The 22 year old Wendela got involved in pigeon racing through her father, who had always been keeping pigeons. She spent quite a bit of time in the lofts as a youngster, and she started keeping pigeons on her own at the age of 10, after her family moved to a new home in 2007. She started in a combination with her sister but she soon went out on her own. She considers herself fairly passionate but she tries not to make things too complicated. Besides keeping pigeons she also enjoys a game of football, both outdoor and indoor. On top of that, she studies biological and medical research at the Hanze university in Groningen. She takes the train to school every day, and this means there is plenty of time left to spend amongst her pigeons. And things are working out for her indeed: she can look back on another terrific season, both with the old birds and the yearlings. Her best result last season was arguably the last middle distance race from Quievrain, where she basketed 20 pigeons, including 15 yearlings. She claimed a 1st, 2nd, 5th, etc. against 3,774 pigeons, while scoring a 100% prize percentage. An earlier report on this race can be found here (in Dutch). And here is a look at some of her best results from last year:
Quievrain 389 km 1,117 p.: 1-2-5-10-18-21-38-39-40-44-45-49-52-80-98-etc (20/20)
(And 1, 2, 5 of 3,774 p.)
Chimay 402 km 1,271 p.: 2-4-5-9-10-11-14-31-32-44-50-52-110-etc (17/20)
Quievrain 389 km 1,473 p.: 1-2-3-6-19-21-32-34-39-etc (12/20)
Asse-Zelik 322 km 1,017 p.: 1-2-3-14-15-22-25-26-27-28-41-43-48-73-74-75-88-etc (27/38)
(And 1, 3, 4 of 4,215 p.)
Deventer 126 km 3,193 p.: 1-2-3-7-18-19-22-26-27-28-29-31-32-34-36-37-51-52-54-56-etc (41/56)
Gennep 190 km 1,966 p.: 3-4-5-6-7-8-10-11-44-47-49-62-63-78-82-90-91-93-etc (27/27)
Asse-Zelik 322 km 2,414 p.: 3-5-7-9-11-14-15-17-18-20-21-22-23-24-26-27-73-80-81-82-etc (41/64)
The most important championships of 2018:
9th Best fancier in The Netherlands WHZB/TBOTB 1st Middle distance not nom. Prov. 10 1st Middle distance loft champ. Prov. 10 1st YBs not nominated. Prov. 10 1st YBs loft champion. Prov. 10 1st, 2nd, 4th pigeon champ. YBs Prov. 10 1st General not nominated Prov. 10 1st General nominated Prov. 10 3rd Sprint loft champion Prov. 10
There are a number of pigeons that have contributed considerably to this success story; we now take a closer look at them.
NL17-4708958 Runner Up Ace
Runner Up Ace was 2nd National Pigeon Champion Young Birds in 2017 (NPO), and he was successful again in 2018, winning most notably a first prize in Province 10 of 3,754 pigeons in the last middle distance race of the season, with a northeasterly wind. He won the following prizes (1/100) in the past two years:
1st Quievrain Prov. 3,754 p. 1st Quievrain 1,117 p. 3rd Quievrain 1,473 p. 5th Quievrain Prov. 4,651 p. 6theGennep 1,966 p. 8th Duiven Prov. 12,734 p. 8th Duiven 4,125 p. 8th Quievrain 3,038 p. 11th Chimay 1,271 p. 12th Weert 1,794 p. 12th Morlincourt 1,293 p. 18th Chimay Prov. 4,136 p. 23rd Gennep Prov. 5,855 p. 27th Quievrain Prov. 10,012 p. 30th De Meern 4,653 p. 55th De Meern Prov. 14,434 p.
The dam of Nick is NL16-4789311, herself the 3rd best sprint pigeon in Province 10 in 2017. The sire of Nick originates from fellow fancier M. de Jong, who quit keeping pigeons a few years ago. This cock stems from his Fondkampioentje, which was quite a successful racing bird in the one day long distance, and now a prominent breeder. Click here for the pedigree of Runner Up Ace.
De 311, a daughter of De Dikke x Krasje 657 and the dam of Runner Up Ace (NL17-4708958)
The 311 stems from De Dikke x Krasje 657, two breeders that have really left their mark on Wendela's pigeon breed. De Dikke was obtained as an egg from the van Toor Brothers (Vlaardingen, NL), along with his brother Pootje. Both these birds, which Wendela won through a voucher at a NPO junior day, are 100% Heremans-Ceusters descendants. De Dikke has bred quite a few talented racing birds in this loft besides this 311. The same can be said about Krasje 657. She won a 2nd NPO Deventer of 17,346 pigeons, and she bred several successful pigeons as well, including Stippie and Brother Stippie. These two brothers were outstanding in the middle distance, mainly in races with strong headwinds or an easterly wind.
