The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help and spirituality book written by Rhonda Byrne and based upon William Walker Atkinson’s prior works and school of thought. A film based on The Secret was released before the book in DVD format. The tenet of the book is that an individual’s focused positive thinking can result in life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, happiness and more. The book achieved high sales after being featured in two episodes of Oprah, whereafter the book reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list and the film based on the book reached #1 on the sales charts on Amazon.comWhat does all of this have to do with Marcel Sangers? Well everything from my point of view. A person becomes exceptional at his chosen profession in spite of everything that he or she is confronted with. Marcel Sangers has become a world renowned racing pigeon champion precisely because he has been able to use his focused positive thinking to obtain for himself ( in the racing pigeon world) everything that he has always desired and considered most important to himself. Sangers knows full well the power of the mind to manifest thoughts in the real world. Sangers does not doubt his abilities, he moves from strength to strength and his chosen profession is that of racing pigeons and his results speak for themselves! Regardless of what life throws at him he deals with it in a positive fashion. With this attitude towards life, with this belief in oneself there is nothing that cannot be achieved.
I first came to hear the name “Sangers” from a Canadian fancier of exceptional ability that I had first met over 45 years ago one Mr. Karl Von Gardony. Karl is without a doubt the most successful racing pigeon fancier in Canada. No one has won more races than he has. Hungarian by birth he was, in the old country a member of the same racing pigeon club as Professor Anker the great geneticist. I was visiting Karl and he handed me a gift “Here is your Christmas present Silvio” he said. It was a wonderful dark checker cock, “it’s out of the Marcel Sangers “Apache”, continued Karl. So to this day whenever I think of Sangers I also think of “Apache” and my old, dear, and generous friend Karl!
So with my interest now peaked I set about finding out just who “Marcel Sangers” really is? It turns out that Marcel was born April, 1968 the son of Martin Sangers and Elly Wensink.The year 1968 was a time of turmoil and upheaval around the world. I am old enough to remember the assassination of Martin Luther King that year as well as the Czech Revolution, the continuing War in Vietnam the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the launch of Apollo 8, the beginning of the first US mission to orbit the Moon.
Though Marcel’s parents divorced when he was only twelve he did not allow this fact to become an albatross around his neck as so many others have done. Growing up he loved to play soccer, fishing was also a marvelous pastime as were the hours that he spent with his childhood friends in the beautiful 12th Century town of Zutphen. Though not the City of his birth (Marcel was born in Dieren) Zutphen was what was referred to as a “hanze” city (one of a number of small cities dedicated to trade via the many river waterways that existed) also home to important provincial courts part of the Dutch justice establishment. All in all a beautiful medieval city with tremendous tourist interests.
In time Marcel discovered that he was not cut out for the life of an academic favoring a less stringent and more colorful education that resulted in him obtaining his diploma as a painter. He worked conscientiously for a local painting contractor as a “sealer” often moonlighting in the evenings so that he might have additional funds with which to invest in his passion “his racing pigeons”.
Those contemporaries of his who played soccer still remember that as much as Marcel loved soccer he loved his pigeons even more. So much so in fact he was in the habit of sprinting off of the soccer field during a game if he saw his pigeons returning. Needless to say that this dedication to his pigeons at the expense of his soccer responsibilities did not always endear Marcel to his coach nor to his teammates. Though over 30 years have passed since those days as a twelve year old running off the field not much has really changed for he is still “pigeon mad”!
It is interesting to note that Marcel seems to have had a special affection for pigeons all of his life but this was more a personal fascination that gripped him very early on rather than a hobby that he was introduced to via friends or family. Though his grandfather did at one time keep pigeons this was long before Marcel was born. Marcel has been married to his wife Christel since 1990 and has a 19 year old son Brian who seems to have Marcel’s own natural interest in the birds. Marcel gives willing recognition to the important role played by both Christel and Brian in the Sangers racing pigeon enterprise. The family is clearly highly supportive and they do everything possible to motivate Marcel to be the best that he can be. Christel Sangers is very, very good with their Sangers young birds and Brian Sangers helps with both cleaning and training. They are all very involved in the sport as a family which is very refreshing to see as this is not always the case.
