National champions with a small team
Fellow fanciers Paul Gevaert and Carlos Lannoo won our respect with how their pigeon racing career developed over the past decade. Here we have two fantastic pigeon fanciers. They claim quite a number of first prizes every single season, as well as some provincial and zonal victories and a host of provincial or national championship and ace pigeon titles. This is quite remarkable, given that they race with quite a small team of birds: they have room for no more than 12 racing pairs in total widowhood (12 cocks and 12 hens), and they ween about 40 to 45 early youngsters every season. That's it! It makes their list of achievements all the more impressive. Their biggest secret would be their thorough selection process.
Many fanciers assumed that the Gevaert-Lannoo combination would have to take step back after they sold their entire racing team in late 2016 but that was not quite the case: they started the 2017 season with a very small team of summer youngsters from 2016, which had hardly any experience. But the rule of thumb is: a good quality breed is guaranteed to deliver, and new champions soon stepped up. The combination bred some promising new birds from their top quality breeding team, which consists for 75% of Gaby Vandenabeele bloodlines (either straight from Dentergem or obtained from other Vandenabeele based breeds from around the region), combined with some in-house winners and ace pigeons. Paul Gevaert has always been very fond of the Vandenabeele breeders, and Paul sums it up perfectly: "We started racing pigeons 17 years ago. Had we known back then what we know now, we would have purchased even more of Gaby's pigeons." Just look into the pedigrees of their best pigeons, and you know what he means.
The top class bloodline that has become one of the cornerstones of the pigeon breed in Meigem-Deinze is that of stock dam Chateauke (a Cools-Blancke) and her daughter Kaafke. And two more stock breeders were discovered recently, with Bliksem CEO (son of Bliksem) and the team's current top breeder King Gaby (half brother Gloria, through her dam 'Mona'). Both of them originate directly from the pigeon lofts in Dentergem. King Gaby is now the sire of Crayonné Plastron (1st Prov. and 2nd Nat. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance KBDB 2010) and Prince 26 (5th Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB, 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance KBDB 2015), and he is the grandfather of the fantastic Ivanka, which has just been selected as Olympiad Pigeon in Poznan 2019.
Ivanka: 1st Olympiad Pigeon Middle Distance of Belgium Cat H – Poznan 2019
The fact that the Gevaert-Lannoo combination has been getting so many great results with such a small group of pigeons illustrates the level of quality in their breeding loft. They started the 2018 season, which was quite a demanding year in terms of racing conditions, with just 11 two year old pigeons and 10 yearlings, as well as a group of 23 young birds. By the end of the season they had won 16 first prizes, as well as several prestigious titles. Here are some of their biggest achievements of this season:
1st Olympiad Pigeon Middle Distance in Belgium 2019 Cat H Poznan 2019 3rd Prov. Champion Middle Distance olds & YLs KBDB 2018 3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance YBs KBDB 2018 4th Prov. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance olds & YLs KBDB 2018 10th Prov. Champion Long Distance YBs KBDB 2018 11th Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance YBs KBDB 2018 3rd Champion Young Birds FVOV 2018 4th Champion Young Birds OVV-Interprovincial 2018 8th General Champion FVOV 2018 1st Prov. Champion Middle Distance Peter championship East Fl. Youth/KBDB 1st General Champion Fondclub Eeklo 2018 1st Champion Longer Middle Distance olds Fondclub Eeklo 2018 1st Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance olds & YLs Fondclub Eeklo 2018 1st Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance YBs Fondclub Eeklo 2018 2nd Champion Middle Distance YBs Fondclub Eeklo 2018 2nd Champion Middle Distance YBs Fondclub Eeklo 2018 1st Champion Sprint olds club Zeveren 2018 etc.
This is quite extraordinary! It is fair to say that many pigeon fanciers with a much larger team of racing birds usually have to settle for a lot less. We included a brief summary of their best results below the article as well.
