We arrive at a beautiful newly built home in a very pleasant residential neighbourhood with a charming village square at its centre. You immediately get the feeling that this is a wonderful place to live. Before ringing the doorbell, we quickly glance towards the garden to make sure there is indeed a pigeon loft. We have barely pressed the bell when Frans enthusiastically opens the front door. “Come in,” he says. “I’m just working on the pedigree. Not everything is stored on my computer, so I still have to consult several notebooks to make sure everything is absolutely correct. But that can wait until later. Let’s first have a look at the pigeon loft.”

It immediately becomes clear that this is not a large colony. “No,” Frans explains, “I have 12 widowhood cocks and with them I race the events I enjoy most: the long-distance and even the extreme long-distance races. I have already achieved some excellent results. My ‘099’ won 2nd National Agen in 2025 against 4,839 old birds (8th International against 14,029 pigeons), and a year earlier the very same pigeon finished 55th National Agen. This made him the 1st International Agen Pigeon over the 2024-2025 seasons. The sire of the ‘099’ is ‘Geschelpt Hoppel’ (B16-6129787), and he is now also the sire of my first National winner ‘489-25’. ‘It runs in the family,’ as the English-speaking fanciers would say. The dam of my National Limoges winner is ‘B24-6127875’. She is a daughter of ‘188-19’, winner of 7th National Argenton in 2021.”

Limoges

For the National Limoges race, 9,091 yearlings were basketed, and the fastest was “BE25-6185489”. Covering a distance of 679 km, he achieved an average speed of 1,271 m/min, defeating the yearlings of Zhao Qiang (Berlaar – 1,269 m/min) and Brootcoorens-De Leye (Onkerzele – 1,260 m/min).

“‘489’ was a late-bred youngster, and Limoges was the first National race of his young career. Was he especially motivated? ‘Not that I know of,’ Frans says. ‘During the week he was usually one of the last to come into the loft, and apart from that I noticed nothing special. I entered two yearlings, and both are on the result sheet. You won’t discover many secrets here. Everything is kept as simple as possible, and I simply don’t like having too many pigeons. How do I handle the medical side? Well… once a year I visit the man in the white coat, and apart from that I only keep a box of Flagyl. That’s all they get. I believe the class of my breeder “Geschelpt Hoppel” is far more important than anything else.’”

Frans, congratulations on your first National victory. Enjoy every moment of it!

BE25-6185489
1st National Limoges 9,091 yearbirds

Distance: 679km
Velocity: 1,271 m/m

Stefan Mertens