Alain & 'Lucky II'.
The Albéro loft is part of the best long distance loft from Wallonia. Alain (63) is lucky enough to share his passion with his wife Josiane. This happy couple forms a perfect combination both at home and in the loft. Alain has almost 50 years of experience and he started getting interested in pigeon racing only gradually. When he was young he spent a lot of time playing football and the pigeon fanciers from his neighbourhood had to ask him not to shoot his ball against the walls of their loft. As he grew up he started watching the pigeons arrive at the loft of his neighbours. They quickly understood that he was destined to join the sport as well and they offered him several pigeons.
At the age of thirteen, Alain won his first victory and he was hungry for more! When he built his house in '75-'76, he decided to focus on the long distance races, which he is still doing nowadays.
To be successful over these distances, he purchased several pigeons from his 'master' the late Raymond Cobut from Anderlues, one of the biggest icons of the belgian pigeon sport of the last century. They were soon complimented with pigeons from Yvon Deneufbourg (Estinnes), the late Marc Roosens (Leernes), the late Henri Mornard (Verviers) but also with the Desbusquois brothers (Kapelle-op-den-bos). All of these lines are still at the basis of today's pigeons breed.
Between the '80s and the begining of the new millenium, he won a dozen of national top 100 positions every season and this made him one of the most regular lofts of the discipline in the province of Hainaut.
A lot of people still remember that Alain was close to a brilliant achievement in 2013, when his 'Lucky' won the 2nd international Marseille against 20.721 pigeons. He was only beaten by the pigeon of the late Robert Van der Eycken, whose pigeon loft was achieving marvellous results at the time. A few years earlier, his racing team was considered as one of the strongest in the European Cup championship, which is decided in the international races (4th and then 8th in 1999). Unfortunately, after the theft of his best pigeons, his results suffered and he was stuck until he discovered a new golden generation. Meanwhile, Alain was happy to see Hiroshi Miyashita (Sirault) win the 1st national Tarbes against 4,864 pigeons in '09 with a grandson of his 'Lucky'. He thinks your pigeons can only achieve good results in other lofts if they have certain qualities. That is what he showed in the 2013 edition of the international race of Narbonne.
His 'Lucky II' won the 2nd national & 2nd international place in the yearling's category! 'Lucky II' is a well deserved name as this splendid chequered cock is a grandson of the now famous 'Lucky', the same pigeon that was close to victory in 2003 !
Tree national podium in three generations
This title proves that the breeding line of 'Lucky' is really exceptional in the international extreme long distance competition. In today's sport, only a few pigeons have better breeding references than 'Lucky':
- 'Lucky' (BE99-9040442)
1st Marseille Iprov - 1,461 pigeons '03 (1.098 m/min) 2nd National - 5,279 pigeons 2nd Internat - 20,721 pigeons 18th Brive reg - 300 pigeons '02 41st Souillac nat zone - 1.361 pigeons '01 58th Pau national - 2.473 pigeons '02
A few years later, he became grandfather of the 'Beauty Tarbes' of Hiroshi Miyashita (Sirault):
1st Tarbes nat - 4,864 pigeons '09 4th Internat - 12,805 pigeons
His worthy successor 'Lucky II' won the silver medal from Narbonne international in 2013, which proves once again his enormous breeding potential.
- 'Lucky II' (BE 12-9061821)
1st Narbonne local 2013 (805 km) 2nd Iprov. – 953 pigeons 2nd National – 3,942 pigeons 2nd Internat – 7,859 pigeons 7th Marne local – 149 pigeons 6th Régional – 688 pigeons 29th Châteauroux – 110 pigeons 40th Nanteuil – 142 pigeons 40th Argenton – 172 pigeons 55th Nevers – 195 pigeons
Raced in classic widowhood, 'Lucky II' never wanted a box in the racing loft. He preferred a small corner in the loft with a cardboard box. The week before being basketed for Narbonne, he defended his territory like a lion. This explains why his motivation!
Alain, Josiane, congratulations for this wonderful performance. We wish you good luck for next season!