The big star of the 2018 season is a fantastic racing hen called Olympiad Ivanka. She has quite a few top prizes to her name, and she will soon be representing Belgium in the Poznan Olympiad in the middle distance, as 1st Olympiad Pigeon Cat. H. This is her list of achievements:
-Olympiad Ivanka BE16-4070112
1st Olympiad Pigeon Middle Distance Belgium Cat H – Poznan 2019 4th Prov. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance KBDB 2018 1st Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance olds & YLs Fondclub Eeklo 2018 1st Prov Orleans 612 YL ’17 – fastest of 936 p. (olds and YLs) 1st Clermont 221 p. ’18 2nd Fontenay 682 p. ’18 8th Prov Blois 2.648 p. ’18 – 1st Club 408 p. 15th Prov Bourges 3.385 p. ’18 – 3rd Club 786 p. 22nd Nat Argenton 11.823 p. ’18 – 2nd Club 552 p. 27th Pro Chateauroux 3.305 p. ’18 – 3rd Club 606 p. (16th June) 27th Prov Orleans 1.220 p. ’18 54th Nat Chateauroux 8.634 p. ’18 – 3rd Club 613 p. (7th july)
Ivanka completed ten races in 2018, and she won a prize per 10 in each of them (finishing within the first 10%), and she did 8 races with a coefficient of 0. ...% (or at least per 100, 1:100). We were not surprised to hear that Paul and Carlos decided to give her a spot in their breeding loft straight away.
Sire: Master King BE12-4175097
He wins a 1st Club 225 p. and a 33rd Nat. La Souterraine in 2014, as well as a 1st Club and a 39th Nat. La Souterraine of 4,144 p. in 2013. He is a son of the team's current stock breeder King Gaby BE07-3034700 (a direct Gaby Vandenabeele and a half brother of Gloria) x Chateaufideelke BE08-4280369 (a daughter of the invaluable stock dam Chateauke BE05-3202164, which originates from Cools-Blancke).
Dam: Sister Caraat BE14-4032116
She is a daughter of Bliksem Rik BE11-3123594 (a grandson of Bliksem, and a direct Rik Cools: bred from Schone Bliksem x Marieke, 1st Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB) x Red National Hen BE05-4126313 (a direct Marc De Cock, bred from Red National, 1st Nat. Zone Limoges 1,477 p. & 1st Nat. Zone Brive 1,424 p.).
Click here for the full pedigree of Olympic Ivanka
Her full brother Brother-35-Ivanka BE17-4176035 won 12 prizes per 10 (1:10) in 12 races in 2018, including:
85th Nat Chateauroux 13,098 p. (483 Km) – 9th Club 551 p. 12th Prov Orleans 1,621 p. (365 Km) – 2nd Club 320 p.
She is without doubt one of the favourites of Gevaert-Lannoo for 2019.
Cosy: 3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance and 11th Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance YBs KBDB
The team of young birds had some promising newcomers as well, including most notably Cosy. This small blue coloured hen was able to win a prize in the provincial ace pigeon championships KBDB middle distance, as well as in the provincial ace pigeon championships KBDB long distance. Her pedigree says it all: she has excellent origins, and the fantastic stock dam Chateauke features in her pedigree three times:
-Cosy BE18-4091006
3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance YBs KBDB '18 11th Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance YBs KBDB '18 1st Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance Fondclub Eeklo '18 3rd Issoudun 285 p. 5th Argenton 577 p. – 70th Prov. 3,446 p. 5th Blois 437 p. - 13th Prov. 1,635 p. 18th Chateauroux 500 p. 23rd Orleans 694 p. – 109th Prov. 3,498 p. 49th Orleans 574 p. – 123rd Prov. 2,445 p.
