After winning the unique double 1st National Marathon and 1st West-European Super Marathon in 2010, it seemed almost impossible to keep up in 2011. Ambition and unknown quality drove Batenburg-VD Merwe to a memorable season. Once again they achieved the 1st National marathon, the 3rd place (1st Dutchman) in IATP-ranking PIPA, the 2nd place European Cup 2010 and as icing on the cake; the National victory from Cahors.
Hugo, Anita and children
Hugo and Anita still remember the telephone call from the ZLU chairman Eddy Hoedemakers at the end of 2010. ‘You have performed magnificently! You have won both the National Marathon and the West-European Super Marathon … unique!’ were the words which delighted the ‘world stars’ from Klaaswaal. “A milestone which you do everything for, but usually can only dream of,” says Hugo. ‘What more could you want?’, as they often heard last winter. “My answer was clear; a National victory. Because even though the championships achieved display the strength of your loft and how often we had already had (Inter)national early pigeons; we hadn’t experienced the euphoric moment of a National victory. I couldn’t of course have expected at the time that we wouldn’t have to wait too long …”
It was especially in the month July 2011 in which the ‘Witbuik’ dynasty from South Holland pulled out all the stops. Firstly on the 8th of July, from the Queen’s race from Barcelona. Hugo and Anita won the 9th and 9th prize and no less than 9/13 against 7.046 pigeons. Winner of the 9th National (also 9th International 26.044 pigeons) was ‘Mister Barcelona’, clocked at 5h37. Bred from a son of the famous ‘St. Vincent cock’ (11th Nat. St. Vincent) x ‘Lady Narbonne’ (1st prov. / 13th Nat. Narbonne) … mother comes out an inbred son of the ‘Kerstman’ (1st Nat. St. Vincent) x daughter ‘Miss Bergerac’ (3rd Nat. Ace bird grand distance 2000 and 9th Nat. Ace bird grand distance 1999). Mother of ‘Mister Barcelona’ is then a full sister of ‘Daniek’ (6th Nat. / 9th Int. Perpignan) and half-sister of ‘Jin Pao’ (3rd fastest Bordeaux 41.801 pigeons).
Bonte Narbonne and Maja, joint winners of the Barcelona Masters 2011
In addition to this top prize, the 1st and 2nd nominated from the Batenburg-VD Merwe loft (‘Bonte Narbonne’ and ‘Maja’) also took the title Barcelona Masters 2011. ‘Bonte Narbonne’ did it with the 97th National, after he had already won the 24th Nat. Narbonne 3.850 pigeons in 2010 (brother won 21st Nat.) and has the 302nd Nat. St. Vincent 5.336 pigeons on his honours list. Father of ‘Bonte Narbonne’ is inbred ‘Wittenbuik’ (out top son ‘153 son Wittenbuik’) and mother is an exceptional breeding mother out son ‘Kleine Didi’ (Devos) x daughter ‘The Godfather’. ‘Maja’ won the 247th Nat. Barcelona, after playing a large role in winning the title West European Super Marathon 2011 by being nominated first for Pau and Marseille. She had already won the 19th Nat. Perpignan 2009 against 6.505 pigeons (45th Int. 18.390 pigeons), 5th Nat. Pau hens 2010 (23rd Nat. 2.657 pigeons and 51st Int. Pau) and 28th Nat. Marseille hens 2010 (153rd Nat. 3.248 pigeons). This nest hen stems from ‘As 155’ (inbred ‘Witbuik’), which was self crowned as 1st Ace bird extreme long distance in the district with a.o. 30th Nat Narbonne and 65th Nat. Bordeaux. Mother of ‘Maja’ is ‘Marie’, self winner of 42nd Nat. Carcasonne and 87th Nat. Pau and already a real top breeder… her father is ‘Guus’, winner 1. Ruffec with 1,5 hour lead and 4. Nat. Ruffec … he is also a great grandchild of ‘Witbuik’.
