Adrien Mirabelle was facing a serious challenge at the start of 2015. In 2014, when he was still racing in the loft of his grandfather in Quaregnon as Vandam-Mirabelle, he became 1st Nat. Champion Shorter Middle Distance YL KBDB and 1st-4th-10th Nat. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL KBDB. But in 2015 he wanted to race from a new loft at his home in Ghlin, with only a team of yearlings and young birds. The yearlings had already raced here as young birds in 2014.
He started the season with 32 one year old cocks and 16 hens, all raced in classic widowhood. The cocks are paired in mid-February and they are put in widowhood immediately after raising a youngster. Adrien keeps a team of hens as well, using the approach of Bart Geerinckx. This means they are paired in the middle of March (15/3), and they raise a youngster before going straight into widowhood.
Adrien is by no means a beginner (he has been keeping pigeons since 1999) but he had never kept a team of old birds (in this case yearlings) in widowhood on his own. This used to be the responsibility of his grandfather, while Adrien was looking after the young birds. Adrien did not know what to expect from his first season with the old birds but he was very ambitious nonetheless. All went well, thanks to an excellent team of racing birds and breeders and a motivated fancier.
A small team of young birds
Adrien took over a part of the loft of Maurice and Gregory Casaert, where a group of young birds were kept. It took some time to take down and rebuilt the lofts, and so the first round of young birds was transferred to the loft of fellow fancier Geoffrey Janssens. Adrien wanted to see if his pigeon could quickly adapt to a new environment. In addition, he wanted to discover the potential of his young birds in the national races. He noticed that his own loft was not in a good location for these races. The loft of Geoffrey Janssens in Baal was better suited for this competition, since the Mirabelle pigeons were doing really well there. They won a number of first prizes and they achieved great results both at zonal and national level. Adrien knew that these pigeons were ready to be put to the test in the national longer middle distance races as yearlings.
A new objective: the long distance
In 2015 he kept a team of only 35 young birds in his own loft to compete in the races. They gained a lot of experience and they did some shorter middle distance races, to prepare for the future. These pigeons have performed exceptionally well, winning a number of first prizes and numerous top results, as you can tell from the palmares further down the article. This is a promising team for 2016.
Adrien wants to focus more and more on the long distance races in the future since the national longer middle distance is particularly challenging in this region. It is nearly impossible to win a top prize at national level here, although Adrien does what he can. He is now looking to assemble a team for the long distance competition, which means he has to find out if his pigeons can fly the distance. With the long distance in mind he obtained a number of Geerinckx pigeons, including most notably descendants of top class pigeons Fast Boy, Luc, Gladiator, Wittekop Sylvester, Xena, Nationaal etc.
Great results from the yearlings' team
The new racing team of Adrien Mirabelle performed really well from day one. His yearlings’ team consisted of a group of pigeons coming from the PIPA Elite Center (PEC) of Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, led by cracks Fonzie and Super Dreamer, combined with pigeons from a crossing of the old Mirabelle bloodline x Geerinckx.
The pigeons that he obtained from Bart Geerinckx were mainly cocks, and they were paired to the best racing and breeding hens from Adrien’s own breed. He quickly noticed that the young birds that came from these pairings were a lot more muscular, which suggested they had a lot more strength as well. This could prove particularly useful in the long distance of course! Adrien is understandably quite optimistic.
The first results that were achieved by these new crossings were very promising. The one year old Shogun originates from this very combination, and he managed to become 2nd Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL KBDB. We will take a closer look at some of the key names in the team of yearlings in Ghlin:
-Fonzie BE14-1073383
He is the superstar of this loft with an impressive six first prizes at club level, and two first and two second prizes in the overkoepeling. This is Fonzie's palmares of 2015:
2015
3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance Yl KBDB 2015 18/4 Laon 101 p. 1 & 440 p. 2 09/5 Villemandeur 115 p. 1 & 799 p. 23 23/5 Toury 104 p. 1 & 1,228 p. 2 30/5 Toury 92 p. 1 & 971 p. 1 06/6 Toury 101 p. 1 & 989 p. 1 13/6 Toury 78 p. 8 & 906 p. 47 27/6 Toury 80 p. 2 & 720 p. 10 11/7 Toury 31 p. 1 & 522 p. 6
Bred by PIPA Elite Center - Raced by Adrien Mirabelle (Ghlin)
He is a grandchild of three 1st Nat. Ace Pigeons Longer Middle Distance KBDB: New Freddy, Amalia, annd Bender. Click here for the pedigree of Fonzie.
- 'Shogun' BE14-1190495
2nd Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance Yl KBDB 2015
1st Toury 129 p.
2. I.Prov 1,170 p.
2nd Toury 989 p. (after loftmate)
2nd Toury 233 p.
11. I.Prov 435 p.
7th Toury 971 p. (after 4 loftmates)
9th Laon 101 p.
9th Toury 522 p.
11th Toury 720 p.
15th Toury 908 p.
18th Toury 1.228 p.
