Janssen Bros., Arendonk, Belgium

Louis van Loon, Poppel, Belgium

Marc Pollin, Snellegem, Belgium

Gommaire Verbruggen, Scherpemheuvel, Belgium

Jan Aarden

Jan Aarden strain

Below you see our birds of the Jan Aarden strain
Click on the bandnumber of the bird and you will see the picture

Piet Lazeroms / Jan Aarden NL.1993-9365497 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1994-1636509 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1995-0076652 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1996-1888816 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1996-1888866 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1996-1888889 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1996-1888922 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1996-1888928 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1997-1139767 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1997-1139767 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1997-9749492 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.1998-1473897 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.1998-2371693 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.1998-2587287 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1998-9845989 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.1998-2587297 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1999-9958312 Van Dommelen/J.Aarden COCK NL.1999-2002847 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.1999-2003590 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2000-1622119 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2000-1637437 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2000-2151642 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden COCK NL.2001-1537082 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2001-1536408 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2001-1536411 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2001-2149144 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2002-1312842 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2002-1797770 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2002-1797776 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2002-1797777 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-1289668 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-1291014 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2003-1291212 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden COCK NL.2003-1291260 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden COCK NL.2003-2110717 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2003-2110740 Lazeroms/J.Aarden COCK NL.2003-2110747 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110749 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110768 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110786 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110788 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110789 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110790 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110791 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110796 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110801 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110802 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110803 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110804 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110805 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110806 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110807 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110808 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110809 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110810 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110811 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110812 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110813 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110816 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110818 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110819 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2003-2110820 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745920 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745924 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745927 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745928 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745932 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745933 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745934 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745936 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745937 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745938 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745939 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745942 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745943 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745945 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1745982 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746026 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746029 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746053 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746068 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746069 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746070 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746071 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746072 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746073 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746074 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746075 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746076 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746077 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746078 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746081 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746083 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746084 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746087 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746089 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746090 Lazeroms/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746091 Lazeroms/J.Aarden

Jan Ernest / Jan Aarden NL.2004-1746593 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746594 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746599 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746600 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746615 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746616 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746619 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746620 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746623 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746624 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746629 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746632 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-1746633 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246601 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246602 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246603 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246604 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246605 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246606 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246607 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246608 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246609 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246610 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246611 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246612 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246613 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246614 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246615 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246616 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246617 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246618 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246619 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246620 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246621 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246622 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246623 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246624 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246625 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246626 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246627 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246628 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246629 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246630 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246631 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246632 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246633 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246634 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246635 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246636 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246637 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246638 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246639 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246640 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246641 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246642 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246643 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246644 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246645 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246646 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246647 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246648 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246649 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246650 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246651 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246652 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246653 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246654 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246655 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246656 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246657 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246658 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246659 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246660 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246661 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246662 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246663 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246664 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246665 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246666 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246667 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246668 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246669 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246670 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246694 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246695 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246696 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246697 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246698 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden   NL.2004-2246699 Jan Ernest/J.Aarden

 

PIET LAZEROMS O.L. Vrouwestraat 123 Zegge phone 0031165-538094 The man who kept the 'AARDENBIRDS most pure is Piet Lazeroms. He purchased them from Van Stoffelen, Jan van de Par, Toon Ligtenberg and van Van Agtmaal. Sometimes a whole colony at a time so that no birds were skipped (this is what Piet de Weerd advised) For Piet Lazeroms it was a challenge to reserve the strain Jan Aarden or even make it better. How successful he was is proven by numerous long-distance racers both at home and abroad who all became winners in this sport with the Lazeromsbirds.

Mr Piet Lazeroms and Mr  Piet de Weerd

In many loft  reports on great Dutch long distance champions or national winners you can read the top-birds descend from the sensational ‘Aardenpigeons’ of Mr Piet Lazeroms.

• Oude Ligtenberg (64-1096022), the "Oude Ligtenberg" is a pure Jan Aarden, closely related to "Oud Doffertje" of  Janus van der Wegen and  "Dolle" of Marijn van Geel.  "Oude Ligtenberg" is at the base of enormous successes for Piet Lazeroms himself but even more for many others via the Lazeromsbirds.
• The "500" of v. Agtmaal (61-141500) was mated to "Oude Ligtenberg". This pair of  world class gave excellent breeders such as  "NUL-twee" (67-1561002),  "NUL-drie" (67-1561003),  "NUL-achttien" (67-1561018),  "427" (69-2025427),  ""433" (69-2025433) and so on. A book could be written about the successes of the descendants of these Jan Aardenbirds.  
• The "26" (65-567226) undoubtedly the best hen at long distance ever. She was a daughter of  "Oude Stoffelen" (58-315130) x  "500" (61-141500). This hen won 4th National Dax, 6th national. Dax, 13th National. St.Vincent, 16th National Dax, 17th National  St.Vincent, 44th National Dax, 74th National Dax, 220 National Dax, 327 National Dax, 508 National St.Vincent, 580 National St.Vincent, 689 National . Bergerac. This  "26" had a great impact on the Lazeromsstrain. 
• The "Oude Sproet" (66-2029053) is a sensational basic bird, bred by Piet Lazeroms and closely related to the legendary  "10" from Antoon Ligtenberg (54-472110) x the   "Oude Stoffelenduivin". The "Oude Sproet" himself won 2nd National St Vincent and  21^st  National Dax, both races held in the hard season 1968. But as a breeder the  "Oude Sproet" was of even more value. She became the mother and grandmother of a lot of winners on the long distance races. The "Oude Sproet” (66-2029053) was mated with the worldfamous  "38" of Jan Aarden. This couple gave a lot of super birds such as  "Gouden Crack" (69-2096674),  "86" (69-2096686). "Gouden Crack” and  "86" (brother and sister) were mated for many years. Many fanciers both at home and abroad owe their successes to the incredible ‘breeding qualities’ of this pair..

Now at the wake of the 21st century this superior ‘LAZEROMS/AARDEN’ strain has lost nothing of  its value. That’s why Cor de Heyde of Made went to the little town of Zegge. Piet Lazeroms gave him the "Klamper'' (84-1870149), bred off of  74-2385421 x 79-1461678.  "421" is a son of  the faboulous hen "26". The "678" is of the bloodline of "Oude Sproet". The ‘Klamper’ is a miracle as a breeder and made Cor de Heijde famous all over the world.  He also got from Lazeroms the 308-duifje (81-F308) which was her halfsister.. This 308-duifje won 15 prizes in the National races for Piet Lazeroms.   

	The attraction at the auction in the town of Zundert was  't Kleintje ( 81-1524). She was the best hen which was sold then and was off of the same mother. 't Kleintje won 13 prizes among which 14th National Dax (12.943  birds), 39th National St.Vincent (16.629 birds) and  41st National Bergerac (13.302 birds).
A remarkable bird is also "Prinses Petra"( 87-2328857), the basic hen of Bros Maas from Zundert. She is a granddaughter of  308-duifje.

 

The Jan Arden Story
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When one gets involved in discussing the sport of pigeon racing the name of Jan Aarden is sure to appear especially in relation to the long distances because the strain of racing pigeons created by this master has been immortalised by some due to the impact it has made throughout the world. But who was this Dutchman
credited with being the creator of a great marathon strain? A man whose bloodlines run through many of the winners and others to the fore in the Barcelona International and indeed many national and international winners throughout the world of modern pigeon racing.

Jan Aarden was born in the city of Oosterhout on the Sixth of November 1893 to Martinus Aarden and Lucia Schoenmakers. There he attended school at the Abbey of St.Paulus. From his earliest days Jan had a great love for animals and birds and in particular racing pigeons. The love of the latter was kindled by a Fr. Paulus who kept some racing pigeons in the Abbey grounds and needless to relate the young Aarden in due course became the "boy manager" of the good Father's stock. There his passion for the thoroughbreds of the sky intensified and by the time he was 18 he was a member of a racing pigeon club in Oosterhout, where in a short period of time he owned a loft of good short and middle distance racers.

An early influence upon Aarden was the family of Oomens from Breda who were the long distance stars of the Netherlands prior to World War 2. Aarden developed a close friendship with the father of the family and in due course owned some of their birds. The famous 37 of Jan Aarden's was a grandson of Zilvervosje which had Oomens bloodlines on both sides of the pedigree. This light check' hen with a reflection of silver in her wings was a wonderful breeder as well as a racer. Her bloodlines are there in the families of the great Aarden fanciers like Muller, van Agtmaal, van den Burgh, van der Wegen, van den Eijnden and the Kuypers, as well as being the grandfather of Ko Nipius's second national Barcelona. In fact her contribution to the development of the marathon pigeon in Europe is immense especially in the light of the truth that there is very little known about the hen's origins but thanks to Steve Patrick of Parick Bros who won the English NFC Pau National with an Aarden I can state that the Zilvervosje is a daughter of Slaper (H 46- 270518) + the Goris Duivin of Alfred Goris (Kruisland). This fabulous hen when mated with Zesentachtig ( H 47- 433486) bred Late Meesters (H 49- 525758) : a pearl of a pigeon. (The famous 131 was a great granddaughter of Late Meesters). The latter appearing in the pedigrees of many of the best modern representatives of the strain. The partnership of Eijerkamp- Muller confirms that the Zilvervosje was the foundation bird of their family. The sire of van Wanroy's the Spin is a grandson and the dam is a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. And of course the Spin was the foundation bird in the families of Kuypers Brothers and Peter van den Eijnden. And as stated Aarden's 37 was a grandson of the hen. In turn 37 was the grandfather of Giel van Agtmaal's 500 as well as the grandfather of Jan de Weert's 131. Surely two of the best of the Aarden dynasty.

Further research showed that Zilvervosje was the granddaughter of the Oude Witpen- a famous breeder of Toon Stoffelen. And that the Bontje Aarden, dam of Ligtenberg's 10 was a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. Bearing in mind that the Bontje Aarden was the mother of Janus van der Wegen's Oude doffertje. The list appears to be endless re the breeding influence of Zilvervosje but as stated she was also a very good racer. Some of her triumphs included the following: 3rd nat. Dax (1949); 2nd nat. Dax (1950); 55th nat. St. Vincent (1950); 7th nat. Dax (1951); 47th nat. St.Vincent (1951).

After Jan's marriage to Janntje Akermans on the twentieth of July, 1916, the Aarden's moved to and lived in the village of Teteringen for almost four years. There Aarden built a loft and moved his pigeons there but because of family commitments and the First World War there was a lack of success. In 1921 the family
moved again- this time to Steenbergen, followed by another move to Grintweg in 1924.This was not to be the last removal for eventually the family settled in Steenbergen where Jan and his wife managed a hotel where even today many fanciers from throughout the world visit and is held as a sort of shrine.