NL12-1951251 Stippie
Stippie, Daughter Krasje 657
NL12-1951254 Brother Stippie
Brother Stippie, Son Krasje 657
Like we said earlier, Fondkampioentje has played a pivotal role in Wendela's breeding loft. She was herself a successful racing bird in the one day long distance, and today she is the dam of the two brothers NL17-4708947 and NL17-4708989. As a yearling, the 947 won a 2nd NPO in the last extreme long distance race of the season in a northeasterly wind. Meanwhile, the 989 claimed five top ten prizes in the Rayon this season, as well as a 2nd, 3rd and 5th in Province 10 in the last three middle distance races of the season. We take a look at a few of their best results:
NL17-4708947 (Click here for his pedigree)
2nd De Meern Prov. 14,434 p. 2nd De Meern 4,653 p. 2nd NPO Sezanne 1,103 p. 2nd Sezanne 400 p. 9th Quievrain 1,117 p. 12th Quievrain Prov. 3,754 p. 13th Duiven Prov. 12,734 p. 13th Tilburg 4,319 p. 13th Duiven 4,125 p. 14th Morlincourt 1,293 p. 14th Chimay 1,271 p. 19th Quievrain 1,473 p. 23rd Chimay Prov. 4,136 p. 33rd Tilburg Prov. 13,034 p. 51st Quievrain Prov. 4,653 p. 62nd Gennep 1,966 p.
NL17-4708989 (Click here for his pedigree)
1st Quievrain 1,473 p. 2nd Chimay Prov. 4,136 p. 2nd Chimay 1,271 p. 3rd Quievrain Prov. 4,651 p. 5th Quievrain Prov. 3,754 p. 5th Quievrain 1,117 p. 9th Quievrain 1,721 p. 10th Gennep 1,966 p. 30th Quievrain 3,038 p. 33rd Quievrain Prov. 5,592 p. 90th Quievrain NPO 7,760 p. 97th Tongeren Prov. 9,821 p.
NL17-4708989, winner of a 1st Quievrain of 1,473 pigeons
NL15-4766898, The Doctor
Another star in the lofts of Wendela is without doubt The Doctor. Wendela purchased a voucher from the Espeldoorn-Dokter combination from Ter Apel, which allowed her to pick two youngsters. She went with The Doctor (click here for his pedigree) and the 904. In 2017, the 904 became 1st Middle Distance Pigeon in Prov. 10, 4th best middle distance pigeon WHZB/TBOTB and 5th best pigeon in the middle distance NPO. The Doctor has won quite a few top prizes as well, both with headwinds and tailwinds. This is the palmares of The Doctor:
1st Duiven Prov. 2,077 p. 2nd Quievrain Prov. 3,754 p. 4th Quievrain Prov. 4,651 p. 5th Tilburg Prov. 11,208 p. 8th Chimay Prov. 4,126 p. 8th Gennep 1,966 p. 9th Zutphen 622 p. 10th De Meern 576 p. 11th Quievrain 1,643 p. 11th Tilburg 1,139 p. 17th Isnes Prov. 11,291 p. 16th Tilburg 3,847 p. 18th Vervins 2,048 p. 19th Budel 1,834 p.
The Doctor became the 5th best middle distance pigeon (4 prizes) PIPA ranking in 2018.
NL15-4773664, Lady Promice
The last pigeon to be discussed in this report would be Lady Promice. It was Wendela who bred his pigeon from two birds from the now deceased Jan Grimmius. Jan supported Wendela in her first few seasons in the junior races, for instance by breeding good quality pigeons for her, and by helping her build and develop her pigeon lofts. As you can tell from her pedigree, the parents of Lady promice originate from Jan's collection, and his pigeons have bred several successful descendants in the sprint, the one day long distance and everything in between. Lady Promice has a remarkable list of achievements herself as well; let's take a look:
4th Duffel 1,834 p. 7th Wijchen 2,341 p. 8th Duffel Prov. 5,703 p. 8th Tilburg 3,605 p. 13th Tilburg Prov. 11,208 p. 15th Heusden 3,513 p. 25th Meer 1,348 p. 30th Duiven 2,431 p. 31st Morlincourt 1,293 p. 35th Asse-Zelik 2,638 p. 36th Quievrain 3,038 p. 37th Wijchen 7,375 p. 47th Rethel 2,408 p. 50th Chimay 1,271 p. 52nd Quievrain 1,117 p. 59th Tilburg 2,058 p. 60th Tongeren 3,404 p. 72nd Heusden 3,644 p. 73rd Meer Prov. 3,960 p.
A young talent successful at national level
Wendela showed to be quite a proficient fancier at quite a young age. She won a number of national championship titles in the junior category, and she is now showing her potential in national races at senior level as well. She claimed the following national titles in 2017 and 2018 alone:
1st National Champion Young Birds Not Nominated 2nd National Champion Young Birds Nominated 2nd National pigeon champion young birds 3rd National pigeon champion young birds 4th National pigeon champion young birds 4th National pigeon champion WHZB/TBOTB 5th National pigeon champion middle distance NPO 9th National pigeon champion young birds 9th Best fancier in The Netherlands WHZB/TBOTB
Wendela not only shows to be quite a successful fancier, she is showing to have quite a collection of top quality pigeons as well. A fancier that performs at such a high level at such a young age deserves a lot of credit. We have a lot of respect for the achievements of this 22 year old upcoming talent.