Click here for the pedigree of Shogun
-Super Dreamer BE14-1073386
1st Ace Pigeon Long Distance Yearlings 2015 Club
Brive Prov 1,021 p. 17
Zone 4,616 p. 91
Nat 9,049 p. 162
Tulle Prov 1,106 p. 32
Nat 8,621 p. 345
Chateauroux Prov 2,179 p. 292
Bred by PIPA Elite Center – Raced by Adrien Mirabelle (Ghlin)
A full brother of a 1st Intprov. Vierzon 4,457 p. in 2015 of Jespers-Vanderwegen. He originates from a crossing of Blauwe Prins (Pros Roosen) x Ike (1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB of Chris Hebberecht) from his father's side. The dam is a direct Geerinckx hen, and a full sister of 1st Nat. Limoges 11,869 p. Click here for the full pedigree of Super Dreamer.
Plenty of talent
Adrien Mirabelle is one of the most promising young fanciers in our sport. He is very ambitious, eager to learn, and clearly very talented as well. These characteristics have allowed him to achieve great results, including a great number of provincial and national titles. He is well on his way to becoming a national champion!
Highlights of 2015
18/4 Laon 101 yl: 1-2-3-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-16-19-20… (20/31) 18/4 Laon 440 yl: 2-4-10-31-33-34-44-46-48-49-85… (18/31) 02/5 Nanteuil 241 yl: 2-5-11-14-15-19-20-34-38-39-44-45-50…(19/44) 09/5 Villemandeur 115 yl: 1-2-3-4-5-8-9-10-11-12-13-20 (12/34) 16/5 Vierzon 132 yl: 1-2-27-28-29-39 (6/12) 16/5 Vierzon 383 yl: 3-10-77-78-80-109 (6/12) 23/5 Toury 104 yl: 1-6-9-10-12-15-19-23-26-28-29-31-32-34 (14/25) 23/5 Toury 1.228 yl: 2-9-16-18-28-32-47-54-72-74-81-120-123…(17/25) 23/5 Toury 362 yl: 4-5 (2/2) 30/05 Toury 971 yl: 1-2-5-6-7-8-9-10-12-16-22-42-57-81-90-93-94-114-178-179-182…(24/30) 06/06 Toury 450 yl: 1-3-9 (3/3) 06/06 Toury 101 yl: 1-2-3-4-5-8-9-12-21-31 (10/17) 06/06 Toury 989 yl: 1-2-3-6-9-48-51-87-158-246 (10/17) 13/06 Toury 428 yl: 14-16-18 (3/3) 20/06 Toury 908 yl: 12-15-17-21-32-48-188 (7/13) 27/06 Toury 720 yl: 10-11-11-21-33-53-67-119-185-206 (10/11) 11/07 Toury 522 yl: 6-8-9-11-15-16-103-138 (8/10) 11/07 Brive 139 yl: 4-10-37 (3/6) 11/07 Brive 372 yl: 8-22-83 (3/6) 11/07 Châteauroux 608 yl: 3-4-15-44-48-76-127-201 (8/14) 11/07 Châteauroux 2,108 yl: 15-17-63-163-175-289-435-674 (8/14) 18/07 Nanteuil 245 yb: 3-5-7-8-10-11-13-43-44-46-47-50… (15/25) 18/07 Nanteuil 919 yb: 5-6-8-9-15-15-20-97-99-103-104… (15/25) 18/07 Toury 233 yl: 2-7-8-14-15-46 (6/8) 25/07 Tulle 130 yl: 2-4-9-10-11-13 (6/11) 25/07 Tulle 337 yl: 3-13-32-34-37-41 (6/11) 01/08 Melun 241 yb: 1-2-3-4-5-8-10-14-18-21-24-39-40-41-43…(16/26) 01/08 Melun 928 yb: 6-7-8-9-10-22-26-33-47-52-62-105-106-107-109-130-304 (17/26) 08/08 Toury 638 yb: 1-3-4-21-28-60-74-93-107-135-137-146 (12/24) 16/08 Nanteuil 1,289 yb: 6-7-10-11-12-13-14-23-24-31-32-33-43-45-58-59-76-140-182 (19/23) 16/08 Nanteuil 537 jo: 6-7-10-11-12-13-14-23-24-30-31-32-41-43-50-51-62-93-113 (19/23) 22/08 Toury 191 yb: 1-4-6-15-19-20-28-31-34-37-39-45 (12/19) 22/08 Nanteuil 816 yb: 6 (1/2) 29/08 Nanteuil 223 yb: 1-9-14-42-44-75 (6/9) 29/08 Nanteuil 877 yb: 2-12-18-69-71-128 (6/9) 29/08 Issoudun 726 yb: 17-27-29-91-170 (5/17)
Provincial top 10
3rd Jarnac 483 p. 4th Vierzon 943 p. 5th Châteauroux 1,789 p. 6th Châteauroux 1,789 p. 7th Bourges 878 p.
National championships KBDB
13th Nat. Champion Shorter Middle distance KBDB 2015 18th Nat. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL KBDB 2015 (Fonzie)
Provincial championships KBDB
2nd Prov. Champion Shorter Middle Distance YL 2nd Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL (Shogun) 3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL (Fonzie) 8th Best Loft Interprovincial KBDB 10th Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL 12th Prov. Champion Longer Middle distance YL 14th Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL 15th General Prov. Champion KBDB (raced with no old pigeons) 16th Prov. Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance YL