The early nineteen twenties saw another important influence bearing upon Jan in the person of his son Anton who was also interested in the sport and who at the age of 18 joined with his father in a combination. Anton's influence led his father from the shorter to the longer races and although the results were not outstanding by luck and friendships Aarden through his skills and patience built his wonderful strain. One of those friendships was Piet de Weerd, the world famous pigeonologist, whose knowledge and advice Jan pondered. Another fruit of their friendship was the so called " Piet de Weerd pigeon": perhaps Aardens main breeding hen, of Delbar / Deguffroy origin. In fact the Delbar's played a prominent part in the Aarden's origins for some of the early breeders carried the blood of this strain. Now during research for this article I encountered material suggesting Aarden was the builder but de Weerd was the architect of the strain. Whatever the merits of the suggestion there is no doubt that Jan Aarden was a master of stockmanship. Visiting good lofts and obtaining the best upon which to build. Like all great creators however he knew that genius can involve the
experience of others.

By the end of 1930 in the breeders of Jan Aarden was the blood of Ost-Roe alongside stock from Henrey Rey and a super hen from Leo De Cock. The Ost- Roe bloodlines belonged to Jules Roeckaert- the former title he used for sometime. Here I relate to the colour of reds in the Aardens which raises some eyebrows to the extent that there is disbelief that red is a colour truly representative of the strain. Research however confirms that reds were at the basis of the strain through the stock of Rey and Roeckaert. The most prominent of the former's loft was Ouden Vassart- a red which Rey purchased at the auction of Pauwels from the Sas of Gent. From Roeckaert Aarden bought for stock a light checker Belske, whose father was Leon a red cock from Leon Van der Saude. Perhaps this may lay to rest the suspicion surrounding the Aardens of red or mealy
plumage.

With his natural talent and genealogical knowledge coupled with an emphasis on inbreeding Aarden used the stock obtained from Roeckaert, Rey, and others to build and experiment. Initially, he paired the Blaue Ost Roe to the Oude Rey duivin which showed the spark of genius for he had immediate success with this pairing. Their famous product was the great Fietsvlieger who as well as a winner on the road bred some outstanding birds. Mated to Dikke Blauw his outstanding nestmate he bred the Schone Blauw - a pigeon who excelled at winning first prizes at racing. When pairing the Reydoffer with Belske Aarden produced another great pigeon in 46- who won many races. A full sister of the 46 namely Orleanske won from Orleans three years in a row. From the pairing of Vetkonk from De Cock with the Fietsvlieger Aarden bred Verkeeroe
Duivin- one of the best racing hens in his loft if not in Holland. The Dikke Blauw was also mated to Roeckaert's Duveltje and produced the Mooike - another famous representative of the strain. The above where in the main Aarden's basic couples and indeed Mooike, Dikke Blauw, Schone Blauw, and the Verkeerde Duivin won prizes from a very tough race from St. Vincent. From this and other results Jan Aarden realised that he owned pigeons of excellent quality.

The success of the developing Aarden strain caught the attentions of Jan's fellow fanciers in Steenbergen and many were purchased resulting in the area becoming the hot bed of long distance racing in Holland. This also contributed to the evolution of the strain. A few of the latter around the period after the Second World War until 1960 included Toon and Piet Ligtenberg whose famous hen Oude Witpen when coupled with another Aarden were the parents of two of the most famous representatives of the strain. The famous number 10 of Ligtenberg and the fabulous Oud Doffertje of van der Wegen. The latter being the foundation of the van der Wegen strain while number 10 became the father of the famous Dolle of Marijn van Geel- the origin of the van Geels.

Alongside other Steenbergen fanciers who set the sport alight with Aarden stock where Toon Toffelen, Jan van der Par, Jan de Weert, and van Agtmaal. The latter being credited in some quarters with being a better racer of the Aarden's than the great master, himself. Another important input to the Aarden's was the great Jan Cools. A good friend of Aarden's, Cools owned some good pigeons of the strain and they shared breeders with each other. Resulting in the production of top class performers.

As the strain developed it dominated the races from Dax, St.Vincent, Bergerac, and Barcelona, among others. Taking Europe by storm and extending beyond to become a truly world wide family. Piet de Weerd helped in this context by buying good representatives of the strain and selling them off to others. Another
important contributor to the success of the Aarden dynasty was Piet Lazeroms from Zegge. This Aarden specialist bought out top lofts of Aardens and through this he owned the best of the strain. In turn Lazeroms was used as the main source of the Aardens by the best fanciers in Europe and elsewhere. For example, Van Peperstraten and de Heyde. The latter built his loft on his famous Klapper which he had got from
Lazeroms. There's also the exploits of Van Zelderen who won five nationals with Aardens. Recent examples is Theo Ernest whose Barcelona successes are based upon the Aardens and also the Brugemann Brothers whose famous loft is foundered upon another Aarden source - Hein and Hub Oostenrijk. Nor should the exploits of Jac Stekatee of Bruinisse be overlooked for he formed one of the top Aarden studs of the 1990s. His Golden Breeder 788 is considered one of the best of the Aarden dynasty as is the highly thought of 60 of another Aarden ace, Cees de Jong. Then there is the world known breeders and racers of Polder and de Vogel of today...

It would appear to be the case that the few mentioned adherents of the Aarden strain were fired by the master in their pursuit of excellence. I say a few for there are many, many more who could have been named who in their own way as breeders or racers contributed to the development of the strain. In his early days in the sport Jan Aarden could not have imagined what his love of racing pigeons would lead to for arising from the strain which he produced there now exists a dynasty- the Aarden dynasty of long distance and marathon thoroughbred racing pigeons. Therefore, to conclude, what better memorial to Jan Aarden but to ensure that the strain which he moulded and which became a dynasty will continue to overcome distances, mountains, seas, and other obstacles on the way to nest or perch. Thus, all todays Aardenists will continue the work of the master from Oosterhout and Steenbergen.

by: Liam O Comain

 

87-NL-1316286

Van Der Wegen of Holland. This is

Imported blue check cock, bred by

a medium size blue checker cock with

excellent muscle, good feather, and

a nice dark eye. The Lamme was a

direct son of the foundation cock

of the Van Der Wegen loft, the Oud

Doffertje. The 1991 Int'l Barcelona

winner was half Van Der Wegen and he

sold for record price of near $150,000

DAM

89-NL-1561249

Imported blue check hen from the loft

of Piet Lazeroms of Holland. Lazeroms

has one of the finest Jan Aarden lofts

in the world. This is an outsanding

hen, medium size, full bodied, with

excellent muscle and a rich eye. Her

grandfather is "Superkweeker". He is

inbred from the line of the "500", the

same origin as "De Dolle" of Van Geel.

 

Jan AARDEN - NL
And his legacy

"A NICE NEVER ENDING STORY..."

Author : Liam O Comain
Edited : Degrave Martin

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When one gets involved in discussing the sport of pigeon racing the name of Jan Aarden is sure to appear especially in relation to its long distance aspects. Because the strain of racing pigeons created by this master has been immortalised by some due to the impact it has made throughout the world.
But who was this Dutchman credited with being the creator of a great marathon strain?
Jan Aarden was born in the city of Oosterhout on the Sixth of November 1893 to Martinus Aarden and Lucia Schoenmakers. There he attended school at the Abbey of St.Paulus.From his earliest days Jan had a great love for animals and birds and in particular racing pigeons.The love of the latter was kindled by a Fr. Paulus who kept
some racing pigeons in the Abbey grounds and needless to relate the young Aarden in due course became the “boy manager” of the good Father’s stock.

There his passion for the thoroughbreds of the sky intensified and by the time he was 18 he was a member of a racing pigeon club in Oosterhout; where in a short period of time he owned a loft of good short and middle distant birds.

An early influence upon Aarden was the family of Oomens from Breda who were the long distant stars of the Netherlands prior to World War 2. Aarden developed a close friendship with the father of the family and in due course owned some of their birds. The famous “37” of Jan Aarden’s was a grandson of “Zilvervosje” which had Oomens bloodlines on both sides of the pedigree.This light check’ hen with a reflection of silver in her wings was a wonderful breeder as well as a racer. Her bloodlines are there in the families of the great Aarden fanciers like Muller,van Agtmaal, van den Burgh,van der Wegen, van Roy, van den Eijnden, and the Kuypers, as well as being the grandfather of Ko Nipius’s second national Barcelona.

In fact her contribution to the development of the marathon pigeon in Europe is immense. Especially in the light of the truth that there is very little known about the hen’s origins. But thanks to Steve Patrick of the outstanding English Aarden lofts of Patrick Brothers I can state that the Zilvervosje is a daughter of
Slaper H. 46 - 270518 + Goris Duivin from Alfred Goris (Kruisland).

 
   "Zilvervosje"

Pedigree of Zilvervosje :

This fabulous hen when mated with "Zesentachtig" H.47-433486 bred "Late Meesters" H.49-525758- a pearl of a pigeon.The famous "131" was a great granddaughter of "Late Meesters". The latter appearing in the pedigrees of many of the best representatives of the dynasty.

The partnership of Eijerkamp- Muller confirms that "Zilvervosje" is the foundation bird of their family. The sire of van Wanroy’s the "Spin" is a grandson and the dam is a granddaughter of "Zilvervosje".And of course the "Spin" was the foundation bird in the families of Kuypers Brothers and Peter van den Eijnden.

And as stated Aarden’s "37" was a grandson of the hen. And in turn ‘37’ was the grandfather of Giel van Agtmaal’s "500". Also ‘37’ was the grandfather of Jan de Weert’s ‘131’.Surely two of the best of the Aarden dynasty.

Further research showed that "Zilvervosje" was the grandfather of the "Oude Witpen"- a famous breeder of Toon Stoffelen. And that the "Bontje Aarden", dam of Ligtenberg’s "10" was a granddaughter of "Zilvervosje". Bearing in mind that the ‘Bontje Aarden ‘ was the mother of Janus van der Wegen’s "Oude Doffertje".

The list appears to be endless re the breeding influence of "Zilvervosje" but as stated she was also a very good racer. Some of her triumphs included the following:
3rd nat. Dax (1949)
2nd nat. Dax (1950)
55th nat.St. Vincent (1950)
27th nat. Dax (1951)
47th nat.St.Vincent (1951)

However let us return to the main aspectof this article...
After Jan’s marriage to Janntje Akermans on the twentieth of July, 1916,the Aarden’s moved to and lived in the village of Teteringen for almost four years. There Aarden built a loft and moved his pigeons there but because of family commitments and the First World War there was a lack of success.

