Nico van Noordenne in front of his loft
During our visit to the loft of Nico and his father Laban in Hardinxveld-Giesendam we noticed that they are both extremely ambitious and motivated pigeon fanciers. They leave nothing to chance. When you take a look in Nico’s loft you immediately notice the quietness, both in the racing and the breeding loft. On top of that the loft houses plenty of top quality pigeons. The way in which Nico approaches his pigeons tells us a lot about this fancier. Nico has a lot of respect for his outstanding pigeons that are basketed every week, as long as the weather allows. If bad weather is forecast for the weekend he will not hesitate to keep the pigeons home.
We told you that the pigeons in the loft are very quiet but it seems that the fancier himself is quite the opposite. When he is waiting for his pigeons to come home he wants to know exactly when they arrive. He is obviously not the most patient fancier. That might explain why he is fond of the races with a distance from 100 to 450km. Another reason why he favours this distance is because his pigeons are very successful in this discipline of course. So he decided to prepare his pigeons especially for these races. He never has to wait long for his pigeons to arrive at their loft near the Giessen River. “I am only interested in first prizes. The rest does not count”, says a motivated Nico.
His father Laban is fonder of the races of 450 to 700km but it is Nico who sets the goals in this loft. That is why the focus is on the 100-450km distance; a distance in which their pigeons have been remarkably successful over the years.
In 2010 they were awarded with the prestigious title of First National Loft Champion Middle Distance in The Netherlands in their favourite discipline. This was not a title that was won by two pigeons that were in the form of their life. In fact no less than eight different pigeons have achieved this title; it was a collective effort. This illustrates not only the strength of this pigeon breed but also the qualities of Nico as a fancier. Nico knew about his title well in advance, not because he had been informed earlier than the other fanciers but because he had been calculating the results of every single fancier himself. This illustrates how ambitious he really is.
Torero
One of the eye catchers in this loft is Torero (NL01-5151021), a magnificent racing pigeon and now a great breeder. Torero originates for 50% from their own breed and for 50% from the line of Porky x Miss Marbella of Kees Bosua (Dordrecht, NL). In 2003 he left the loft with so much speed that he hit an iron fencing in front of the loft. He damaged his wing and he could no longer be basketed for the races. Pigeon fancier Nico gave him some time to recover and he never lost his confidence. One year later, in 2004, it appeared that the pigeon had recovered from his injury and Torero proved that he was a bird worth waiting for. He managed to win quite a few exceptional prizes that season:
1st Pont St. Maxence – 24,402 p. 1st Hensies – 5,373 p. 2nd Putte – 2,030 p. 3rd Chantilly - 2,099 p. 4th Peronne – 2,744 p. 6th Chantilly – 4,740 p. etc.
We all know that such great results inevitably lead to championship titles as well. Unsurprisingly Torero was awarded several titles in 2004:
1st National Ace Pigeon Middle Distance The Netherlands 2004 1st Ace Pigeon Middle Distance district South Holland East 2002 1st Ace Pigeon Middle Distance District South Holland East 2004 2nd national Ace Pigeon Middle Distance WHZB 2004 etc.
As we said earlier this amazing racing pigeon is also an excellent breeding cock. He is for instance the sire of such top class racing pigeons and breeders as Latino, Latina, Alonso, Pedrosa, Torres, Kiko, etc. In 2011 three children of Torero belonged to the racing team in Hardinxveld and they proved that their father is a pigeon with outstanding breeding skills. All three children achieved a top result in the teletext ranking of the one day long distance:
9th NPO Tours – 10,490 p. (Torero’s White Girl) 9th NPO Argenton – 7,584 p. (Torero’s Blue Girl) 10th NPO Tours – 10,490 p. (Torero’s White Boy)
No Limit
Just to give you an idea of the value of this loft we present you with another first class bird that gets the treatment it deserves in this loft: No Limit (NL09-1204107). This star is co-winner of the title of First National Loft Champion Middle Distance in 2010. In addition he has won quite a few individual prizes as well. Let’s have a look at his most important achievements:
1st provincial Creil – 12,243 p. 4th provincial Mantes la Jolie – 23,879 p. (and first of 2,316 p.) 9th provincial Menen – 18,176 p. 30th provincial Peronne – 15,911 p. 1st Creil – 1,014 p. etc.
No Limit stems from a full sister of Torero, which shows once again that Nico’s pigeon breed is of exceptional quality. These pigeons have a soft plume and they perform very well in Nico’s loft. They have been doing great in other lofts as well: the list of references is inexhaustible. We have selected a few of these references to share with you.
References
Mark van den Berg (IJsselmuiden, NL) owns a full sister of No Limit; the amazing Nicolette achieved excellent results in the loft of the champion from Ijsselmuiden, including a third NPO, 31st NPO, 45th NPO and 67th NPO. It is no coincidence that Nicolette is now the dam of Olympic Nicole (NL10-1144563), which is housed in the loft of Henri van den Berg. Olympic Nicole was the first pigeon to represent The Netherlands in Nitra in January, in category C in the long distance. Let’s have a look at some of the highlights in the career of her racing pigeon, which have brought her to Nitra: 4th Geel – 10,886 p., 5th NPO Orleans – 5,079 p., 12th NPO Orleans – 10,510 p., 18th Breuil-le-Vert – 3,344 p., 40th NPO Blois – 7,700 p., 48th NPO Tours – 2,956 p. and 64th NPO Bourges – 3,381 p.
The bloodline of Torero has also bred Olympic pigeons and excellent references in the loft of Frank Schlechtriem from Germany. For instance, a granddaughter of Torero was selected for the Nitra Olympiad 2013 as third Olympiad Pigeon for Germany in category H old birds.
In addition Willy Steenaerts from Lummen (Belgium) won a first semi-national Jarnac against 4,629 pigeons (and the fastest of 10,163 birds) in 2012 with Cara (BE10-5096194). Willy purchased the dam of Cara at a PIPA auction and this dam was in turn a full daughter of Torrero.
We mentioned the pigeon Latino earlier on. This bird has now moved to China, where it has been performing outstandingly well too. Click here to read Adriaan Liu's experiences with this pigeon.
We have only selected a few references, because it would not be possible to include them all in this article. Quite a lot of fanciers have been quite successful in racing and breeding with the Van Noordenne pigeon breed, in Belgium and abroad.
Some of the achievements in 2012
Nijvel 3,856 p. 1st - 2nd - 7th - 8th - 10th - 28th - 44th - 45th - 66th - 67th - 68th (28 of 41) Lille-Lesquin 3,304 p. 1st - 3rd - 5th - 6th - 8th - 29th - 58th - 62th (30 of 39) Duffel 3,161 p. 3rd - 4th - 12th - 17th - 24th - 51st - 53rd - 56th - 58th - 59th - 61st (28 of 42) Peronne 3,634 p. 4th - 12th - 14th - 20th - 36th -38th - 40th - 47th - 64th (26 of 38) Nanteuil le H. 3,139 p. 4th - 5th - 24th - 30th - 47th - 57th (17 of 35) Chateauroux NPO 9,612 p. 18th - 20th (6 of 10)
We were on our way home after a pleasant visit to the great pigeon family of Van Noordenne in South Holland and we were wondering when we would see them again. These fanciers are very motivated and we think it will not take long before Nico will achieve another great result in his already impressive career. We think their opponents will have to look out for him!