Due to an unfortunate and very nasty automobile accident Marcel has been unable to work in his occupation as a painter since 2000… After years of struggling with Insurance companies it became clear he could no longer work. So it was indeed fortunate that he had worked to become a very serious competitor recognized internationally in the racing pigeon sport.
Marcel participated in his first race 29 years ago in 1981.At that time he was very happy to see them just come home, or score 300th in a field of 3000.I think Marcel still clearly remembers the excitement that he then felt:
This was in 1981 that I participated at the first race! That was exciting! Of course in the beginning I
did not win much, but I was already happy when I got a pigeon home, or that I won 300th place from 3,000 pigeons. Then, as a young boy, I thought hmmm, not bad 2,700 pigeon behind me,
It took years of patience and very hard work to achieve all that he was confident was possible. As we all know too well mastering the pigeon sport is very difficult and most will never rise to National prominence let alone aspire to International recognition. But Marcel exceptionally passionate and dedicated. He quickly learned an important key, a lesson without which success is just not possible. In his own words the secret to success is:
One of the first things I realized: I had to have good pigeons;
Clearly a winning mind set was imprinted in the young boy’s genes and many hard lessons were learned along the way:
But the pigeon sport is a hard sport too. Many things can go wrong! And – especially in the first years – there are more bad moments than happy moments! With bad moments I mean; you can lose a good pigeon, your pigeons can get sick, on a bad training toss with young birds you can lose many pigeons. The most happy moments are, that after a week’s hard work, you race well on Saturday … and you win the 1st place! Or 6 positions in the first 10 from a National race!
These early lessons were never forgotten nor did Marcel get into the habit of ever knowingly repeating a mistake. After completing his Military service in 1990 Marcel rented a home together with his wife Christel, built a very nice loft and proceeded to become very serious about racing pigeons. His top priority was obtaining the very best racing pigeons possible and to this end he was extremely fortunate because his new residence was located in the same area as the world famous Janssen breeder “Bertie Camphuis”! I remember well the name of Bertie Camphuis when this quiet Dutchman broke into the very top ranks of the International racing pigeon sport. Many top fanciers, during this period concluded that there were no better birds available for races up to 400 miles than these “Camphuis” pigeons. They were exceptional in performance both pure and crossed. Back in 1981 the racing pigeon world was dazzled by “Camphuis” light checkered cock the “Famous 05”. “05” was the 1st National Middle Distance Racer of the Netherlands WHZB winning 9 X 1st . This incredible “05” produced generations of winner’s right up to National and International competition. I remember well the exceedingly high regard that my good friend Mr. Joop Ekstijn of Grave, Velp in Holland held these pigeons though we were discussing, in personal correspondence , a great fancier by the name of “Suykerbuyk” certain key details emerge about “Bertie Camphuis”.Here is what Joop had to say about these “Camphuis” pigeons:
What type of birds did he keep?
“He had all Smeulders birds, mostly from the line of famous #05 Camphuis that later on was sold to Eijerkamp. Bertie Camphuis was his neighbor just a few years before I met Suykerbuyk and because of that Suykerbuyk had his birds from Camphuis. But Bertie Camphuis moved to another house in Eefde and sold his birds to Eijerkamp. When he was settled in his new home he went to Mr. Smeulders to start all over again with Smeulders pigeon’s a.o. youngbirds and eggs from the #64, a direct son off #531 and also the father of “Oscar”. He became the father of Wonderboy 05 and Wonderboy 06.”
The famous James Bond!
“Later, after Camphuis moved, a blue cock returned home and came into Suykerbuyks loft. Camphuis told him to keep the bird because he didn’t want to break him to his new loft. This birds last 3 numbers were #007 and he became famous as James Bond.”
Joop at the home of world famous Dutch Janssen Breeder Wout Smeulders.
So the long and the short of it is that the majority of the Sangers pigeons originate from Bertie Camphuis the breeder of many legendary pigeons including as already outlined ‘Famous 05′ (best middle distance bird of The Netherlands WHZB 1981), ‘JAMES Bond’ (best middle distance bird of The Netherlands WHZB 1984), ‘Golden Boy’ (1st Nat. Orleans 1997), ‘Wonderboy 05’ (2nd ace bird of The Netherlands WHZB 1990) and his nestmate ‘Wonderboy 06’ (4th ace bird of The Netherlands WHZB 1990).