In 1921 the family moved again- this time to Steenbergen, followed by another move to Grintweg in 1924.
This was not to be the last removal for eventually the family settled in Steenbergen where Jan and his wife managed a hotel where even today many fanciers from throughout the world visits.

The early nineteen twenties saw another important influence bearing upon Jan in the person of his son Anton who was also interested in the sport and who at the age of 18 joined with his father in a combination. Anton’s influence led his father from the shorter to the longer races and although the results were not outstanding by luck and friendships Aarden through his skills and patience built a wonderful strain.

One of those friendships was Piet de Weerd, the world famous pigeonologist, whose knowledge and advice Jan pondered. Another fruit of their friendship was the so called “ Piet de Weerd pigeon”: perhaps Aardens main breeding hen, of Delbar / Deguffroy origin.In fact the Delbar’s played a prominent part in the Aarden’s origins for some of the early breeders carried the blood of this strain.

During research for this article I encountered material suggesting Aarden was the builder but deWeerd was the architect of the strain. Whatever the merits of the suggestion there is no doubt that Jan Aarden was a master of stockmanship. Visiting good lofts and obtaining the best upon which to build. Like all great creators however he knew that genius can involve the experience of others. By the end of 1930 the base in the breeders of Jan Aarden was the blood of “Ost-Roe” alongside stock from Henrey Rey and a super hen from Leo De Cock. The “Ost- Roe” bloodlines belonged to Jules Roeckaert- the former title he used for sometime.

Here I relate to the colour of reds in the Aardens which raises some eyebrows to the extent that there is disbelief that red is a colour truly representative of the strain. Research however confirms that reds were at the basis of the strain through the stock of Rey and Roeckaert. The most prominent of the former’s loft was “Ouden Vassart”- a red which Rey purchased at the auction of Pauwels from the Sas of Gent. From Roeckaert Aarden bought for stock a light checker “Belske”, whose father was “Leon” a red cock from Leon Van der Saude.

Perhaps this may lay to rest the suspicion surrounding the Aardens of red or mealy plumage.

With his natural talent and genealogical knowledge coupled with an emphasis on in breeding Aarden used the stock obtained from Roeckaert, Rey,and others to build and experiment.

Initially, he paired the “Blaue Ost-Roe” to the “Oude Rey duivin “ which showed the spark of genius for he had immediate success with this pairing. Their famous product was the great “Fietsvlieger” who as well as a winner on the road bred some outstanding birds. Mated to “Dikke Blauwe” his outstanding nestmate he bred the “Schone Blauwe” - a pigeon who excelled at winning first prizes at racing.

When pairing the “Reydoffer” with “Belske” Aarden produced another great pigeon in “46”- who won many races. A full sister of the “46” namely “Orleanske” won from Orleans three years in a row.

From the pairing of “Vetkonk” from De Cock with the “Fietsvlieger” Aarden bred ”De Verkeeroe Duivin”- one of the best racing hens in his loft if not in Holland. The “Dikke Blauwe” was also mated to Roeckaert’s “Duveltje” and produced the “Mooike” - another good representative of the strain.

The above where in the main Aarden’s basic couples and indeed “Mooike”, “Dikke Blauwe”, “Schone Blauwe”, and the “Verkeerde Duivin” won prizes from a very tough race from St. Vincent.

From this and other results Jan Aarden realised that he owned pigeons of excellent quality. The beginning as someone wrote : ”of a nice never ending story”.

The success of the developing Aarden strain caught the attentions of Jan’s fellow fanciers in Steenbergen and many were purchased resulting in the area becoming the hot bed of long distance racing in Holland.
This also contributed to the evolution of the strain.

A few of the latter around the period after the Second World War until 1960 included Toon and Piet Ligtenberg whose famous hen “Oude Witpen” when coupled with another Aarden were the parents of two of the most famous representatives of the strain. The famous number ‘10’ of Ligtenberg and the fabulous "Oud Doffertje" of van der Wegen. The latter being the foundation of the van der Wegen strain while number ‘10’ became the father of the famous "Dolle"of Marijn van Geel- the origin of the van Geels.

Alongside other Steenbergen fanciers who set the sport alight with Aarden stock where Toon Toffelen, Jan van der Par, Jan de Weert, and van Agtmaal. The latter being credited in some quarters with being a better racer of the Aarden’s than the great master, himself.

Another important input to the Aarden’s was the great Jan Cools. A good friend of Aarden’s, Cools owned some good pigeons of the strain and they shared breeders with each other. Resulting in the production of top class performers.

As the strain developed it dominated the races from Dax, St.Vincent, Bergerac, and Barcelona, among others. Taking Europe by storm and extending beyond to become a truly world wide family. Piet de Weerd helped in this context by buying good representatives of the strain and selling them off to others.

Another important contributor to the success of the Aarden dynasty was Piet Lazeroms from Zegge (within the last four decades). This Aarden specialist bought out top lofts of Aardens and through this he owned the best of the strain. In turn Lazeroms was used as the main source of the Aardens by the best fanciers in Europe and
elsewhere. For example, Van Peperstraten and de Heyde. The latter built his loft on his famous “Klapper” which he had got from Lazeroms. There’s also the exploits of Van Zelderen who won five nationals with Aardens.

Recent examples is Theo Ernest whose Barcelona successes are based upon the Aardens. Also the Brugemann Brothers whose famous loft is foundered upon another Aarden source - Hein and Hub Oostenrijk.

The exploits of Jac Steketee of Bruinisse should not be overlooked for he formed one of the top Aarden studs of the ninteen ninetees. His Golden Breeder “788” is considered one of the best of the Aarden dynasty. As is the highly thought of “60” of another Aarden ace, Cees de Jong. Then there is the world known breeders of Jan Polder and Piet de Vogel, of today.

It would appear to be the case that the few mentioned adherents of the Aarden strain were fired by the master in their pursuit of excellence. I say a few for there are many, many more who could have been named who in their own way as breeders or racers contributed to the development of the strain.

In the countries of Britain (England,Scotland,Wales,) and of Ireland the Aarden’s are making their mark increasingly in National, Derby, and Classic races. A noticeable trend in recent years. Although representatives of the strain has come to the top in earlier decades.

There is also a body of astute fanciers who advocate patience with the strain and advise that it be crossed with the Delbars, Stichelbauts, and the Janssens. Whether the latter will be welcomed by the purists is questionable but patience appears to be required for it has been the experience of many that Aardens are late developers.

To conclude, what better memorial to Jan Aarden at the beginning of the twenty first century: to ensure that the strain he moulded will continue to overcome distances, mountains, seas, and other obstacles on the way to nest or perch.
Thus all the Aardenists today will continue the work of the master from Oosterhout and Steenbergen. ........................................................................................................................................................
No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without written permission from