Sire: Edison BE17-4176009
Bred from grandson x granddaughter Chateauke. This is the last youngster bred from supercrack Prince 26 BE15-4146026 (sold in a PIPA auction of the complete racing team in late 2016): she was 5th Prov. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2015 and 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance YBs KBDB 2015, and he was himself a son of stock breeder King Gaby BE07-3074700 x Sister 05 Kaafje BE09-433810. Prince 26 was paired to Alonsa BE14-4032085, winner of a 1st Argenton 741 p. and 14th National 13,629 p., as well as a 1st Vierzon 922 p. and 6th Interprov. 5,825 p. Alonsa is a daughter of Einstein, a son of stock dam Chateauke.
Dam: Sister 57 Kaafje BE10-4275457
A full sister of top class hen Kaafje, and thus a daughter of the old stock pair Dikke Antoon BE05-4325774 (the sire of a 3-8-9-20-22… national and 3-6-8 Nat. Zone) x golden stock dam Chateauke BE05-3202164. Chateauke is the dam of the winners of a 2-3-8-8-9… national and a 1-3-5… Nat. Zone, and she is a daughter of a 1st Prov. Chateauroux 7,347 p. for Cools-Blancke.
Click here for Cosy's pedigree.
Quality sells itself
Paul and Carlos Gevaert-Lannoo have been able to develop into a renowned longer middle distance team at national level. They have left their opponenets amazed with fantastic results season after season. Their pigeon loft is home to quite a number of talented birds that give promising new generations every year. Add to that the experience, the passion and the skillset of two excellent fanciers, and you have all the ingredients to become a national top player for years. They have set an example for many other fanciers, by showing that you can compete with the big names week after week with just a small group of birds and limited means. Gevaert-Lannoo: a small team with big achievements!
Some of the highlights of 2018:
-14/04: Clermont Zeveren olds (197 km) 221 p.: 1-2… (8/10)
-28/04: Clermont Zeveren YLs (197 km) 270 p.: 1-25… (5/9)
-05/05: Fontenay Oude(325km) 682 p.: 2-6-7-19-20-22-31… (12/14)
-05/05: Clermont Zeveren Jrl (197 km) 181 p.: 1-7-39 (3/4)
-12/05: Blois Eeklo Oude (412 km) 408 p.: 1-3-10(met 1+2+3)… (6/8)
Prov Oude (412 km) 2,642 p.: 8-17-46-177… 6/8)
-19/05: Fontenay YLs (325 km) 334 p.: 1-3-10-2938- ... (6/7)
-19/05: Fontenay Olds (325 km) 233 p.: 2-3-4(met 1+2+3)-12-27-39(6/6)
-19/05: Vierzon Olds (433 km) 1,398 p.: 2-9-15-22-42… (7/8)
-19/05: Vierzon YLs (433 km) 523 p.: 3-12 (2/3)
-26/05: Bourges Olds (442 km) 786 p.: 2-3-18-32… (6/9)
-23/06: Argenton Olds (512 km) 552 p.: 2-3-16-28-40… (8/9)
-15/07: Orléans YBs (365 km) 574 p.: 1-4-6-12-13… (12/23)
Prov 2,445 p.: 3-7-12… (9/23)
-15/07: Orléans Olds (365 km) 237 .: 2-5-10… (9/11)
Prov 1,220 p. 16-27-43… (6/11)
(By mid-July the entire racing team consisted of just 9 olds, 7 yearlings and 16 young birds!)
-21/07: Blois Olds (412 km) 137 p.: 2-3-6… (4/5)
Prov 506 p.: 8-15-36 (3/5)
-21/07: Blois YBs (412 km) 437 p.: 2-5… (5/6)
Prov 1,635 p.: 3-13… (4/6)
-11/08: Bourges Olds (442 km) 180 p.: 1-3-14… (6/9)
-25/08: Issoudun YBs (464 km) 285 p.: 3-4-8-12-15-25… (10/15)
-01/09: Toury YBs (333 km) 360 p.: 2-5-7-23-31… (8/8)
Master King: the sire of Olympiad Ivanka, and himself a son of today's stock breeder King Gaby
