Moral and Sporty winner National Chateauroux III 2017
(Photo): Good friend and helping hand Olivier Verlande together with Peter and Ria Allemeesch
Dutch pigeon wins first ever national victory for Peter, Ria and Julie Allemeesch (Bulskamp, BE) in Châteauroux After seven first prizes in the club Peter, Ria and Julie Allemeesch managed to bring home a national first prize from Chateauroux. Their Dutch pigeon was the first of 18,601 birds to arrive home, and was also the fastest in the race (of 25,774 pigeons). It was a dream come true for the loft that sits in a remote corner of Belgium.
German Shepherd
Peter got involved in pigeon racing in 1974 rather coincidentally. That summer a pigeon hit one of the windows of his parents' home in Koksijde. Peter placed the bird in his aviary with his canaries and his paroquets until she got better. Just when it was time to release her, the unthinkable happened. The family's young German Shepherd bit a hole in the aviary through which all the birds quickly escaped, except for one: the pigeon that had found its way back to Koksijde just a few days after being released there. This occurrence sparked his interest in pigeons and it resulted in the founding of his first own loft in 1976, comprising mainly pigeons from nearby fanciers. A short while later he added pigeons of Robert Venus, whose restaurant Peter was completing an internship as a chef in, as well as pigeons of Bernard Corteel, whose pigeons would eventually form the foundation for Peter's sprint loft at the time. It was then that he started to win early prizes.
Successful with Dutch and Belgian breeds
After spending some time in Brussels and De Panne, with an occasional break from pigeon racing due to a busy professional career, Peter and Ria eventually settled in the town of Bulskamp (Veurne) in 1994. In this corner of the country Peter, Ria, and their youngest daughter Julie are competing in the middle distance and the long distance. Peter works as an export manager for the Dutch animal feed company Teurlings from home. It explains why his current breed is heavily based on a pigeon breed from The Netherlands as well, namely Bas Batenburg, the father of Hugo (Klaaswaal, NL). Peter successfully introduced the following bloodlines in his existing Batenburg based breed over the past three years: Robert and Didier Bolle (via Wim Logie - Poperinge, BE), Cools-Blancke, Gerard Koopman and Deschacht-Denduyver (via Kurt De Keyser - Staden, BE), and Harceo Poelman (Erica, NL).
These successful crossings have started to pay off in 2016 in particular:
1st General Champion Middle Distance Young Birds 2016 (Roesbrugge)
1st General Champion Long Distance Yearlings 2016 (Vlamertinge)
1st General Champion National Races Long Distance Young Birds 2016 (Vlamertinge)
1st Ace Pigeon National Races 2016 (Vlamertinge)
1st Ace Pigeon Middle Distance/Long Distance (Roesbrugge)
1st In Flanders Fields-Race 2016 (arrondissement Veurne)
1st Châteauroux 2016 (Vlamertinge)
1st Nat. Zone A1 Châteauroux 2016
1st Bourges 2016 (Vlamertinge)
2nd Nat. Zone A1 Argenton 2016
His 1st National Châteauroux is also the result of the successful introduction of a number of new bloodlines: his prize winner NL17-1642445 is a 100% Combination Poelman. His sire White Wing comes from Wander x Granddaughter Kannibaal. Wander is an excellent breeding bird, and the sire and grandfather of a 2nd NPO, a 3rd Provincial and a 4th, 7th and twice 9th NPO, just to name a few. His full brother Black Power has an excellent reputation as well as the sire of Amore, 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance 2002 and Olympiad Pigeon Long Distance 2009 for G&C Koopman. Kannibaal is a household name: he was 1st National Ace Pigeon for Dirk van Dijck and breeder of several successful descendants. The dam of NL17-1642445 is Pearl 004, a granddaughter of Wander x Inbred 1st Nat. Barcelona 1997 for Looymans (Wierop, NL).
Click here for the full pedigree of the national winner NL17-1642445.
NL17-1642445, 1st National Châteauroux III YBs 2017
Met twee tegelijk op het dak
Peter started the season with 30 old and one year old racers, as well as about 125 youngsters. From the weaning until their last race the youngsters get a daily portion of A.S. Junior, a sports mixture of none other than the Teurlings company, or what would you expect. They are all raced with the sliding door. The national winner had already gained some experience, with a race from Blois and the national race from Bourges under his belt two weeks before Châteauroux. These races gave him the momentum that he needed to get a very early prize from Châteauroux. "I was sitting down with my grandson, calculating my pigeons' time of arrival. I got two phone calls from friends to inform that pigeons were expected to arrive at about 1:15pm. In between those phone calls I saw two pigeons arrive home, one of which took off again almost immediately, the other landing on the board", Peter recalls. After a long wait Peter's Dutch pigeon was clocked at 2:15pm as the national winner and the fastest of the race with a lead of almost 20 m/min.
After a fun neighbourhood party the night before the family celebrates again on a national victory
Team effort
Peter, Ria and Julie Allemeersch take their first national win in their career on a sunny 14th of August. "It is great to see that a small team can still win a national first prize", says Peter, who was genuinely moved by his victory. "I would also like to say thanks to our good friend Olivier Verlande. During the winter I spend a lot of time abroad for my job, and for the past 25 years Olivier has been coming all the way from Buergues in France to look after my pigeons. Let's not forget he gets a helping hand from my wife Ria and our daughter Julie", says a smiling Peter. He is a fancier with a small basket but a great personality: he will always give credit where credit is due.
The pigeon lofts in Bulskamp
Bron: Pipa.be