Because of illness The Aarden Auction will start the 15th of january! To give you some reading pleasure, here again the TopPigeon article about Jan Aarden. The Dutch overnight long distance pigeons are the best in the world! Decades of selection and specialization did the job! The pigeons of Jan Aarden played an important role in the development of these almost unbeatable Marathon pigeons. In the next weeks a well known dutch long distance champ will tell you everything about the details! A must for every topfancier in the world! Altough the race results of Jan Aarden were good, they were of not of toplevel! A few good results but no consistency in the results. Jan Aarden was a real gentleman. He runned together with his wife the Aarden Hotel in Steenbergen. He also had a job as bookkeeper. The Aarden Hotel still exists and every year a lot of pigeon fanciers from the whole world visits this place with historic value! The main question is: where did the famous long distance pigeons of Jan Aarden come from? The answer is clear and simple. Piet de Weerd brought him the best material of the world of that moment and adviced him where to buy pigeons! Jan Aarden had the patience and skills to build with these pigeons his famous breeding loft! Racing is silver, breeding is gold! Pigeons of Oomens (Delbar-Deguffroy), Delbar (oa via Dusarduijn and Wagemaker) , Stichelbaut and Meesters (from Zesentachtig maal het Zilvervosje) and later on Burgemeester Boels, were the main source. Why became the name of Aarden so famous, even more than 50 years after the top-period of his own loft? The reason is simple. A bit of PR and a dozen of topfanciers in the neighbourhood of Steenbergen were extremely succesfull with the Aarden pigeons and a few built up their own Aarden based strain. The quality and successes of these pigeons were distributed like a “ snowball” through the country. It were especially a few golden couples that made Jan Aarden famous. Here they follow. They were extremely important for the successes that had to come and for the further Story. ***** (A) ***** the “Goei Koppel”: Donkere Wagemaker (Delbar via Stok) * “de Oomens duivin” (the main breeding hen also named “de Piet de Weerd duivin”; (Delbar * Deguffroy) ***** (B) ***** “Donkere Wagemaker” (and when he was died the “Geleende Wagemaker”) * “de Kromme” (a direct Staf Dusarduijn = Delbar)” *****(C) ***** “Geschelpte Koppel” alias the “Oud Koppel” : Late Meesters (from “Zesentachtig” maal “Zilvervosje”) maal “Den Late Geschelpte” , a daughter of (A) “het Goei Koppel”. ***** (D) ***** “Late Meesters” maal de “Oude Bonte” (from Donkere Wagemaker * Elfpennertje) From couple (C) came the absolute toppigeons and the pigeons with the best inheritance and breeding power like the “37”, “38”, “49”, de Diepe Mees ……. The “37” paired with the “Donkere Delbar” was, altough this is a very personal observation, the best long distance couple ever! The “49” formed with the “Kleine Cools” also a famous couple. With these mainly Delbar based pigeons the rules of long distance overnight racing were changed!! These pigeons dominated these races for more then 50 years. An absolute record in the history of Pigeon racing. Selection at the 1000 km races and specialisation were they key words that created this success. The inheritance and breeding power of the Aardens did the rest. Soon more about the successors of Aarden. Fanciers that made these pigeons and the name of Jan aarden famous around the world! A few fanciers were very important for the success and fame of the Jan Aarden pigeons. They succeeded with children, grandchildren of the famous breeding couples of Jan Aarden himself! The first generation (1950 –1960) were almost all fanciers from Steenbergen and good friends of Aarden. We introduce: ***** Toon & Piet Ligtenberg. They bought from Aarden their famous “Oude Witpen” and “the Bontje Aarden”. This hen was coupled with an 100% Aarden (from Geertse) and they became the parents of two of the most famous Aardens ever: the worldfamous “10” (56-472110) of Ligtenberg and the famous “Oud Doffertje” of van der Wegen (58-341753) !!!! The stock pigeon and origin of the worldfamous van der Wegen strain! A sun of the “10” became the father of the famous “Dolle” of Marijn & Martha van Geel and was at the origin of this strain world class pigeons! In a total sale the van Geel strain was sold for a fortune! Speaking about inheritance! ***** Friend of the house and "soigneur" at the Aarden loft Toon Stoffelen became famous by the “Oude Witpen”, a son of the old couple. He was the father of two miracle hens: “Mooike” and “Kleintje” and a few others. These hens dominated the National races for a while! All the pigeons of Stoffelen were sold by Piet Lazeroms. ***** Jan van der Par bought a son from “37” x “Donkere Delbar” and breeded from this cock the famous “01”. According to Steven van Breemen in his beautiful and interesting book, one of the best Aarden breeders and racers ever. Also the same ending of this strain, sold to Piet Lazeroms! ***** Chiel van Agtmaal, probably the best racer ever from Steenbergen, bought from “het geschelpte koppel” the “Oude Aarden”. The cock of the famous “Oud Koppel”. This couple from Chiel and his son Henk became the parents of a dozen of cracks and worldclass breeders. The most famous were two superhens: the “500” duivin (61-141500) and the “Donkere Dax”; the stock hen of Janus van der Wegen!! The “500”, according to Piet de Weerd with the “10” of Ligtenberg the best Aardens ever, was the grandmother of “ De Dolle” of Marijn van Geel. At the loft of van der Wegen, the ”Donkere Dax” was coupled with “ het Oud Doffertje” and they became the parents of supercracks, fe “de Lamme” and the “1e National Dax”! At the same race under heavy conditions Stoffelen won 2, 5 en 17 National with exactly the same pigeons! From the “500” coupled with “ de Oude Stoffelen” came a miracle on wings, the worldfamous “26” van Agtmaal. Sold with all the other van Agtmaal pigeons to Piet Lazeroms. The “26” won 4th, 6th, 16th,44t, 74th Nat Dax, 13th, 17th National St.Vincent and still 5-other prices on the long distance overnight races! Seldom, a better racer was born! ***** Jan de Weert also became youngsters from the “de 37” * " de Donkere Delbar" and his Old Aarden cock would be the father of the “76” and the worldfamous“131”. A race and breeding miracle of the same quality as the "10" and the "500"! Her son became the cock of the miracle couple of Braakhuis! These man from Limburg made history with children and grandchildren of this couple; "de Zwarte Moordenaars". ***** Not from Steenbergen came the underestimated Jan Cools from. This "baker" was from a small village in the neighbourhood called Nieuw Vossemeer. He was a good friend of Jan Aarden and played an important role in the development of the Aarden strain. He was owner of his famous “Oude aarden koppel” and of supercracks like the "Carwinner" and the "Barcelona". Aarden en Cools breeded together with their best pigeons (’56) and both lofts came as a result of this, at a very high quality level! In the best long distance strains of the moment (about 40-50 years later) the Cools/Aarden lines plays a keyrole!!! More info about this topic will be given later on! Main reason is that these pigeons have never been commercialised and also important was the fact that Cools was a very gifted and talented breeder! ***** Not from Brabant but from the islands of South Holland, more specific from Goeree Overflakkee, came the big champions of the NABvP "de Gebr,Vroegindeweij" and "Ko Nipius". From the pigeon village of the sixties Middelharnis. “Ko Nipius" was together with his remarkable “soigneur” Joep van Dongen unbeatable till 700 KM, but at the heavy overnight races they couldn't win a single price with their expensive Belgian pigeons! Untill Nipius buyed the Aarden pigeons, not a single pigeons, but complete baskets! With 4 children of the famous : "Geschelpte Koppel" it had to succeed! And so it did! With children of this Aardens they also became the dutch champions on the overnight races. From Puttershoek (Hoekse Waard) came the legendary "Baker Barendregt". He also made an important contribution in the development of the famous dutch marathon pigeon. His stock pigeons came also from "Meesters" (86 * Zilvervosje) A strain that also played a key rol in the Aarden and Cools strain. Also the Vroegindeweij Bross, who had the main Aarden stock pigeons a period at their loft, were important for the further development of and the success of the Aarden pigeons! The success story of the Aardens was not at the end around 1970. It was just the beginning. The heavy St.Vincent, Dax and Bergerac (fe 74, 75, 81, 83 etc.) editions were dominated by the Aardens. A lot of this toppigeons were bought by Piet de Weerd and often sold after a few years to other topfanciers around the whole world! In this part of the Aarden story we will made the connection between the 60’s and the 90’s and introduce a selection of fanciers that were important in this period ***** We start with Piet Lazeroms from Zegge. He bought complete Aarden lofts: van der Par, Ligtenberg, van Agtmaal, Stoffelen. It didn’t matter for him. Buying the total loft means that he had also the best pigeons! He collected, adviced by Piet de Weerd, a Golden Aarden colection, de “10”, “de “26”, de “500” etc. were at his lofts. It is very clear that he owned one of the best Long Distance breeding collections ever! Many topfanciers made use of this Lazeroms collection. Gebr. Van Zelderen (at least 5 times the 1st prize in a National race), Jacobs, Van Peperstraten and dozens of other fanciers became famous with these pigeons. Cor de Heyde got from Lazeroms his famous Klamper and built up with these pigeons (closely related to the “500”) a fantastic loft. Still at the top, 50 years after the start of the Aarden history. Unique in pigeon racing! Another recent example was Theo Ernest. His Barcelona success was based on the famous Aardens from the Groot and ... the van “Zelderen cock”! Piet Lazeroms enjoyed the good things of life and because of serious health problems he decided to sell almost all his pigeons! He was the one of the main Aarden-breeders and very important for the fame of the Dutch Marathon pigeon! ***** In Brabant from the village Heiningen (10 km from Steenbergen) came Hein & Hub Oostenrijk. They had a fantastic Aarden loft based on the Nipius pigeons. Modern long distance champs like Gebr.Bruggeman, Leo Kouters based their lofts on this Oostenrijk pigeons. The famous breeding hen from Vertelman came from Leo Kouters! ***** It were Ligtenberg and van Agtmaal where a certain Janus van der Wegen bought his main stock pigeons. With the “Oud Doffertje”, the “Dax” duivin he built up an unbeatable long distance strain. After his death his sons Anton and Jac build up their own lofts. Also with Ligtenberg pigeons the ex-partner of Jan Cools Marijn van Geel built up a fantastic Aarden collection. The top cocks were “de Dolle” and “de Lange” . In their pedigree a lot of Ligtenberg and also the “500” van Agtmaal! His wife, Martha van Geel made these pigeons famous world wide! The total auction was a success. In terms of money but again a famous Aarden collection ended. ***** In cross breeding with the famous racing hens “Blauwtje” and “Vaaltje” of the fancier “de Ron” , de Groot from Steenbergen built up a famous Aarden collection. With the same pigeons also the van Giels bross from Steenbergen gained fantastic results. It was the glory period of Steenbergen. When elsewhere in the country only a few pigeons were arrived, in Steenbergen the race was over! ***** Some other examples of the sucesss of the “Jan Aarden fanciers” are Frans van Peperstraten from Oude Tonge and Jac Steketee from Bruinisse. In the early 80’s the star of the house-painter Frans van Peperstraten rose very fast! Living in the “Aarden region” he didn’t have to travel far to become the excellent Aarden blood. In Middelharnis (Vroegindeweij, van der Slik and van Eck) he bough his stock pigeons. He became the Aardens from the 3-top collections/lines of that moment: Lazeroms, van Geel via Vroegindeweij Bross and van der Wegen via van Es. He mixted them with the also Aarden based pigeons of Cock van Eck and Pieter Jelles van der Slik (with the “Sterke Barcelona” the winner of the Barcelona race, in ’99 the international Barcelona race was won by a grandchild of him!) Tough selection and a very strong breeding loft (with the best inbred racers) put him in a few years at the top of the long distance. The “Barcelona”, the “Marathon” (best dutch marathon pigeon of 1981), the famous “03” and two superiour breeding couples made him famous. The “03” was with the 9th, 13th National Barcelona, the 27th, the 44th International Barcelona the 22th, 27tt National Munchen, the 27th National Dax and a lot of other prices one of the best long distance pigeons ever. The loft Van Peperstraten was very all-round and won the 2nd, 5th and the 14th price overall in the dutch championship! After a stop of several years, Frans is again succesfull. He crossed his own Sloper-03 strain with the Aarden-Cools pigeons of his friend Piet de Vogel, marathon champ 2001 of the prestigious “FBZ” long distance club, and was in 2001 several times at the top of list from races as St.Vincent and Pau. ***** Another success-story is that of Jac Steketee of Bruinisse. He started with the Jan Cools pigeons, mixed them with the best van Wanroys (also 50% Aarden based) bought by the international Barcelona winner Hendriks Twello. With a lot of knowledge, he built up own of the best Aarden based strains of the 90’s. The children of the famous “Stamvader”, de “Pau duivin”, de Marseille, de Perpignan, de Bergerac, de Stayer were very succesful around the whole world! ***** Key, in this story, is the fact that based on the same kind of pigeons, a new type of pigeon was developed. Especially selected for and succsfull in the long distance overnight races (800-1300 Km). To speak about the Aarden strain is not completely right. Because of the diversity it is better to speak about the Dutch marathon pigeon. A kind of pigeon, because of the tough selection and inbred, extremely suited for breeding a new generation of toppigeons for the long distance! Will be continued! Magic results and superiority in the marathon races. The continuing story of the Aardens! The overnight races in the years ’70-’80-’90 and also nowadays were dominated by the Aarden based pigeons. “As strong as horses and never tired”. Like the old Delbar! and Bricoux pigeons at their best with very heavy (warm and headwind) conditions. Just as precise as a Switch Watch! ***** Some examples: the Barcelona classic was fe won by Kuypers, Torreman, Walpot, vd Slik, Van Noordenne, Coenen, Houtekamer, vd Wegen, Willegers, Brok with Aarden pigeons. In ’75 the St.Vincent classic was a disaster (the race was open for 8 days). The Aarden dominance was extreme: 1st price Van Rijsdijk Aarden via Stoffelen, 2nd price Schouw Aarden via Lazeroms, 3rd van Geel Aarden via Lazeroms, 4th V Eeden Aarden via Lazeroms, 5th Oostenrijk via Barendregt Schouters/Meesters. The same story could be written about dozens of these races: St.Vincent ’81, Barcelona ’99 with at the first 8 prices Aardens. A tribute for these special pigeons! ***** Magic couples: superbirds and magic couples are a pleasure to write about. Famous was the Golden Couple of Jan Tepas from Ulft. 2 sisters born from this couple (Dafje & Kleintje) won a marathon race at the national level under extreme conditions with more than an hour ahead for the second arrival! The Golden Breeder 788 of Steketee was also magic. Cees de Jong had his Golden Breeder the 60. Gebr.Kuypers from Neer dominated Barcelona for years with their Aarden based pigeons. The Dolle van Geel, the Lamme vd Wegen, de 131 de Weert, de 26 van Agtmaal, de 03 van Peperstraten are dead, but nowadays there are a still a lot of other Aarden Supercracks like the Stayer from Steketee,the superhen de Witstaart of Polder, the Monty Boy & Ullrich of Piet de Vogel, the 45 & the Dries of Cees de Jong, the Pyreneer of G.van Tilburg, the Orhan, Myra of the Brugemann Bross are examples of topbirds nowadays. ***** Selection and specialization did the work in the Netherlands. There is no place in the world where you have 10-15 opportunities to race from more than 900 Km in one year! A lot of topfanciers specialised and because of the extreme distances (more than 100-200 km longer than fe the Belgian fanciers) the dutch fanciers have the unique opportunity to make a very good selection of birds. Another important factor is the playing system. The dutch long distance fanciers also raced with hens and in this way not only know the quality of their cocks but also of the hens. Very imprtant to improve your loft and to select breeding couples. Most of the Belgian, German topfanciers at long distance understand this and buyed the Dutch overnight marathon pigeons with extreme success. Fe Peeters, Thone, Desmet Matthijs, Dons, Hermes, Kipp, Morsnowski etc. etc. succeeded with these pigeons. People like Piet & Henk de Weerd, Hans Eyerkamp promoted and exported these toppigeons. ***** How further was the next question? Inbred or cross breeding with these pigeons. What is the best breeding strategy. Some like a little bit of cross breeding W Muller and with him Houtekamer and the new champion with these pigeons Dominicus take this road. Also Anton vd Wegen. Batenburg vd Merwe is an example of a fancier taht used excellent middle distance birds to make his Witbuik pigeons faster. Others used Aarden pigeons from different origin. A good example is Piet de Vogel Marathonchamp FBZ 2001, in a short period very succesfull with Aarden pigeons from different origin (with some cross breeding with only the best!). A lot of topfanciers in the South West did the same: Jan Polder, Toon Schults, AP Overwater. Cees de Jong and his friend van Tilburg do it with van der Wegens. What to think about the Klamper (= Lazeroms) imperium of Cor de Heijde, the Cools loft of Steketee. What is the best road? Nobody knows. Only the results matter! “Try to read between the sentences”, Frans van Peperstraten always says. Breeding, breeding, selecting, selecting is a must! The best will be at the top of the list! We are proud to bring you, topfanciers from the world, the best Aarden blood there is. From topfanciers and proven pigeons. We made a special selection and can strongly recommend these pigeons. Success and a lot of fun with the auction! ***** [ back ]   Frans van Peperstraten A.P.Overwater First Prize Pigeons Int. Pyreneeen Breeding Loft Supercup