Bertie Camphuis at his Racing Loft
Marcel, early on, researched well the special attributes of the “Camphuis” pigeons and decided that at all costs these were the pigeons he needed to acquire if he was going to get serious about racing! In 1990 a public auction took place at Zevenaar, Marcel attended and was able to meet Bertie and purchased two birds at that auction..They hit it off and later that year Marcel bought more Camphuis pigeons. It was not easy for Marcel, but here in his own words are his recollections of how he proceeded:
In our area Mr. Bertie Camphuis raced with pigeons … a small group but especially with real pigeon weather he was almost unbeatable. As a young guy I looked up to him. Every week he clocked early pigeons … that was my dream. So I started to buy pigeons from him. I Worked late every evening, 5 years long, to earn money that I invested in Camphuis pigeons. When I came home from work at 16.30 I did my pigeons and then I would go again at 18.00 to work then return home late again but I had the money at the end of the week to buy a pigeon… I bought a lot from him, many bad ones of course, but also some very good ones. And that’s how it goes; you can never expect to just buy 2 and have 2 toppers … that’s an illusion. You must lay your confidence in one or two fanciers purchase several pigeons there and then you must have the luck to have a few good ones!
Many birds would be purchased in time but in addition to these Camphuis-birds Marcel got one of his best breeders from fellow Zutphen-man Peter van Osch, NL95-1400550 ‘Superkweker’.
4 Breeding Loft of Bertie Camphuis
Marcel Will Never Regret It
When I asked Marcel about Bertie he answered without hesitation:
He was the best and from him I wanted pigeons! And so I did and I have never regretted it. I made the right choice; they form the base of my colony. I was totally convinced of their quality directly and knew bringing in these pigeons would bring me to a new level.
Bertie Camphuis “The Wizard” with some of his stock pigeons.This is the base upon which Marcel Sangers built his reputation
I certainly would not disagree with Marcel in his assessment as I remember quite well my own personal visit to the home of Bertie Camphuis in 1996 together with my good friend Joop. Bertie was a gentleman who certainly did not allow success to go to his head. Marcel is of a particular personality type and doing things well is the key to who he is. Whatever he undertakes he does so with enthusiasm and gusto. He is a people person, at home with everyone and it shows because people enjoy being with him. He puts all of his energy into winning, every race is important to him and staying at the top most certainly is a full time occupation.
Characteristics of Potential Foundation Sire or Dam
When I asked Marcel what the most important characteristics were that he looked for in a potential foundation sire or dam, I was surprised by the real honesty and non assuming nature answer that he gave me as it was truly refreshing:
I could respond to you with all types of wise sounding things here, but the reality is that I got my nr. 1 stock pigeon ‘The Super Breeder’ by coincidence. A friend had a top racing pigeon, ‘Asduif 43’, who over 3 years was the best National ace bird WHZB … a super pigeon. He asked me to raise a two day old from his crack for him and when it was ready he would come to pick it up. When I called to advise it was ready he told me to keep it. I placed this gift bird, a cock, in the breeding loft directly.
‘Fast as Lightning’ is my new breeding star; he was bred well already. From a direct son of Koopmans ‘Kleine Dirk’ x the best breeding daughter of ‘ The Super Breeder’. He raced very well; I then decided to place him in the breeding loft. And paired him to ‘Miss Geniality’, who in turn was bred from ‘Eagle Eye’ (grandson ‘Super Breeder’) x daughter Koopmans ‘Yi Min’ (sister ‘Kleine Dirk’), they form a super pair.
What Role Do The Females Play?
I and others have often said that the females are the key to the long term continued success of any line of animals? Can you give your ideas on the role of females?
I believe it takes two to tango … therefore cocks as well as hens are relevant. However, throughout the years many fanciers have raced classic widowhood system, only with cocks. Therefore the hens were not really tested in racing and it was harder to pick the best hens. Therefore the value of these hens was bigger, their qualities were more mysterious. Now I race hens too for about 10 years so it is equally hard to pick the top hens and the top cocks.
