Raymund Hermes (76) used to run three different lofts. The long distance loft in Althornbach (under the name of Heiko Hermes) was closed last season and the pigeons were auctioned on PIPA. Today Raymund Hermus has one loft left in Hamm/Sieg, with which he races in the long distance and the big international races under the name of Uwe Hermes. Keep in mind that Hamm/Sieg is not quite the perfect location for a pigeon loft. Few important international long distance pigeon lofts are located so deep in the east and so far away from the usual flight routes. Still he has been able to win several top prizes at national and international level. Now he has also won the national first prize from Narbonne.
Narbonne, national and international
Narbonne is a city with approximately 51,000 inhabitants and it is located in the deep south of France, on the Mediterranean coast. 19,353 pigeons were basketed there, a decrease of 4,627 pigeons compared to 2012. It is difficult to explain this decrease but it probably has to do with the fact that 2013 has been a tiring and demanding season for the pigeons. Belgium had 9,130 pigeons, The Netherlands 4,508 pigeons, Germany 1,308 pigeons, Luxemburg 62 and French-speaking Belgium 92.
The pigeons were released at 7 o’clock in the morning; the sky was clear and there was no wind, which means the conditions were perfect and the pigeons arrived home fairly quickly. The first pigeons arrived in France at 16:01 and 16:27 but they had to complete only 700km and 723km respectively. The international winner was clocked at 17:04’00”.
The international winner from Narbonne in the old birds’ category belongs to Luc Van Coppenolle (Ouwegem, BE). His pigeon was clocked at 17:40’33” after completing 864,957km with a velocity of 1350,33 m/min. Didier Wargnies (Chapelle-Lez-Herlaimont, BE) was the international winner in the yearlings’ category, clocking his pigeon on Friday at 17:04’00”. His pigeon covered 821.121km with a velocity of 1359,47 m/min.
German fanciers had to wait a little longer, simply because the German long distance lofts are too far away from the usual flight routes if the wind comes mainly from the south of the southeast. Yet, the first German pigeon landed at 19:25’16”. He was clocked by Uwe Hermes after completing 918.485km with a velocity of 1,232.425 m/min. This was a perfect 25th national victory for him, a great result for the team of Raymund Hermes.
The second national German pigeon was clocked by Paulus Klaus from Immerath. He clocked his bird at 19:32’25”, covering 916.545km with a velocity of 1,218.135 m/min.
The third prize was won by the pigeon loft of Terporten from Brüggen; they clocked their pigeon at 19:52’00”, which covered a distance of 937.126 km with a velocity of 1,213.894 m/min.
Jubilar 01063-11-1783, the national winner
The pigeon Jubilar, national winner from Narbonne 2013, has a number of illustrious forefathers. He was given this name after taking the 25th national victory for the pigeon loft of Raymund Hermes. His sire is the 01063-09-885, a son of the amazing Barcelona 2005 01063-99-1668. This bird was winner of a first national Barcelona 2005, 38th national Barcelona 2004, 168th national Perpignan 2004, 185th national Dax 2001 and several other top prizes in the long distance competition. The dam of Barcelona 2004 and the grandfather of the 1783 (from his father’s side) is Tochter Rambo Junior, 01063-07-1567, winner of a 235th national from Barcelona against 2,132 pigeons in 2006. These are the origins of Jubilar on his father’s side in brief.
The dam of Jubilar is Schwester Pau-Sieger 0830-03-427, a sister of the winner from Pau 2004. Between 2007 and 2010 Jubilar’s dam has won several top prizes in important international races from Barcelona, Perpignan, Narbonne, Tarbes and Marseille as well. You can see that Jubilar has some impressive origins and he proves to be just as talented as his forefathers. This pigeon illustrates the breeding strategy of Raymund Hermes as well, who breeds pigeons from his very best bloodlines only. He uses nothing but outstanding long distance pigeons or even winners of numerous top prizes in big races in his breeding loft. The 01063-11-1783 is without doubt a great ambassador for the pigeon breed of Raymund Hermes.
Raymund Hermes
Raymund Hermes has worked his way to the top of pigeon racing in Germany right from the start and he is now a prominent fancier at international level as well. Did you know Raymund Hermes has been working as an air-traffic controller for 35 years?
Raymund Hermes has been taking part in the races of the international long distance competition since back in the 1980s. It was quite a task for him to get his pigeons to race from Marseille, Pau, Perpignan or Barcelona. His loft does not have a favourable location to say the least. Most pigeons will follow a more westward course, away from his loft. That does not prevent him from winning countless top prizes, both at national and international level. All pigeons in his loft are basketed regularly. The only way to gather a team of strong and well performing pigeons in the Westerweld region is by strict selection. This is the only way to succeed. It is necessary however to have a group of top class breeding pigeons and to be a well skilled fancier to be able to select the pigeons that you need. Raymund Hermes is without doubt a well skilled fancier. He has skills many other fanciers are lacking.
Top prizes in Hamm/Sieg
As we said, Hamm/Sieg is not a good location for a pigeon loft, because it is very difficult to win top prizes in the international races from here. Yet Raymund Hermes has showed that it is possible to win top prizes from his loft in Hamm/Sieg. A lot has to do with the fact that his pigeon family consists of pigeons of the highest quality. The race from Barcelona is the perfect example: he has won numerous prizes both at national and international level from Spain. We give you an overview of the most important prizes that were won in the race from Barcelona his loft in Hamm/Sieg:
1989: 3rd, 6th and 13th International;
1990: 1st and 2nd International;
2005: 1st and 3rd National and 2nd International as well as the fasetest in the second series;
2012: 1st National Barcelona.
One of the highlights of the Hermes pigeon loft was the victory in the Coupe Wallonie and the Coupe Flandres in 2002, winning all ten prizes.
This was without doubt not the last national victory for this German pigeon loft. The PIPA team would like to congratulate Mr Hermes. We wish him all the best in the international competition.