 

Op bezoek bij Toon Ligtenberg te Steenbergen

v.l.n.r: Raymond Moleveld, Toon Ligtenberg en Sam de Jong

Foto: Mevr. van Meer, Steenbergen.

In het najaar van 1990 kwam Raymond in contact met Sam de Jong uit Heemskerk. Tijdens de feestavond van de Fondclub Noord-Holland maakte Raymond met Sam een afspraak dat hij in 1991 enkele eieren kon kopen.
In totaal kocht Raymond in het voorjaar van 1991 3 koppels eieren waarvan 4 eieren uitkwamen. Voor de 2 eieren welke niet waren uitgekomen kreeg Raymond uiteraard 2 andere.

Omdat Sam had gezegd dat Raymond eerst maar eens met de jongen moest gaan vliegen alvorens er uit te gaan kweken werd dit advies opgevolgd.
Toen er echter 2 jongen door onder andere de roofvogel van het hok verspeeld waren besloot Raymond de overgebleven 2 duiven toch op het kweekhok te zetten. Deze daad heeft Raymond absoluut geen windeieren gelegd. Omdat het een doffer en een duivin bleken te zijn werden deze duiven aan elkaar gekoppeld en dit koppel heeft een grote stempel gedrukt op het hok duiven van Raymond zoals dat nu bestaat.

Zowel kinderen als kleinkinderen presteren zeer goed op de verre vluchten. Gezien de prestaties die Sam zelf met zijn duiven levert en ook de prestaties welke Nico Volkens uit Bergen (NH) neerzet met duiven van Sam de Jong moest ook Raymond kunnen slagen met deze duiven maar het moest eerst nog wel gedaan worden.

Na de eieren in 1991 kwamen er regelmatig jongen vanuit Heemskerk naar Vreeland. Tot nu toe hebben er zeker 20 rechtstreekse duiven van “De Tovenaar van Heemskerk” op de hokken in Vreeland gezeten. Naast de duiven van Sam de Jong is Raymond altijd op zoek geweest naar duiven die paste bij de duiven van Sam. Op diverse verkopingen was Raymond present om te kijken of er wat speciaals te bemachtigen was voor zijn kweekhok. Criteria hierbij was dat de eventuele aankopen zo dicht mogelijk af moesten stammen van echt goede bewezen kweekduiven.

Dit resulteerde de laatste jaren in enkele zeer gerichte aankopen. Zo heeft Raymond onder andere op z’n kweekhok gehad:

De NL 82 – 604397 een rode doffer welke in 1986 een 3e nationaal Bergerac won tegen 38417 duiven.
Uit een dochter van deze doffer kweekte Raymond de moeder van "Jacqueline"

De NL 88 – 2024957 een duivin welke gekocht werd op de verkoop van Jopie Sprenkels uit Lepelstraat en wat een kleindochter was van het zeer bekende “04-tje” van Sprenkels. Dit "04-tje" is tevens de grootmoeder van "De Klamper" van Cor de Heijde uit Made en een belangrijke stamduif van Gebr. Kuijpers uit Neer.
"De 57 duivin" is zowel via vaderskant als moederskant de grootmoeder van "Blauwe Bertus" de 1ste Nat. St. Vincent 2003 Sector 3 tegen 9512 duiven.
Ze is tevens de grootmoeder van "Shady" 17e Nat.Mont de Marsan '02 en 207e Nat. Mont de Marsan '01.

Ook de NL 90 – 2109699 "Hanneke" heeft in het kweekhok in Vreeland gezeten. Deze duivin was een kleindochter van zowel “de Dolle” als van de “03 van Lazeroms".


De doffer NL 91 – 1292080 "Taaie 80" werd ook gekocht om het hokbestand te versterken. Deze doffer is ook een kleinzoon van de “03 van Lazeroms”.


Op een verkoop van Nico de Heus werd de NL 92 – 49079 aangeschaft wat een ingeteelde duivin was naar de “Schift v/d Wegen”.
Deze duivin is de grootmoeder van "De Brive" 1e prijs Brive afdeling 7 in 2002 tegen 7707 duiven.


Al deze duiven hebben in samenkweek met de al aanwezige duiven van hoofdzakelijk Sam de Jong een belangrijke stempel gedrukt op het hok van Raymond Moleveld.

Er zijn echter nog 2 duiven die van ontschatbare waarde zijn gebleken.

Dit zijn de NL 94 – 1568489 "Yvette" een vale duivin welke gekocht werd op de verkoop van kweekcentrum Interpalomas, het kweekhok van Piet en Henk de Weerd. Deze duivin is een dochter van de “Browning” wat weer een zoon is van “de Oude Kruk” x “Argentina”. De moeder van de vale 489 is “Artemis”, deze duivin komt uit het “Toeboschkoppel” wat bestaat uit doffer “Bartali” en duivin “Mathilde”.

Naast deze duivin, waarvan ook nog een volle broer op het kweekhok zit, is er nog de geweldige kweekdoffer de NL 89 – 8980994. Deze doffer komt in bijna alle vliegduiven van Raymond terug.
De 89-994 “De Ligtenberg” komt rechtstreeks van Antoon Ligtenberg uit Steenbergen.
Op zijn totale verkoop in 1994 wist Raymond deze geweldige doffer te kopen en hij heeft hier nog nooit 1 seconde spijt van gehad.
Zo wonnen kleinzonen in 2002 de 1e prijs Brive N.P.O. 831 km van de afdeling 7 tegen 7707 duiven en in 2003 de 1ste prijs Nationaal St. Vincent Sector 3 tegen 9512 duiven.
Ook de eerste 2 duiven van Barcelona 2002 waren kleinkinderen van “De Ligtenberg”.
Deze duiven wonnen de prijzen 64 en 67 nationaal tegen 8713 duiven.

Ook voor de toekomst heeft Raymond in 2002 nog wat aangeschaft om zijn toch al imposante collectie kweekduiven aan te vullen.
Zo kocht hij bij Martien van Meer uit Steenbergen een duivinnetje speciaal om te koppelen aan de NL 89-8980994.
Deze duivin stamt aan vaderszijde af van het soort van Antoon Ligtenberg en van moederzijde van het “Slapertje” van v/d Elzakker.

Daarnaast kwamen er van de Gebr. Vonk uit Nigtevecht 4 koppels kweekduiven.
Deze 2 broers zijn gestopt met de duivensport, Cor stopte in 2000 en John besloot in 2002 de duivensport vaarwel te zeggen.
Door de goede vriendschap mocht Raymond bij John uitzoeken wat hij hebben wilde.
Zodoende kwamen er 8 duiven welke voornamelijk afstammen van Sam de Jong want ook in Nigtevecht wisten ze waar ze aan goede duiven konden komen.
Een duivin van dit achttal is de NL 93-2860432 "Nicole" een dochter van het “Bonte Koppel” van Nico Volkens. Kortom weer een prima aanvulling voor het kweekhok.

Als uitsmijter kocht Raymond in november 2002 op de verkoop van Nico de Heus een zoon uit de “Oude Kruk” de stamdoffer van Kweekcentrum Interpalomas te Breda.
Dat Raymond een zoon van deze “Oude Kruk” op zijn hok heeft is natuurlijk nauwelijks te omschrijven.
Zoveel kweekduiven van zoveel ongekende kwaliteit dat moet zich op de vluchten natuurlijk uit gaan betalen.

Na het succes van "De Brive" op Brive en "Blauwe Bertus" op Nat.St.Vincent was wederom bewezen wat voor fantastische nakweek
"De Ligtenberg" en de duiven van Sam de Jong hebben.
Om deze bewezen kweeklijn nog meer uit te bouwen kocht Raymond in 2004 bij Willy Looymans uit Lierop 2 zeer goede kweekduivinnen.
De NL 96-9694000 komt uit "De van Zelderen" van Theo Ernest en heeft in de stamboom zeer goede kweekduiven van Antoon Ligtenberg zitten.
Ze is een volle zuster van "De Miguel" welke een 2e Nat. Barcelona vloog in 1995.
De NL 96-9694008 komt ook uit duiven van Theo Ernest en wel uit "De Miguel" 2e Nat. Barcelona x een dochter van de 1e Nat. Tarbes van Theo Ernest.

