They not only managed to win a first national against 6,116 yearlings, their best pigeon was also the fastest overall. It seems their excellent form in the past few weeks has eventually led to a national first prize. This is already their 8th national victory since they started working together in 2008.
You could almost sense that the Vandenheede brothers were preparing for something extraordinary, since they had been dominating the competition at club level over the past few weeks. This resulted in an impressive number of first prizes, including the first 14 from Vierzon YL and the first 18 from Limoges YL. Their great form eventually led to a victory in Zone A from Limoges and Cahors (click here to reread our report). They appeared to very close to a national first prize but that is easier said than done.
A new national first prize from La Souterraine
The race from La Souterraine was another great success. The fastest of a total of 10,245 pigeons from La Souterraine landed in a loft in Zingem, and was clocked at 13:02’37” by Freddy and Jacques. Their winning bird had completed 543.228 km with a velocity of 1383.61 m/min, and it has won the 8th national first prize since the two fanciers started working together as a combination in 2008. We give you an overview of each of their national wins:
1st National Bourges 27,506 olds in ’09 1st National Bourges 22,499 YL in ’09 1st National Argenton 5,763 p. in ’10 1st National Tulle 6,345 p. in ’11 1st Internat. Narbonne 5,098 hens in ’12 1st National Libourne 6,658 olds in ’13 1st National Libourne 6,134 YL in ’13 1st National La Souterraine 6,116 YL in ’15
The fresh national winner is called Memorial. She had already won a natoinal prize from La Souterraine as a young bird. In 2015 she won a top prize from Souppes s/Loing, while also finishing strong from Gueret and Montluçon. These are some of her most important results:
-Memorial BE14-4000027
1st Nat La Souterraine 6,116 YL ’15 8th Souppes sur Loing 394 YL ’15 418th Zone A2 Gueret 4,878 YL ’15 510th Prov Montluçon 3,700 YL ’15 81st Prov Vilemandeur 5,156 YL ’14
Sire: Calypso BE10-4326277
A promising bird in the breeding loft, being the sire of Black Devil 12-394, winner of a 49th Nat Argenton 25,949 p., 2nd Prov Chateauroux 4,503 p., 4th Ecouen 613 p., 11th Prov Montluçon 4,766 p., 59th Nat Brive 6,842 p., 47th Prov Vierzon 4,058 p… etc.
Calypso is a son of New Freddy BE09-5052387, winner of a 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Longer Middle Distance KBDB 2010 (for Pierre Matthijs and now owned by the PEC) x Funnel of Love BE07-4093399 (a direct daughter of the outstanding breeder Limoges 261/91 De Rauw-Sablon x Super Duper Love 243/04).
Dam: Nestsister 8. National Ace BE07-4093016
A nest sister of the 8th Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB ’09 (28th Nat Cahors 7,347 p., 53rd Nat Brive 17,456 p., 8th Prov Argenton 4,526 p., 21st Gueret 4,798 p., 31st Souilac 3,290 p.). She is a daughter of Reginald BE05-4045295 x Trimelore BE05-4045199.
Freddy and Jacques had basketed 43 pigeons for La Souterraine (9 olds + 34 yearlings), 34 of which have won a prize in the club. The old birds did great, with 7 out of 9, including a club victory. These are the yearlings’ results:
La Souterraine club 126 yearlings: 1-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-12-13-15-17-19… (27/34) Provinciaal 1.449 jaarse: 1-14-16-20-37-39-40… (25/34) Nationaal 6,116 yearlings: 1… etc.
They won an additional 5 prizes with 6 pigeons from Montauban later in the afternoon: 3/3 old birds and 2/3 yearlings; their 1st and 2nd nominated finished in the national top 10 in both categories, and they took the first prize yearlings.
The Vandenheede brothers have been winning one top result after the other. They would sometimes win a race even before we have finished writing an article about their previous victory. They are without doubt the most celebrated pigeon family in Belgium between 2008 and 2015. They are often impossible to beat, overwhelmingly strong. We are eager to see which will be their next successful race. Congratulations Freddy & Jacques.