BE 24-3004337
1st National Valence 1.361 yearlings

Arrival : 15:52:39
Distance : 661,661km
Velocity : 1175,97m/min

Could winning be an innate talent ? Is it something you can nurture, hone, learn ?  I want to discuss this with Kurt one day over a good glass (and a big cigar), because he has a certain patent on winning - they do (because Kurt has a whole team of motivated people around him).

All tokens on colour red

In front of his good pigeon friends he ‘humbly boasted’ to say the least, because he had basketed his entire racing team for Valence on all Platteeuw locations (Rumbeke and 2 x Kluisbergen-Zulzeke).  Not without risk because Valence is not exactly the location that is sought after in Flanders as release point, and additionally because very heavy conditions of flying were predicted with temperatures above 30 degrees.

Kurt's reasoning to that also held water namely the wind was in favour, and for the flights still to come we still have to wait and see, and in the last flight hours light southeast wind was predicted which might suit Flanders.

And yes, for the first prizes this is the case.  Eric Limbourg wins in Brussels the first in the old birds and Kurt in Rumbeke the 2nd national. And in the yearlings, Kurt wins the national palm in Zulzeke.

...But then it was different cake for the remainder of the race, apparently the pigeons had not had it as easy as thought on the road after all and the temperatures ensured that this race, like all the others this weekend, would be real crackers.

Pigeons arriving slowly, big time differences, and many pigeons not reaching their loft on Saturday. Kurt also admitted that all but all baskeepers had somewhat misjudged the weather conditions.

Pieter-Jan's bang drive

It was the little blue cock that now goes through life as Pieter-Jan that outclassed everyone in the regiment of yearlings at national level. It is a little blue cock, very well built, a little powerhouse that was bred in the lofts at Ruiselede by Pieter-Jan Van de Walle.

Pieter-Jan is the caretaker at the lofts in Zulzeke and learned the pigeon business in his childhood years at his parents' home in Ruiselede. In Zulzeke, he was confronted with a different approach to the traditional pigeon sport at his home.

Total widowhood and entering and flying the basket as much as possible. This required some adjustment from him, but judging by the results, this adjustment went well. 

In Zulzeke, they started with about 100 pigeons of which (when paired before the season) about 30 couples raised young. In the other pigeons, the urge to nest was too late or not yet completed.

From the first flight on 5 April, they entered the basket weekly, 7 times in a row. After Bourges, they were given a week's rest before Argenton and Valence.

The pigeons train once a day and the duration of the training also varies a lot. Sometimes they train half an hour or more, other days much less, but we don't force them. The flights are intense enough to tolerate this.

Before basketing they are left together in the lofts for 2 hours and when they return home they are allowed to stay together until Monday morning. On Sunday they do not go into the lofts and there is full tray of feed and Recup Fast in the drinking pot. Afterwards, they are given yellow drops for 2 days and continue to be fed Vanrobaeys' Platteeuw mixture.  The last feed before basketing they get Sport mixture and oil for 2 days.  The drinking pot is filled with water to prevent the pigeons from drinking less.

It is a hard system where the pigeons survive in the best condition and with the best flight qualities. Of the 100 they started with, about 70 now remain.

Pee-Jee (Pieter-Jan) gets the job done and wins Valence national

The winning yearling cock comes from the lofts of Pieter-Jan and his father in Ruiselede. His pedigree reveals that his father was a very good racing pigeon and preferred hard pigeon weather. So this is inherited because Valence was a very hard flight and last year as a young pigeon he flew very early on Chateauroux and this too with hard pigeon weather.

At the start of the season he was always ready to fly, only to suddenly drop his ears afterwards. For three weeks he was not visible and flew late, only to suddenly show his full strength after the rest week. At Argenton he had flown at the front of the team and at Valence he popped everyone home.

It is a nice culmination of the cooperation between Pieter-Jan and Kurt. In the beginning it was searching and tuning each other, but apparently the violins are now nicely tuned with the well-known nice result.

Super Godiva wins provincial West Flanders Valence and 2nd national

In Rumbeke it was also a bit of triumph with the provincial win on Valence and a very nice 2nd national. It was hen Super Godiva who took care of this result.  She is the daughter of super hen Lady Godiva (Calus line) and her father is a son of Den Boswachter (1st nat Pau with Bert Van den Berghe) coupled with a daughter of New Harry.  So there are some fireworks in the pedigree.

Remarkable and somewhat against all traditional pigeon logic, is the fact that Super Godiva came home from the heavy Cahors flight on Tuesday morning and then shook this exploit out of her wings !

The world is up to the daredevils...but that is only possible with rock-solid pigeons !

A 12th national victory for team Platteeuw is still a very strong performance, you just have to do it ! On to number 13 !

Congratulations from the Herbot team !

Geert Dhaenens

BE 23-3101381

Raced with Team Platteeuw (Rumbeke) 

2nd National Valence 2.344 old birds