Wederom 2 zeer gerichte aankopen waarmee geprobeerd gaat worden de oude lijnen van Toon Ligtenberg nog meer terug te kweken.

Op bezoek bij Piet Lazeroms te Zegge
v.l.n.r: Piet Lazeroms, Toon Ligtenberg en Raymond Moleveld

 

 

 

 

De Jan Aarden Story! Hoewel er veel andere verhalen de ronde deden waren de prestaties van Jan Aarden niet echt uitzonderlijk! Een paar goede uitslagen, maar geen constant presteren en zeker geen “paternosters” van uitslagen! Jan Aarden was een echte heer, Hij exploiteerde in Steenbergen samen met zijn vrouw een hotel genaamd hotel Aarden. Daarnaast was hij werkzaam als administrateur op de Suikerfabriek. Hotel Aarden bestaat nu nog en gaat hoewel het al weer bijna 50 jaar geleden is, nog regelmatig op de foto van de vele bezoekers uit de gehele wereld. Hoe kwam Jan Aarden aan die goede duiven? Het antwoord is simpel, dankzij Piet de Weerd en zijn eigen vasthoudendheid als kweker. Spelen is zilver, kweken is goud! Topfondduiven van Belgische en Nederlandse origine werden door Piet de Weerd aangevoerd. Oomens (Delbar-Deguffroy), Delbar (oa via Dusarduijn en Wagemaker) , Stichelbaut en Meesters (uit Zesentachtig maal het Zilvervosje) en later Burgemeester Boels stonden aan de basis van de Jan Aarden duiven. Hoewel Jan Aarden zoals eerder gezegd nauwelijks topuitslagen maakte, werd zijn roem en die van zijn duiven onsterfelijk. Hoe kwam dit? Naast een geslaagde Public Relations rondom deze duiven kwam dit door het simpele feit dat een aantal topliefhebbers in en rond het prachtige West Brabantse dorpje Steenbergen die dit geweldige “genenpakket” in handen kregen, er geweldig mee uit zouden pakken op de zware Marathonvluchten. En er ieder voor zich sterk verervende duivenstammen mee zouden vormen! De roem van het west-brabantse Steenbergen op de zware fond was hiermee gemaakt. Er ontstond als het ware een “sneeuwbaleffect” van topkwaliteit! Met name de afstammelingen van een paar beroemde Jan Aarden basiskoppels zouden het mooie weer maken. Deze duiven zouden de naam van Jan Aarden onsterfelijk maken. Op met name deze duiven zou de verdere uitbouw worden gebaseerd! We stellen ze aan u voor: *****(A)***** het “Goei Koppel”: Donkere Wagemaker (Delbar via Stok) * de Oomens duivin (de absolute stamduivin ook wel de Piet de Weerd duvin genoemd; soort Delbar * Deguffroy) ***** (B) ***** “Donkere Wagemaker” (en later de “Geleende Wagemaker”) maal de Kromme (een rechtstreekse Staf Dusarduijn)” ***** (C) ***** “Geschelpte Koppel” of te wel het Oud Koppel : Late Meesters (uit “Zesentachtig” maal “Zilvervosje”) maal “Den Late Geschelpte” , een dochter van het Goei Koppel. ***** (D) ***** “Late Meesters” maal de “Oude Bonte” (uit Donkere Wagemaker * Elfpennertje) Hieruit kwamen een aantal absolute toppers en de best verervende Aarden duiven allertijden zoals de “37”, “38”, “49”, de Diepe Mees ……. Op de nakweek van deze duiven stond geen maat … Denk aan, hoewel dit zeer persoonlijk is, in mijn ogen het best verervende fondkoppel ooit: de “37” maal Donkere Delbar!. De “49” zou met “de Kleine Cools” een wereldberoemd koppel gaan vormen enzovoort! Met deze “vervolmaakte Delbars” zouden onze Belgische sportvrienden het op de latere Marathonvluchten zwaar te stellen krijgen. Selectie en Specialisatie zouden de “toverwoorden” zijn” voor het ontstaan van de Nederlandse Marathonduif! De opvolgers van Jan Aarden Een aantal liefhebbers zouden de roem en de glorie van het Jan “Aarden Ras” groot maken , voornamelijk met afstammelingen van de eerder genoemde topkweekkoppels. Een aantal van deze liefhebbers van het eerste uur (1950- 1960) waren: ***** Toon & Piet Ligtenberg die er hun fameuze Oude Witpen (H55-496613) en het Bontje Aarden haalden. Dit Bontje Aarden zou gekoppeld tegen een Aarden doffer van Frans Geertse, de wereldberoemde “10” (56-472110) van Ligtenberg en het fameuze “Oud Doffertje” van van der Wegen voortbrengen (58-341753) !!!! Stamvader van het wereldberoemde van der Wegen ras! Een zoon van die “10” zou vader worden van de Dolle van Marijn van Geel en aan de basis staan van dit wereldras! Over vererving gesproken! ***** Huisvriend (hokverzorger) Toon Stoffelen kreeg wereldroem door de “Oude Witpen” een zoon van het Oud Koppel. Hij werd vader van de wereld beroemde vliegwonders “Mooike” , “Kleintje”. Tezamen met zo’n andere wonderduivin “het Bontje”, zouden ze vele jaren de Nationals domineren. ***** Jan van der Par kocht er zijn Donker Doffertje (Uit “37” maal Donkere Delbar) en kweekte er zijn wereldberoemde “01” uit. ***** Chiel van Agtmaal haalde er zijn Oude Aarden (ook weer zo’n goudklomp uit het Geschelpte Koppel hoewel Piet de Weerd hierover een andere mening was toegedaan!) Hij formeerde er tezamen met zijn zoon Henk, zijn Oud Koppel mee. Ouders van een tiental cracks en van een tweetal superduivinnen: de Wereldberoemde “500” duivin (61-141500) en de Donkere Dax duivin. Uit de de “500” kwam oa de moeder van de “Dolle” van Marijn van Geel. Volgens "insiders" was deze "500" de best verervende Aarden ooit. De Donkere Dax was de stammoeder bij Janus van der Wegen!! Bij van der Wegen kwam hieruit, gekoppeld met het wereldberoemde Oude Doffertje, een aantal geweldige cracks waaronder “de Lamme” en de 1e Nationaal Dax! Op hetzelfde concours speelde Stoffelen 2, 5 en 17 Nationaal met precies hetzelfde soort! Uit de “500” maal de Oude Stoffelen kwam de wereldberoemde “26" die later door Piet Lazeroms werd gekocht. Even opletten, deze duivin won 4e, 6e, 16e,44e, 74e Nat Dax, 13e, 17e Nationaal St.Vincent en nog een 5-tal prijzen op de grote fond! Er hebben nooit veel betere gevlogen! ***** de molenaar Jan de Weert (evenals Stoffelen, Ligtenberg, van Agtmaal uit Steenbergen) kreeg ze ook uit de “37” maal de Donkere Delbar en deze Oude Aarden doffer zou de vader worden van de “76” en de wereldberoemde “131”. Ook zo’n vlieg- en kweekwonder. Een zoon van haar werd de Doffer van het wereldberoemde stamkoppel van Braakhuis. Deze Limburger zou met zijn Zwarte Moordenaars vele jaren schitteren! ***** "last but not least" de (in mijn ogen onderschatte) Jan Cools uit Nieuw Vossemeer, vriend van Jan Aarden, met zijn fameuze Oude Aarden koppel en de latere supercracks de “Autowinnaar” en de Barcelona. De samenkweek (’56) tussen Cools en Aarden leidde tot geweldige explosie van kwaliteit bij zowel de Cools als de Aarden duiven. In de hedendaagse topkolonies blijken de Cools/Aarden duiven een heel belangrijke rol te spelen. Daarover later meer! Waarschijnlijk heeft de commercie hier het minst toegeslagen en zijn uit deze duiven de beste hedendaagse Aardens gekweekt!? ***** Niet uit Brabant maar van de Zuid Hollandse Eilanden en dan specifiek Goeree Overlakkee kwamen de Gebr,Vroegindeweij en Ko Nipius . De grote kampioenen van de NABvP uit het duivendorp Middelharnis. “Ko Nipius was tezamen met zijn “soigneur” Joep van Dongen onklopbaar tot 700 KM maar op de overnachtfond konden ze met hun dure Belgische rassen geen platte prijs halen. Tot dat de Aardens in beeld kwamen. Met onder andere 4 kinderen uit dat fameuze Geschelpte Koppel kon het niet misgaan. Na inbreng van de Aardens waren ze op dat spelonderdeel onklopbaar! Uit Puttershoek kwam Bakker Barendregt. Hij zou ook een belangrijke bijdrage leveren bij de verdere ontwikkeling van de Ned.fondduif. Aan de basis ook weer die legendarisch Meesters duiven (86 * Zilvervosje), die zo belangrijk waren geweest in de ontwikkeling van de Aarden duif! Ook de Gebr.Vroegindeweij, die de belangrijkste stamduiven van Aarden een tijd op hun kooi hadden, zouden met hun Aardens wereldfaam verwerven! Hoe ging het verder? Ook in Brabant zelf ging het Aarden verhaal verder. ***** Piet Lazeroms uit Zegge kocht op advies van Piet de Weerd hele hokken tegelijk: van Agtmaal, van der Par, Stoffelen, Ligtenberg. Het maakte deze ondernemer/ijzervlechter uit Zegge niet uit. Zoals hij zelf was waren ook de Aardens, “taai als leer”. Ze geven nooit op! Hele hokken tegelijk, dan had hij in ieder geval ook de goede!! Hij was dan ook degene die de meeste Aardens onder het dak had en dus een echte “schatbewaarder” van dit ras. Velen zouden er mede van profiteren: Gebr.van Zelderen (zo,n 5x de 1ste nationaal), Jacobs, van Peperstraten etc etc. In de 90'er jaren zou ene Cor de Heijde uit Made er zijn hedendaagse Klamper-imperium mee formeren. Gekregen van Lazeroms en gekoppeld met Aardens via Piet de Weerd. Theo Ernest uit Halsteren zou op zijn beurt weer met een 100% van Zelderen (lees Lazeroms) zijn stam vormen en fantastische Barcelona successen vieren. Diefstal en een verkoop maakte een einde aan deze successtory. Piet Lazeroms was zelf trouwens teveel “bon