… but temperatures above 25° and a light NW-wind made it extra tough for the pigeons. Liberated at 6h30 in excellent flying weather, it was quite a smooth race whereby the top prizes were spread over the whole country… in other words, it was an ‘honest’ race! Being able to clock a 1° Prize nationally in such circumstances is a nice addition to your visiting card… an honour that fell to the ‘top colony’ of Luc, Bart & Jurgen Geerinckx from Wommelgem… not just any old fanciers then! With this, the ‘General Champion Long Distance club Antwerp 2008’ and old ‘1° National Champion Yearlings KBDB 2004’ put the ‘cherry on the cake’ in their marvellous 2009 season, in which they had already won 1° Prov Chateauroux 2.611 Yearlings three weeks previously! The ‘wonderboys’ from Wommelgem clocked their winning pigeon at 14h56’27” from a distance of 643,571 Km, good enough for the highest velocity of 1270,75 m/min in both categories, old birds and 2-year olds! With this they just beat Brigitte Pessemier from Ronse whose pigeon achieved 1269 m/min, and Jan Kloeck & Zoon from Merksem with 1266 m/min.
Marvellous winner!
You couldn’t dream of nicer winners than Luc, Bart and Jurgen Geerinckx, people who live for their sport, and in all simplicity also do everything to reach such top performances … and this with overwhelming success! And when something like this is crowned with a double national victory from Limoges, then it is more than deserved! With this they put Wommelgem on the ‘pigeon map’ once again, a municipality on the busy interchange in Antwerp, that has enjoyed name and fame for years due to a certain ‘pigeon legend’ that lives there, namely Jos Soontjens. The colony of Luc, Bart & Jurgen Geerinckx is well on its way in following in his footsteps, to even surpassing him. Was ‘good old’ Jos a fanatic in the Sprint and Middle Distance… then the Geerinckx colony made more ‘amok’ in the provincial races in Antwerp, and now also in the extreme middle distance. When they started in the pigeon sport and in their search for ‘top material’ they don’t have to look far… because who could be better than their closest pigeon neighbour… Jos Soontjens? Via calculated crossings they managed to make these pigeons even stronger, you could say more ‘all round’… so that we can describe the modern ‘Geerinckx-pigeon’ as ‘absolute top’ in Belgian country! You can find a detailed account of the stock building of this top colony in the report that we made at the end of April last year.
What was especially noticeable was the dominant breeding line, say the ‘success line’ at the moment… the ‘red line’ through the colony… with the coupling of the ‘Gladiator’ and the ‘Willyke’!
-the “Gladiator” ring 6460062/03 (an 80% Jos Soontjens-pigeon) won:
Dourdan 562 p. 1
Toury 837 p. 1
Noyon 149 p. 1
Dourdan 1.241 p. 2
Melun 997 p. 2
Dourdan 455 p. 2
Noyon 249 p. 2
Noyon 644 p. 3
Melun 394 p. 3
Noyon 545 p. 4
Noyon 498 p. 5
Toury 1.031 p. 7
This “Gladiator” has developed into a star breeder in the breeding loft, was co-winner of the title 1° National Champion KBDB Yearlings 2004, and even managed to get as far as 3° National Ace pigeon Middle Distance KBDB 2004, and 2° Olympiad pigeon Sprint in Porto 2005!
The “Willyke 637/98”(self 1° Prov Bourges, 1° Noyon 156 p, 1° Quievrain 257 p. etc…) is a pure Jef Keirsmakers from Nijlen (who owned a lot of Karel Schellens blood) and can be considered a real ‘golden breeding mother’. Over the last few seasons the Geerinckx colony have had no less than 14 x 1° Provincial victories… no less than 11 of these come directly out the line of this ‘Willyke’.
Luc also coupled his 2 toppers, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Willyke’, with each other, and one of their children was the ‘Wittekop Gladiator’ B05-6052111… and that is now the father of the ‘National’, winner 1° National Limoges 11.814 Old birds 2009! And the mother? Not just any old pigeon! Luc bought her from the Middle Distance virtuoso from the East-Flemish Hamme, namely Benny Steveninck… where she is a full sister of the 5° Nat Ace pigeon Middle Distance KBDB, and so daughter of the miraculous stock pigeon ‘Chipo’, who self won 5 x 1° Prize in the Middle Distance, and was 1° Prov Ace pigeon Middle Distance KBDB 2003. The mother of the 1° National Limoges answers to the name ‘Blauw Steveninck’ B05-4323802. The ‘National’ ring B07-6229156 was previously a reliable prize racer without any real peaks, he won
’08 Bourges Prov 2.600 YL 120
’09 Bourges Club 242 p. 37
’09 Bourges Club 361 p. 33
’09 Limoges Nat 11.841 p. 1
He was basketted as last nominated from a total of 13 pigeons for Limoges. The original intention was to only basket 12 pigeons (for which the forms had already been filled in), but Bart wanted to enter a hen… so this pigeon was put back a row! Whether fate intervened and the pigeon found extra motivation in this… the fact is that is bosses were given ‘tit for tat’ and he stormed home as ‘national winner’!
Luc, Bart & Jurgen Geerinckx had a prime Limoges result, with in addition to national victory, they won no less than 12 prizes with the 13 marked pigeons (5 cocks + 8 hens), beginning locally with prizes 1,3,4° and further:
Prov 1.479 p. 1,9,10… and also here 12/13!
Nat 11.841 p. 1,68,78… and probably 12/13!
A national victory was really to be expected. The performances not only from the last few seasons confirm this, but likewise the magnificent results over the past few weeks. That they were ‘on the right track’ there in Wommelgem, with amongst other things, provincial victory from Chateauroux… is apparent from the following figures, take a look:
23/5 Bourges Prov 3.628 old birds 14,62,94… and11/13
Prov 4.376 yearlings 27,29,46,49,51,84,85,97… and 18/20
30/5 Issoudun Prov 1.619 old birds 8,11,15,65… and 11/12
Prov 2.139 yearlings 13,27,29,91… and 18/20
13/6 Chateauroux Prov 1.605 old birds 3,83,99… and 10/11
Prov 2.611 yearlings 1,3,30,33,34,67… and 14/20
The provincial winner from Chateauroux answers to the name ‘Iron Lady’, ring B08-6259143, and she has already won the following honours list this season:
23/5 Bourges Prov 4.376 p. 84
30/5 Issoudun Prov 2.139 p. 29
13/6 Chateauroux Pro 2.611 p. 1
She is a daughter of the top breeder ‘Blauwe Yzeren 063/04’ x ‘Eénwitpen Willy 323/02’ (a daughter of, yes indeed… the ‘Willyke’!).
When there is ‘north’ in the wind… and it is ‘hard work’ for the pigeons (with a velocity of 1300 metres or less)… then the pigeons out the line of the ‘Willyke’ can sometimes perform magnificently, Luc adds. The Monday before basketting for Limoges the pigeons were given a ‘gamba-tab’, and when they returned home they were given proteins (K & K) for 3 days, as a result of which they recuperated quickly… so mainly Röhnfried-products, with which the Geerinckx family have been very content with for years… they don’t hide this fact. There is no ‘secret’, in the end it is always the ‘class’ of the pigeon in question that makes it happen. In the report from the end of April last year you can read all about the ins and outs of the Geerinckx colony… call it their success method!
Luc, Bart & Jurgen, congratulations on this magnificent national victory, and who knows… what ‘finery’ the coming weeks will bring… in the classics that are now fast tracking!