The Loft of Marcel Sangers
It was interesting to inquire as to which were Marcel’s most important pigeons. His answer was direct and very much to the point. Here is what he responded:
‘The Super Breeder’ and several super Camphuis pigeons formed the base; they were most important. Now my best breeders still descend from this fine line, sometimes with 25% or 50% Koopman in it.
My most important pigeons now are:
1) my entire racing team; as they must bring me successes
2) My breeding team; they must breed me the new toppers.
The breeders especially direct children to ‘The Super Breeder’ (he does not fill eggs anymore) are important as they form the steady base. But also toppers like ‘Fast as Lightning’ (father 1. & 7. NPO winner ‘Fast Red’), ‘ The Golden Crown’ (mother 1., 5., 6. NPO winners), ‘Pigem’ (father 1. prov. yearling 2009 & 1. prov. youngster 2009), “Monica”, “Hayabusa King”, ‘Lazer Gun’ (children won 8x top 30 NPO) and a few more great breeders are very important. But also the new De Rauw-Sablon pigeons will be important for the future.
Fast As Lightning X Miss Geniality
Pigem X Monica
Hayabusa King X the Golden Crown
We all seek to improve the modern racing pigeon but success in this field is really only reserved to a small group of extremely dedicated visionaries who are never satisfied with just success. These fanciers are driven and only the “absolute pinnacle of success” will do. Reaching this level is truly hard enough but maintaining this level of success year after year is indeed rare.
Marcel, like an explorer of old, is always searching out genetic advantages often as rare as “hen’s teeth”. By doing so Marcel knows that these rare birds will help him add unique genetic advantages to an already powerful genetic base. He needs to not only to maintain his position in the International ranks of the racing pigeon world but he knows that unless he is continuously moving forward and adding strength to his base line he cannot hope to remain at the top for long. Marcel searched for what he refers to as that ‘extra impulse’ (warp drive is probably what he really means) to cross-breed with his ‘Super Kweker’-line, and to this end he visited Cornelius & Gerard Koopman of Ermerveen in 2002. The father-son combination certainly need no introduction for they have performed at the very pinnacle in the Dutch pigeon sport for years. According to Marcel Sangers these were the pigeons that could provide a ‘surplus’ for his own stock, for the creation of a variety ‘wonder-pigeon’ strain such as he had
Imagined! Multiple direct children from the National and Koopman Ace pigeons have moved (since 2002) to Zutphen. A bull’s eye, indeed because Marcel Sangers raised the bar so to speak and his performances moved to
a ‘raised level’. Gerard Koopman and Marcel Sangers became the best of friends… a close friendship based on mutual respect for each other’s top performances and “class pigeons”! Both fanciers know that they are holding gold with this new type of wonder-pigeon … you could say a new ‘modern racing pigeon’ for a new beginning in the 21st Century!
Sangers summed it all up in his own words as follows:
Some of my Camphuis pigeons excelled at breeding directly and ‘The Super Breeder’ was even more exceptional; he bred me so many toppers. These lines I kept on crossing and then I got to that point, a point that every good racer comes to, where the same lines are at the base … then you know you have created your own family… I introduced the Koopman pigeons in 2002 … also because it was my intention to excel at NPO racing and area in which Koopman has proven to be a master. I bought from his very best. These I crossed to my own pigeons. That strategy worked very, very well … These hybrids I paired back to my 100% family birds and that gave my family of pigeon’s fresh blood and new quality. I succeeded by bringing in the Koopman birds. Once my goals were achieved (that is the bringing in on a new bloodline) then all the direct Koopman birds were auctioned on PiPa in 2009.
My North American readers should think about this a great deal. The European Champions are always seeking out this “genetic advantage, we in North America on the other hand seem to be fixated on what can only be described as an illusion of purity. Nothing is pure. When we come to understand this then we can also be on the road to continuous progress. As in the case of the “Koopman” pigeons that were used to enhance the “Sangers” base family it now seems that Marcel is preparing to score another “Bulls Eye” and to this end he has sought out what is fast becoming the most dominant family of racing pigeons in the world today, the strain “De Rauw Sablon”!
Marcel,Luna Lai,Dr,Guo (Great Wall) ,Nikolaas and friends visiting China for the grand opening of the Great Wall Pigeon Facilities.
Marcel and Nikolaas are willing ambassadors for the racing pigeon sport drawing East and West closer together through pigeons and the friendships they engender.
