon in the WHZB/TBOTB 2014: 1st pigeon champion one day long distance and 2nd ace pigeon general long distance Province 11 Friesland 2014: 2nd national pigeon champion one day long distance NPO 2013: 9th ace pigeon allround (5th hen) in the TBOTB competition 2013: 11th yearling allround (9th hen) in the TBOTB competition
She developed into an invaluable breeding bird right after putting an end to her fantastic racing career: several of her youngsters and grandchildren have already won a prestigious first prize. Her direct son Max is a good example: he was only raced as a young bird but he did win a 1st Tilburg (Province Friesland) of 7,745 pigeons. Click here for Max's pedigree. Esmee was found dead in the loft in the spring of 2018.
NL16-4280389 Courtney
Courtney won a 5th NPO Morlincourt of 7,348 pigeons as a young bird. His remarkable pedigree can be found here. His dam is New Hope, a daughter of Blue Hope. The sire is Hallilujah, and he comes from world class pair Esmee x Harry of Jan Hooymans (Kerkdriel, NL). Jan Hooymans and the Elzinga combination agreed in 2015 to start breeding pigeons together with their best bird, and the result was a fantastic breeding pair: Esmee and Harry. Two youngsters of this pair went to Harkema, including NL15-1850078, which is now called Hallilujah. This strong and great looking blue coloured cock has bred quite a few talented descendants over the years. One of Hallilujah's sons (NL17-4289807) has really stepped up this season, claiming two first prizes NPO, all in a single week. Hallilujah is now paired to his partner New Hope, and together they bred:
1st NPO Sens 4,690 p. (and 1st Nat. 8,762 p.) 1st NPO Morlincourt 8,939 p. (and 2nd Nat. 17,506 p.) 3rd NPO Morlincourt 7,348 p. 5th NPO Morlincourt 7,348 p. 2nd Asse-Zellik 4,122 p.
NL17-4289809 Little Harry
As his name suggests, Little Harry is closely related to the legendary Harry. His sire is a son of Harry x Daughter Harry. The dam is Triple Eight, and she comes from Foeke Hoekstra. She was bred from a son of Esmee x his super class hen Olympic Failu (9th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint NPO). Click here for Little Harry's full pedigree. Little Harry finished in 22nd place in the PIPA Ranking for Best Ace Pigeon Young Birds of The Netherlands (6 prizes) in 2017, based on the following results:
1st Niergnies 393 km 5,078 p. 80th Gorinchem 169 km 19,430 p. 77th Quievrain 352 km 13,332 p. 115th Heusden-Zolder 245 km 15,920 p. 157th Asse Zellik 287 km 10,880 p. 390th Gennep 168 km 12,323 p.
NL18-4298137
The young birds' team has had a great season as well. Racing bird 137, which stems from a joint breeding with the Jager Brothers (Blijham, NL) was one of the newcomers that is showing to be a highly talented bird. His sire comes from the Jager Brothers (Blijham, NL), which have a fantastic breeding pair from the Van den Brande Brothers (Berlaar, BE) in their collection. The dam of the 137 comes from a joint breeding with Peter Embregts (Hoeve, NL), namely from his top breeder Super Rossi paired to Elzinga's own super class hen New Hope. Click here for his full pedigree. And this pigeon has plenty of talent indeed, judging from his achievements so far:
2nd Quievrain 352 km 2,137 p. (and 25th Nat. S4 20,019 p.) 2nd Quievrain 352 km 5,971 p. (and 21st NPO 13,249 p.) 3rd Gennep 168 km 7,634 p. (and 14th 18,603 p.) 43rd Sittard 241 km 3,368 p. 79th NPO Morlincourt 457 km 5,643 p.
A fresh start
A younger brother of Jouke purchased the house of his father Tjeerd just recently, which means this team will no longer be racing from this location next season. Jouke's lofts will be home to a new team of young birds as of 2019. They are currently designing a new garage with a new old birds' loft on top, similarly to the lofts on Tjeerd's previous location. The young birds' loft, which has led to great results, will soon be moved to its new location. However, the team will not be racing in the old birds' category in 2019. Nonetheless, this team has plenty of talented breeders in their collection, and we reckon Tjeerd and Jouke will in no time be able to regain their position as one of the leading names in The Netherlands.