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Still educational (15-11-22)

At the time of writing, several hundred Belgians cannot race with pigeons. Many have almost forgotten, but in 2020 it was only possible to officially start on June 13, after a few training flights. Both in the Netherlands and Belgium.

GOOD LUCK

This was a serious problem, especially for many South Dutch people, because they lived near the Belgian border and road training was not allowed in Belgium. No problem for fanciers from the north of the Netherlands, who did not yet have to enter Belgium to be able to fly at acceptable distances. Then, finally and against all odds, the green light came from France and it was possible to race from the usual direction. On the understanding that Belgium had to be 'kept over'.

But suddenly releasing pigeons at about 250 km, was that possible? Although reassuring sounds came from Eastern Europe, I also had my doubts. But not for long. Right away 250 km. turned out to be no problem. We will never know whether those flights would have gone smoothly with a strong headwind.

 SOUTHEAST WIND

It was almost windless the first race 3th, but what little wind there was was South East and no matter how little wind there was, it certainly made itself felt on the results. In western areas the pigeons were home when the first birds in the East arrived from the same distance. The same story in Antwerp. Pigeons in the far west made far higher speeds than birds in the east.

Because the weather was so nice and the wind so calm, the pigeons fell easily. At a fancier in the Netherlands, 2 pigeons arrived at the same time, one tumbled off the narrow landing board, lost 9 seconds, that made a difference of  45 prizes on the result sheet!

The well-known names stood out right from the start. But what was seen also? Those men, almost without exception, had entered a lot of pigeons. Because many Belgians, I pointed out earlier, are following the Dutch, people have to interpret that 'very much' differently than before. 25 Pigeons in competition was a lot then. Now when you think of 'a lot' you soon have to think of 100 pigeons or more. With 25 you are ordinary.

 WRONG

When reading results you have to be so careful because you can be wrong-footed, usually unconsciously, but sometimes also consciously. Then the number of pigeons entered or prize percentages is not mentioned. Or ‘1 to 2’ was played; 50% wins a prize. 400 Birds in the race and 200 prizes to be won? I find it ridiculous, ike some loft reports.

Usually it is only the early pigeons that get attention, when very few prizes were won, this was forgotten to mention. I myself have not read any reports for a long time, in which it is not stated how many pigeons the fancier in question had entered and how many prizes he won. On the other hand, men who race a lot of pigeons and win a lot of prizes deserve double respect. If I had something to say (some will be glad that I don't) I would forbid any result from being published that would not state how many pigeons were raced by each fancier. That's called transparent. To-day it happens that one fancier enters 5 birds, another 250. Is that still a sport?

 READ

I'm not much (anymore) on the Internet, but results are sometimes looked at a little closer. The late Dirk van Dijck's achievements often stood out. Dirk was a real sportsman for whom monetary gain through sales was of secondary importance. 
He performed well at Middle Distance, but he was also the man to beat at sprint with old, yearlings as well as youngsters.
Dirk would also like to excel at long distance, but he was not. Not because of pigeons that could not do it, but a boss who liked to play everything. A distinguished champion once: ‘If Dirk were to let the rest go by and only focussed on the short long distance, in other words the nationals, he would be hard to beat there too.

 JOS AND HERMAN

If a gold pin were awarded based on performance over the years, Jos v d Veken would score high with me. He has been distinguishing himself for half a century, whether it concerned vitesse or Middle Distance made no difference.
Performance goes down for just about everyone as the years start counting. "Time is inexorable and the greatest enemy of our generation," said Verbree. People become easier and more put into perspective.

But time hardly seems to have any hold on this former customs officer. He is now in his 80s but just as driven as in his younger years, the years of his legendary Oilman, and just as good. What also appeals? Jos did not get those good pigeons through a rich (in-law/grand), on the contrary.
With a minimum of expenditure, he managed to place himself where there is so little space: At the absolute top. Maybe a bit smarter than others? Herman Calon is another person who doesn't seem to wear out (!).
It's great how those 80s (of course there are more) can hold their own against an upcoming generation.

SO

The late start in 2020 therefore taught that you can safely start at 200 km in good weather!
In 2022 it appeared once again that a lot can be done with healthy pigeons. In Antwerp, for example, skipping Noyon (230 kms) is no problem at all for healthy pigeons, I found.  Our first race with youngsters was 130 km. The next 330 km. We destroyed it.
With youngsters it pays a little more attention to health there.
On the other hand, that playing well with youngsters is only a matter of health and quality does not matter as some say? I think differently about that.

With youngsters you also need good birds to win races !

 

 

 We entered 24 birds. 18 prizes were won.