vivant” om er alles uit te halen wat er in zat, anderen des te meer!! T'is maar waar de prioriteiten gelegd worden! ***** Uit Heiningen kwamen Hub en Hein Oostenrijk die zeer succesvol werden op de grote fond. Daar zouden de hedendaagse fondkampioenen Gebr. Brugemann uit Assendelft, maar ook de keihard vliegende Leo Kouters geweldig mee slagen. Waar haalde Vertelman zijn geweldige kweekduivin (helaas gestolen), juist ja … bij Leo Kouters. De Oostenrijken kochten de Aardens oa. bij Ko Nipius. ***** Via Ligtenberg kwam zoals genoemd een zekere Adrianus van der Wegen aan een duif die meer beschreven is dan welke duif ook; het wereldberoemde “Oud Doffertje”. Zijn vakmanschap en een succesvolle kruising met duiven van Gruiters zouden deze stam op wereldniveau brengen. De "Lamme", de "Barcelona" zouden daar in de Ravelijnstraat grote successen vieren. Net als goede wijn, des te ouder des te beter! Ook de ex-compagnon van Jan Cools ene Marijn van Geel uit Nieuw Vossemeer deed van zich spreken met het Aarden-Ligtenberg soort. Zijn vrouw Martha zou deze van Geel duiven wereldberoemd maken. De wereldberoemde doffers de "Dolle" en "Lange" hadden bijna niets anders dan Ligtenberg origine! ***** Aardens gekruist met de beroemde duivinnen "Blauwtje" en het "Vaaltje" van Daan de Ron haalden ook de Gebr.de Groot en nog later de Gebr.van Giels de voorpagina’s met hun bombardementen op de zware fond! Het is onmogelijk om al deze “liefhebbers” pur sang op te noemen. ***** Toch nog een paar voorbeelden. Frans van Peperstraten uit Oude Tonge in de begin tachtiger jaren als een komeet aan de top van de Ned.fondsport gekomen. Via keiharde selectie en een geweldig kweekhok bouwde hij in korte periode een geweldige Aarden stam op. Hij had ze van de drie grote Aarden-lijnen van dat moment: Lazeroms, van Geel en van der Wegen (de eerste twee lijnen via de Gebr.Vroegindeweij en de Van der Wegens via Bert van Es!!) en mixte deze met de Aardens van Pieter Jelles van der Slik en van Cock van Eck. Via een keiharde no-nonsense aanpak en nauwe inteelt naar zijn stamduiven, bouwde hij zijn beroemde Sloper-stam op. Duiven met 12-15 overnachtfondprijzen waren eerder regel dan uitzondering! Zijn Barcelona, de "03", de Marathon, de twee superkweekkoppels zouden allen wereldfaam krijgen etc. De "03" behoorde met oa. een 9e, 13e Nationaal Barcelona, een 23e Nationaal Dac maar ook een 22e en 27e Nationaal Munchen tot de beste fonduiven ooit. Frans zou oa 2e, 5e en 14e Nationaal Kampioen worden en met de Marathon de beste fondduif van Nederland in het loodzware seizon '81 bezitten! Zijn stam zou wereldwijd worden verspreid. In Nederland, Belgie, Japan, de VS, maar ook in Duitsland zouden er grote successen mee worden gevierd. Met zijn Oude sloper "03" soort en de Cools Aarden duiven van zijn vriend en marathonkampioen FBZ 2001, Piet de Vogel heeft hij weer een kolonie oersterke fondduiven onder de pannen! ***** Wat te denken van ene Jac.Steketee uit Bruinisse en later in zijn spoor vele kampioenen die met zijn soort duiven wonderen zouden verrichten. Hij zou de Aarden-Cools duiven veredelen en kruisen met de beste van Wanroys via bankdirecteur Hendriks uit Twello. Eigenlijk waren deze laatste via de legendarische "Spin" van origine ook grotendeels Aarden duiven! Deze Steketee-Cools tak zou veel furore maken. Waarschijnlijk ook vanwege de nuchterheid van deze Zeeuw en het feit dat de van der Wegens, de van Geels en de Lazeroms duiven via de vele PR campagnes veel commercie aan zouden trekken. De laatste twee collecties zouden in een met veel publiciteit omklede aangekondige Totale Verkoop komen! Deze werden een groot succes, maar de stam viel uiteen! In de luwte werkte Jac Steketee ondertussen aan zijn Cools stam, wars van de vele commercie. Evenals Ceasar geldt ook voor hem: hij kwam, zag en overwon! ***** En zo zouden we nog vele bladzijden kunnen vullen! Het resultaat van deze Aarden explosie zou verbijsterend zijn! Hoewel de papieren stambomen geduldig waren (er zullen ongetwijfeld ook vele onwaarheden op papier zijn gekomen) is de kern van de zaak dat er in in de Zuidwesthoek van Nederland een specifiek “soort” duiven ontstond voor de zware overnachtfondvluchten! “Uitgemendeld” voor de zware overnachtvluchten. Specialisatie, uitgekiende kweekmethoden en keiharde selectie op de 1000 Km vluchten zouden hun werk doen. Hoewel we in de genenpakketten van deze duiven (op basis van modern onderzoek) veel duiven zouden tegenkomen die bij Jan Aarden op het hok gezeten hebben, is het onjuist te spreken over het Jan Aarden ras!. Gezien de brede variatie is het eigenlijk veel beter te spreken over het Hollandse Marathontype! De overnachtfondvluchten in de jaren ’70-’80 en ‘90 en verder werden gedomineerd door deze duiven. “Duiven die zo taai waren als leer”. Spelenderwijs domineerden ze de 1000 Km vluchten! Evenals de aloude Delbar en Bricoux duiven in hun element bij kopwind en .. tropische temperaturen en zo regelmatig als een Zwitsers uurwerk. ***** Zomaar een aantal voorbeelden uit de jaren. We starten met de klassieker der klassiekers Barcelona. Aarden-overwinningen voor van Noordenne, Kuipers, Torreman, Walpot, Simons, Coenen, vd Wegen, Willegers, Brok, vd Slik, Houtekamer etc etc. Klassiek blijft ook die St.Vincent van ’75 (het concours stond 8 dagen open) : 1e Van Rijsdijk Aarden via Stoffelen, 2e Schouw Aarden via Lazeroms, 3e van Geel Aarden via Lazeroms, 4e V Eeden Aarden via Lazeroms, 5e Oostenrijk via Barendregt Schouters/Meesters (bron: het geweldige blauwe boek van Piet de Weerd door hem persoonlijk gesigneerd!) Hetzelfde verhaal kan vele malen gehouden worden. De Aarden winnaars zijn legio! ***** Met regelmaat bracht dit ras wonderkoppels en kwekers voort. Wat te denken van het wonderkoppel van Jan Te Pas uit Ulft die met twee dochters uit zijn koppel het Dafje en het Kleintje twee grote klassiekers zou winnen. Onder omstandigheden dat de “mussen dood van het dak vielen” . De Gebr Kuipers uit Neer zouden een aantal jaren Barcelona overklassen met hun overwegend Steenbergse soort. Pieter Jelles vd Slik won Barcelona met zijn Sterke Barcelona enzovoort. Het is moeilijker een winnaar van een zware overnachtvlucht aan te wijzen die het Aarden bloed niet in de genen heeft dan wel! ***** Selectie en specialisatie deden hun werk. Wat te lezer moet weten dat Nederlandse liefhebbers door de grotere afstanden dan hun bijv Belgische concurrenten en veel meer marathonwedstrijden hun duiven veel beter kunnen selecteren voor de zware overnachtvluchten. In Wallonie en de Vlaamse Ardennen kunnen de duiven van bijvoorbeeld Dax en Perpignan s’avonds vaak het hok nog bereiken. De nederlandse duiven moeten de andere morgen nog door! Specialisatie op deze marathonwedstijden deed ook veel eerder zijn intrede in Nederland dan in het buitenland. Er zijn plaatsen in Nederland waar 15 x per jaar een marathonklassieker (800-1200 KM) wordt georganiseerd. De buitenlandse concurentie zag dit tijdig in en ook grote kampioenen als Peeters en tegenwoordig Thone uit As, Desmet Matthijs etc etc maken gebruik van dit nederlandse fondbloed. Hermes, Kipp, Morsnowski zijn in Duitsland een aantal fondkampioenen met het Hollandse Marathonras. De Weerd,Krouwel Pollman, Eyerkamp en zijn compaan Muller promoten dit Nederlandse exportartikel met verve! ***** Hoe verder is de vraag? Intelen of kruisen werd een hot issue. Sommigen verdunden zoals Anton van der Wegen dat zo mooi kon formuleren “de koffie met een scheutje melk” . Soms ging dat zover, dat de vraag was of het nou melk of koffie is? Anderen voerden doordachte kruisingen door. Denk aan Wim Muller en in zijn kielzog Houtekamer, Dominicus. Denk aan Vertelman, Brinkman. Sommigen experimenteren met het kruisen met een sneller soort. Denk aan Batenburg van de Merwe. Andere liefhebbers zoeken hun heil meer in het samenbrengen van de verschillende Aarden lijnen en heel af toe een kruising met het beste wat er rondvliegt. Piet de Vogel, in een korte periode sterk naar voren gekomen op de grote fond, volgde deze weg. Fondkampioenen zoals Jan Polder, AP Overwater, Schults en velen in Zuid West Nederland bewandelen dit pad. Wat te denken van het Klamperimperium van Cor de Heijde en Jac Steketee! Wat het beste is zal de tijd leren en zoals Frans van Peperstraten altijd zegt: "lees tussen de regels door!" Uiteindelijk zijn het toch de prestaties die tellen! Spelen, spelen …... ,selecteren, selecteren blijft het credo. Op de foto een typisch Aarden oog. Bijna zo beroemd als de schilderijen van Rembrand, Vermeer!   [ terug ]   Frans van Peperstraten A.P.Overwater First Prize Pigeons Int. Pyreneeen Breeding Loft Supercup