Three weeks after Barcelona the long distance clappers from Hugo and Anita once again performed extremely well, this time with the National fame which Hugo had talked about on several occasions the previous winter. The highlight came from the yearling hen NL10-1667371 ‘Miss Cahors’. On a grey July day she was the first to return home in the sectors II, III and IV (in total 22.264 pigeons) and won the National victory at 8h04. ‘Miss Cahors’ is a daughter of ‘De Narbonne’, self winner of 1st Nat. Narbonne 3.773 pigeons (2nd Int. 14.457 pigeons) by J.J. Knetsch with ‘Witbuik’ geneson both father and mother’s side. Mother is ‘Sisi’, self winner 6th Nat. Montauban 8.514 pigeons and bred from a son ‘Jonge Koster’ x ‘Daughter Witbuik’ in combination with a daughter of ‘The Godfather’.
In addition to the 9th Nat. Barcelona and the 1st Nat. Cahors, in 2011 Batenburg-VD Merwe also won no less another 22 National top 100 positions, which brings the total in the National top in 2011 to:
1st National Cahors 10.381 pigeons 2011 5th National Perpignan 5.607 pigeons 2011 9th National Barcelona 7.046 pigeons 2011 13th National St. Vincent 5.458 pigeons 2011 14th National Cahors 10.381 pigeons 2011 28th National Bordeaux 4.504 pigeons 2011 29th National Narbonne 3.968 pigeons 2011 38th National Bordeaux 4.504 pigeons 2011 53rd National Bordeaux 4.504 pigeons 2011 57th National St.Vincent 5.458 pigeons 2011 65th National Perpignan 5.607 pigeons 2011 74th National Cahors 7.216 pigeons 2011 74th National Narbonne 3.968 pigeons 2011 75th National Narbonne 3.968 pigeons 2011 77th National Narbonne 3.968 pigeons 2011 84th National Perpignan 5.607 pigeons 2011 87th National Narbonne 3.968 pigeons 2011 89th National Cahors 10.381 pigeons 2011 89th National St.Vincent 5.458 pigeons 2011 90th National Cahors 10.381 pigeons 2011 94th National Perpignan 5.607 pigeons 2011 97th National Barcelona 7.046 pigeons 2011 100th National Bordeaux 4.504 pigeons 2011
After just recovering from the praises and compliments which Batenburg-VD Merwe received following the National Cahors victory, the hen NL09-1137480 ‘Little Diamond’ achieved the following highlight on the 7th of August; the 5th Nat. Perpignan against 5.607 pigeons, also 6th International 15.107 pigeons. Super class, which was mainly fueled by the top genes of her parents – father is namely a son of Brockamp’s icon ‘Euro Diamond’ and mother is ‘Davonne’, crowned 1st Interprovincial Ace bird extreme long distance with 21st Nat. Tarbes 5.210 pigeons … 50th Nat. Narbonne 3.843 pigeons … 69th Nat. Tarbes 4.011 pigeons et cetera.
Highlights Batenburg-VD Merwe 2010-2011:
1st West European Super Marathon 2010 1st West European Super Marathon 10 nominated 2010 1st European Marathon 2010 1st National Marathon Champion 2010 1st National Marathon 10 nominated ZLU 2010 1st Pyrenees Cup ZLU 2010 1st Super cup Top pigeons 2010 1st Keizer Champion Club der Azen 2010 2nd European cup 2010 2nd Champion Grand Distance ZLU 2010 2nd Champion International Long Distance N.P.O. Province 5 South-Holland 2010 3rd International Pigeon Competition Extreme Long Distance 2010 1st National Marathon Champion 2011 1st Keizer Champion ZLU 2011 1st Keizer Champion Interprov. North- and South-Holland Extreme long distance 2011 1st Champion not nominated Interprov. North- and South-Holland Extreme long distance 2011 1st Champion nominated Interprov. North- and South-Holland Extreme long distance 2011 1st Keizer Champion prov. 5 South-Holland Extreme long distance 2011 1st Barcelona Masters 1st and 2nd nominated 2011 2nd European Cup 2011 3rd IATP Ranking PIPA 2011 (1st Dutchman)