2010 The Strain “De Rauw Sablon”. Another Bulls Eye?
I understand that you have purchased pigeons of the strain “De Rauw –Sablon? Why was this decision made?
I bought the “De Rauw Sablon’s” for the same reason that I bought Koopman pigeons in 2002 – for new blood. I was very much convinced after I first saw these pigeons at the lofts of my friend Gerard Koopman. Koopman is successful with them directly. Also Marcel Aelbrecht and Erik Limbourg are very successful with these pigeons; they have dominated Belgian pigeon racing in races from 500-800 km from 2002 on … exactly the distances that I also put my focus on. I only wanted from the best; therefore I bought children direct from ‘Freddy’ and “Bak 17”. Nikolaas Gyselbrecht the founder of PiPa has also spoken highly of their top quality and his collection of De Rauw-Sablon breeders at the PiPa Elite Centre is very impressive … I hope that the De Rauw-Sablon pigeons are the new top quality input in my strain….we now have 2 direct children of ‘ Freddy’ (De Rauw-Sablon top breeder and the father of the world famous ‘Den Dromer’) bought at Pros Roossens. I also bought a daughter to Bak 17 and grandson ‘Marseille’ (both original Marcel Aelbrecht) and ordered two more youngsters from Bak 17 of Marcel Aelbrecht. When I get the opportunity to purchase more from these golden lines, I will do it.
I was curious as to why he felt that these De Rauw Sablon pigeons were so important as to warrant Marcel introducing these new pigeons into a powerful Janssen based family to which eight years before he had successfully introduced the Koopman pigeons to. So I asked a simple question: “Why are these De Rauw Sablon pigeons important?”
Because I think they are superb on the toughest 700 – 850 km races. In Holland the NPO classics are now mostly up to 679 km for me … but in the future I expect them to be more up to 850 km on one day … De Rauw-Sablon pigeons proved to be exceptional on these races.
They could bring more toughness for the +700 km races in my family. But I now have 4 of these pigeons in my loft; it would be a chance in a million if they are all top breeders. I will pair them to my best pigeons and hope one of them will produce real fine racers. In about 5 years time we know what influence they will have had on my strain … maybe none, but maybe it will be the best that ever happened to me… I will probably send some of the crosses to the One Million Dollar Race next year … But that was not my main intention in purchasing them.
My personal belief is that we are going to be witness to a “Tidal Wave” of interest in this new Strain “De Rauw Sablon” so much so that in the not too distant future they will, without a doubt overtake, as is already the case, the Janssen’s in performance as well as popularity.
It is interesting for me to note that Marcel now has a partner. In fact I personally happened to know Marcel’s partner Mr. Paul Ung of the Philippines as I had occasion to communicate personally with him on many occasions as well as having had the privilege of assisting him in certain local matters several years ago. When I asked Marcel how it was that he came to be partners with Paul his response was clearly one of great respect and friendship.
Paul Ung is a very special man from the Philippines. I originally met him via email, when he showed interest in my pigeons … We kept emailing and n time Paul asked me if I wanted to visit him in the Philippines. What a generous offer that I considered a very special gesture! The first time I went to see Paul, I took my brother with me; at that time we had never visited Asia. I found out Paul was very busy in his business, he did not much time to spend with his pigeons even though Paul is a true pigeon fancier in heart and soul. That first visit was the beginning of a close friendship. He showed so much interest in my pigeons, I once asked him if he would like us to race together … me doing all the work and him enjoying everything from a distance. But I keep him updated all of the time and he enjoys that a lot.
We did not have an overall plan. We just agreed we wanted to be the best. But it is a matter of good pigeons, doing the best you can and then at the end of the season you can see how it went. You can have the best base; in pigeon racing however many things influence your success.
My ultimate dream was one time winning 1 up to 10 on a NPO classic. I think in the near future it will happen. I did it twice to have 6 pigeons at the first 10 from a NPO race. On a day when all falls into place, I hope my dream will come true.
In conclusion I asked Marcel if there was “SECRET” to his success. If you do have a secret can you share it with us?
I’m sorry, no ‘Secret” formula here. Good pigeons, ‘stock sense’ focus, determination and luck … these factors together will bring success.
