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This weekend it was time for the first national race of the year, the famous Bourges (477km) race! During the three weeks before this Bourges race we had bad weather in Belgium for pigeons : strong tailwinds, a lot of rain and low temperatures. But for this race, the weather circumstances finally changed! The Bourges race was a tough one with headwinds from start till end and a burning sun. These were the perfect circumstances for talented birds to make the difference. Our new star “Queen Mustang”(BE19-6016108) prevailed and was the fastest of all the 9,041 pigeons in the province of Antwerp!

This weekend it was time for the first middle distance race of the season, Melun (310km). The release of the pigeons was postponed till Sunday because of the bad weather on Saturday. This meant that the birds had to stay two nights in the basket, so early in the season. On the way back home the birds had to deal with sidewinds from the Northwest. If you also bear in mind that the temperatures didn’t rise higher than 10-11°C, you know that the races were quite tough for the pigeons. We sent our racing hens to the Melun race and they flew an outstanding result on this race! We began with 1 and 2 against 1,670 pigeons and we had no less than 8 (!) pigeons in the top 11 of the result! Our racing cocks and some other hens we sent to the Noyon race (one night of basket) and also they flew very well!

The start of the national racing season is getting closer and closer. The first middle distance race (310km) will be flown on 1 May. Meanwhile we are preparing our racing team by entering them on the short distance races. We are still keeping the super condition away because the season is long, we want to race till early September!

Here you can see a short movie about our top pigeon “Power Barco”(BE16-6032318). He was a very skilled racer with a.o. 1° Melun (310km) against 954 pigeons, on a race with very hard weather circumstances. “Power Barco”(BE16-6032318) also won 2° National Chateauroux (526km), only beaten by the famous pigeon “Maria”(BE16-6023127) from Gaston Van De Wouwer (Berlaar, BE) who was recently sold for 700,000 Euro.

Yesterday the last national race of the season, Chateauroux (526km), took place. It has been difficult this year for the western part of Belgium to classify early on the national races 450-600km because of the western winds that have been present throughout most of the national races. Also the fanciers of the middle part of Belgium, where we are living, were often not happy with those western winds. But unfortunately we can’t choose the weather circumstances and maybe next year it will be different! The national Chateauroux race was quite a tough one. In France the birds had to deal with wind from the Northwest. In Belgium the wind direction changed to West. Only one bird flew faster than 1,300 mpm. We entered our racing hens for this last national flight. They were motivated with the natural method: some of them had eggs, others had small babies. We are very proud on their performance, they did a great job. We received some nice messages from well-known fanciers who were impressed by our result. They know how the national races from 450-600km work and they said it was impossible for our birds to perform any better than they did, on the national level we were only beaten by fanciers who are located much more to the East.

We had a very busy racing weekend with three races on the same day. The races were rather difficult. There was almost no wind blowing but the temperatures were rather high. Especially for the youngsters the races were challenging. We were very happy about our results this weekend. No less than five different pigeons won a first prize! Our youngsters dominated the middle distance race Sermaises and our superstar “La Donna”(B18-6020283) showed again why she is one of the very best pigeons in Belgium. On the national Brive (704km) the province of Antwerp was rather unlucky. In the late afternoon several heavy thunderstorms and rain showers were present for the Antwerp birds on their racing track back home. Because of this they lost a lot of time, only one Antwerp pigeon could be found in the national top 100. So we had to focus on the regional results instead and with 1-2-3 these were satisfying of course.

It was a fast race last weekend. Our national result on National Limoges (672km) of the week before was more sensational but with 24°, 49° and 99° National La Souterraine (593km) against 15,939 pigeons we can’t be on the complaining side of course!

Our long distance team was again on fire on the national Limoges II (672km) race last weekend. We sent 23 old birds and 13 yearlings to this national race. Our birds were again ranked in the top of the national result. The average speed of the winner was 1,308 mpm which made it a fairly tough race.

Last weekend the national long distance season started in Belgium with the Limoges (672km) race. A heavily anticipated race on which many top racers entered their best pigeons. Also for us this was an important race where we wanted to excel. We sent a team of 22 old birds to this race. Our pigeons showed their class on this race and amazed the pigeon world. We started with 2° - 3° and 6° National against appr. 16,000 pigeons! We had 5 birds in the national top 50. This is really a result to cherish.

After the late start of the season because of the global corona problems, the racing birds in Belgium had their second official race of the year last Saturday. Where we won 1° Melun (310km) against 2,759 pigeons in the first official race but the team result could be better, our racing team stepped up their game in the second race weekend. They are getting closer and closer to their best form. This is the perfect timing with the national races around the corner. This weekend we entered birds on the middle distance race Sermaises (362km) and the semi-national race Vierzon (476km). Our birds did a very good job.

Today, on Christmas, the semi-final race in the Thailand One Loft Race (Bangkok) took place. The pigeons were released in Nong Bualumpoo and the pigeons had to fly 430km to get back home. It was the first tough race of this edition of the Thailand One Loft Race. The first arrival had an average velocity of 1,202 m/min.

After a short racing career we decided to move our black diamond “Mercedes”(B18-6020232) to the breeding loft. She is a direct daughter to “Mustang”(B14-6175237), 1° fast. National Chateauroux (526km) 33,018 pigeons!

In the previous article we presented our first arrivals from the national Chateauroux race, the seven first arrivals to be precise. In this part we will mention the other birds that won a national top position.

The fall season is around the corner but in the last weekend of August our birds had to deal with real summer circumstances. The temperature rose to + 30°C and the wind was blowing from the Southeast, meaning sidewinds. As a result the Melun and Vierzon races were quite challenging races. We can be happy about the results! It was good to see that our new topper “Money Maker”(B19-6016105) was again in the head of the race.