Kristof and Debora and their children Arthur (10 years old), Estelle (9) and Jolien (5)
The rising star, the coming man of pigeon racing in Belgium, an exceptionally gifted player, a long distance fancier of a new generation. Kirstof Mortelmans has received quite a lot of praise over the years. After founding a small team of young birds in 2012 he swiftly managed to become one of Belgium's leading names in the extreme long distance. This is his palmares from 2013 to 2016:
2013: 6th Nat. Champion KBDB YLs Long Distance (with just 13 yearlings in his team)
2014: 8th Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme Long Distance YLs (nephew Jelle)
2015: 2nd Nat. Champion KBDB Extreme Long Distance Olds
10th Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme Long Distance YLs (Spolle)
2016: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme Long Distance Olds (Barcarcas ‘Red Ace’)
On top of that, he took no less than five provincial first prizes across these four seasons:
1st Prov. Libourne 757 yearlings 1st Prov. Agen 413 yearlings 1st Prov. Montauban 280 yearlings 1st Prov. Libourne 916 yearlings 1st Prov. Narbonne 456 olds
And Kristof was able to be just as successful in 2017, winning the following top prizes in the past two weeks alone:
21 July Prov. Marseille 905 km 248 olds.: 1-9-63 (3/3) 28 July Prov. Narbonne 902 km 307 YLs: 3-13-14-43-47 (5/9)
We would like to take a closer look at the pigeons that were responsible for these two top prizes in particular.
BE14-6163173 Kobe, 1st Provincial Marseille
Kobe claims a 1st Provincial Marseille against 248 pigeons, as well as a 19th National. Besides this provincial first prize he also won a 10th Provincial Pau (79th Nat.) earlier this season as well. Kobe proved his worth already at the age of one, as 2nd Ace Pigeon YLs in the AFC right behind his own nest brother Spolle. The sire of Kobe (NL11-1583573) was obtained directly from the Verweij-De Haan combination (Mijdrecht, NL). This 573 developed into one of Kristof's most valuable breeders. He is the sire of:
1st Prov. Libourne 1st Prov. Montauban 1st Prov. Marseille 2nd Prov. Narbonne 8th Prov. Narbonne 10th Prov. Pau 18th Prov. Brive etc.
The dam of Kobe is Dochter Jelle - click here for Kobe's pedigree. One of Kobe's sons (Tibe) has won a 9th Provincial Marseille (60th Nat), and Tibe has also won a 30th Provincial Montélimar earlier this year. Tibe's pedigree can be found here.
BE14-6193174 Spolle
Like we said, Spolle is a full brother of Kobe. He (along with his brother Kobe) had a big share in the team winning a 2nd place in the national championship extreme long distance 2015. He won a provincial first prize twice that season, and this earned him the title of 10th Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance YLs KBDB and 1st Ace Pigeon YLs AFC. He has proven to be a valuable breeding bird as well, since he is now the grandfather of Ferre (3rd Prov. and 31st Nat. Narbonne). The sire of Ferre is another son of top class breeder Jelle.
BE12-4019241 Jelle
When we take a closer look at the pedigrees of each of these pigeons, there is one common denominator: Jelle. He is Kristof's number one breeding bird, and his full pedigree can be found here. He won a 1st Provincial Libourne against 756 pigeons as a one year old racing bird (and an 11th Nat. 6,134 pigeons). He then went on to win a 2nd Provincial (1,407 pigeons) and a 2nd Provincial Montauban (526 p.) at the age of two, and he was also crowned 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon that year. He is now showing to be a very gifted breeding bird as well: he bred several of Kristof's best racing birds, and he is the grandfather of Prima Donna. This hen was sold to Guido and Tom de Rijck (Lier, BE), where she won a 1st Provincial YLs against 307 pigeons (as well as a 3rd Nat. and 6th Int.). Click here for Prima Donna's pedigree.
Veni, vidi, vici
This famous qote from Julius Caesar (I came, I saw, I conquered) does indeed apply to Kristof Mortelmans. He launched his career in 2012 and he managed to get some spectacular results in just a few years' time. It was his two grandfathers who taught him how to work with pigeons. A number of deliberate investments in 2012 and his thorough knowledge of keeping pigeons enabled him to get where he is today. We are confident he will continue to expand his list of achievements in the coming years.