 

 

 

 

 

Subjects:
(1) Rik Stevens Of The Netherlands (2) Cor De Heijde Of The Netherlands (3) The Hine Strain Of England (4) The Roy Strain (5) The Patrick Strain Of Europe (6) The Gommaire Verbruggen Family (7) Jules- Another Janssen (8) The Spangles
(9) The Osman Strain (10) Jimmy Brands (11) Andre Vermote Of Belgium (12)The Legendary Pol Bostyn

 

De Jeroen- 1st National, 2nd International Barcelona 1996,718 miles.

(1) RIK STEVENS OF THE NETHERLANDS

A fancier for some years but it was about 1970 that Rik Stevens participated in long distance racing. Always flying a good bird
our subject like many others acknowledged that there were horses for courses so in about 1979 he went to the loft of Van Geel- Verwijs in Nieuw Vossemeer to obtain bloodlines for the marathon routes. As a result of his visit Stevens returned to
Reuver with two eggs from Marijn Van Geels the Dolle, which cost him a small fortune. In time one of the eggs hatched and the
squeaker was named the Son of Dolle. Thus was born the foundation of the Stevens loft, a small backyard loft, and this foundation was the beginning of the appearance in time of some of the best representatives of distance racing in Holland.

The Son of Dolle was mated to some hens of different strains and produced some outstanding pigeons including Bergerac '83
who won about 15 prizes in overnight racing. At this time other bloodlines included birds from Hector Desmet, Kuypers Brothers, Marcel Braakhuis, as well as a hen from Wiel Joosten. The latter hen 461 was an outstanding racer and contained Delbar and Aarden bloodlines (in a sense) going back to the famous Zilvervosje of Rinus Meesters. Along with the Son of Dolle 461 became a pillar of the Steven's family.

In due course this small loft was winning from the distance including becoming 6th National Champion in 1979; 2nd and 3rd
National St. Vincent; 6th National Marathon; 25th Western Europe Marathon (1986); 15th Western Europe Marathon (1987); 3rd Ace Pigeon International (1988); 326th International Marseille (15,584 pigeons); 32nd National Pau; and 9th Western Europe Marathon amongst many more successes against candidates from France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland. Of course the cream of the successes must be the winning of the Dutch National from Barcelona in 1996 with the dark chequer cock name Jeroen. In fact on that glorious occasion Rik Stevens clocked 7 out of his 9 entries. And to crown it all our subject was 2nd International Barcelona against a convoy of 20,190 other birds at a distance of 718 miles. Surely marathon racing at its very best!.

Rik Stevens set his heart on the objective of marathon racing and there is no doubt in the opinion of many that he has succeeded and is an acknowledged master of the art and science of the ultra routes.


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De Klamper

(2) COR DE HEIJDE OF THE NETHERLANDS

Cor de Heijde raced into Made, the Netherlands, and for decades scored at the distance, being one of their top pigeoners. He was a flyer who was influenced by Piet de Weerd, a pigeonologist who was known world wide. Since their first meeting when Cor was twenty years old he gathered what can only be described as an encyclopaedia of pigeon sport knowledge from De Weerd, which he decided to utilize on his own behalf in the sport. Setting his sight on the long distance races of Holland and Europe.

In the early 1990s de Heijde went to Zegge and contacted Piet Lazeroms, who was one of the greats of modern distance flyers whose base were of the Aarden strain. There our subject bought eight old birds from Lazeroms breeding stud, one of which was NL 84 1870149, a dark cock whom the new owner named De Klamper. An act of shrewdness or a touch of the green for within a few years the children of this cock were finishing within the top 50 places of national races. In time de Heijde travelled to Belgium and purchased from John Lambrechts a bird which he called Old Lambrechts.
This pigeon was a wonderful racer and breeder who in turn for its new owner bred birds to win at the distance. Even today
the pedigrees of this family includes references to Old Lambrechts. It should
be noted however that the number one as
a breeder was the Klamper.

In the pedigree of the Klamper there is De 500 on the sire's side with the great Dolle on the dam's side. Thus the best of the lines of the Steenbergen dynasty lies at the base of the de Heijdes. To add to that base was a daughter of the Klamper who was a great racer and flyer known as Sint Vincentduif who, amongst other great results, scored 26th and 44th Nationals
from St.Vincent. Thus the reason for the name.

Within a relatively short period of time
the family of Cor de Heijde became
a worthy part of Europe's distance
racing community.
Reflecting the importance of starting
with the right stock
if one desired to specialize
at the long and marathon distances.
Which our subject obviously did.
As a result in the Internationals the loft was scoring
37th Perpignan, 38th Dax, 55th Barcelona,
74 Marseille and 90th Marseille. Whereas
the results at National level included
1st Bordeaux, 3rd Dax, 8th Perpignan,
14th St.Vincent and so on.
Also Cor de Heijde won the
prestigious and coveted Europe Cup in 1999.

All of this phenomenal success, however,
was achieved inspite of the fact that in 1998 his lofts were broken into and the best of his pigeons including the Klamper and Sint Vincentduif were stolen. The criminal or criminals took over 40 of the lofts best and such an evil deed was enough to devastate any person but not Cor de Heijde, for this great fancier continued with what was left and has not lost his place amongst the elite of Europe's best flyers. Of such is the man made.
A master of the sport.


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(3) THE HINE STRAIN OF ENGLAND

Ken Hine of Hayes, Middlesex, in the land of the rose namely England is one of the most consistent racers at the long distance events and in my humble opinion one of the best distance specialists in Britain at present.Ken Hine is not the only person involved because his wife Lil is also part of a unique pigeon racing relationship or partnership.The male of the partnership was so committed to the sport prior to his marriage that he sought the property of a friend in which to erect a loft.
It 1952 Ken Hine started in the sport and many successes have been obtained since then. Initially he raced the north road in which he done very well but in 1985 the decision was made to turn to the south road. This was an excellent decision for the Hine partnership won 19th Section, 69th Open NFC Pau; followed by 5th Section, 15th Open in 1986; 8th Section, 52nd Open 1987; 17th Section, 40th Open 1988.This was to be the beginning of a very fruitful period of success at the distance.

They have also won 49th & 70th Open, three times Palamos, including 8th Section, 14th Open; 7th Open, 12th Section and 76th Open; 3rd Open BICC Barcelona, 25th Open BBC Palamos; 14th Open Palamos (2002) 686 miles.Followed by1st Section, 3rd Open NFC Pau in 2002. There have also been other successes with a 2nd Open from Palamos.

Initially the base of the family derived from George Burgess and Tubby Tate, and since then other bloodlines have been intriduced, from Peter Titmuss, Jim Biss, the Fear Bros and Eric Cannon. A Natural racer initially but eventually Widowhood has been the system prevailing.

In management terms the Hine family are trained very thoroughly and the inland races are treated as an extension of that training.Training is so much a pivotal factor by the Hines that some birds may not see a race until they are a year old but they are very careful with the youngsters ensuring that they do not face the English channel before the yearling stage.Proper training is something that we can neglect but in order to get the racers into form and condition it is an important part of management.The Hines epitomises this requirement by all accounts.

Ken Hine is of the strong opinion that blood will tell according to my source and this is based upon the best of feeding coupled with pure clean water in association with the above referred to excellent training. This is the best advice that any beginner or novice should hang above their beds to remind them of their duties if they want to succeed in the sport.And that is 'consistent success' not the form of once in a blue moon success so to speak.The birds also receive their annual treatment against coccidiosis, canker and worms.

Finally, at the time of writing this article Ted and Lil Hine has just won 5th Section D, 10th Open British Barcelona Club Blue Riband National from Palamos, 2005, at a distance of approximately 685 miles. Confirming as if it was necessary my opinion relating to this great modern English strain.


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Mary Anne

(4) THE ROY STRAIN

Eventually I knew that sooner or later I would have to include this compatriot in the series of brief insights into the founders of long distance and marathon families, strains, and dynasties of the past and the present. Like those whose stories have been printed or await publication this person and his pigeons are here by merit.The subject lives in England namely Margate and to those who have read my column in the pigeon press you may recall that previously I opined that Jimmy Roy had one of the best distance colonies in Britain, today. I hold this opinion not because Jimmy is a fellow Irishman but because of the outstanding flying of his birds into the island of Britain in recent years. That and that alone is the reason for my previous statement, a statement based upon my observations gathered since my return to the sport within the last three years. For example, in 2004 our subject's pigeons scored 1st Section, 5th Open from Pau (561 miles) in the NFC National; 3rd Open British Barcelona Club Palamos (659 miles); as well as 4th Open in the British International Championship Club race from Perpignan.This is but an example of his successes last year across one of the world's toughest terrains and against some of the greatest long distance and marathon fanciers on the planet.

Our subject is a person who has seen other parts of the world other than Ireland and Britain for he has lived, worked, and flown pigeons successfully in Australia from 1979 to 1983. A native of the capital City of Dublin where he once flew with success Jimmy Roy is now in his late 70s and has raced pigeons since 1943. Initially with representatives of the strains of Van Custem and Putman. His main interest today is in the long distance and marathon races for it is about 9 years now since he flew seriously at club level when he accumulated approximately 30 1sts in one season.

Jimmy Roy is akin to the famous Janssen family of Arendonk for he truly loves his pigeons and in return they truly love their master. This is the basis of Jimmy's success for aside from an astute managerial mind and the very best of bloodlines excellently cared for there exists that mystical element of mutual love.Indeed it is reported that a number of his pigeons are so relaxed in his company that they pay visits to his house. A St. Francis type approach to our modern thoroughbreds which lies in stark contrast to those lofts where the inmates live lives of quiet desperation.

I entitled this article as ' The Roy Strain' for although Jimmy Roy has used pigeons of various strains over the years when one reaches the state of having 29 pigeons in ones ownership and bred by ones self which have flown 569 miles including leading positions then this justifies the use of the word 'strain'. Apparently his main base includes the bloodlines of Krauth, Huysken-Van Riel, Joe Shore and that of a 4th Open Irish National winner belonging to Noel Wiles of Skerries, County Dublin. Of course an important input is the noted Belgian Hen which came into the loft as a stray and after reporting and obtaining her this late bred was raced thoroughly but when put to stock became a gold mine by producing between 15 and 20 winners.

Some of Jimmy Roy's noted birds are Mary Anne, a blue chequer hen that was 16th open Dax and has also flown Pau a
few times as well as San Sebastian, scoring 5th Open Pau 2004. The nest mate of Mary Anne is another great pigeon,
Gentle Annie, who won from Pau in 2002. Then there is Maria who won 3rd Open Palamos, a sister of perhaps Jimmy's
favourite- the winner from Perpignan. However, as space is limited, I cannot go on referring to the noted exploits of this
strain but God willing more years to its founder and we will continue to see his name in the top positions of classic races
into Britain.


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(5) THE PATRICK STRAIN OF EUROPE

This article is primarily based upon the achievements of the Patrick Bros so far in the sport. I was full of admiration for their decision to leave one part of the European continent to plant roots in another.

As to their beginnings, the Patricks, as a family ,were forced to evacuate from the city of London due to the bombing of the city in 1940, settling in the small town of Newbury in the county of Berkshire. One of the brothers, the eldest, Steve, had kept pigeons since the age of 11 but in 1956 the other brother, Phillip, joined him in partnership. In the early days there were problems about loft residency and there was much moving to different loft sites but just after the mid- 1970s the family purchased their own home and had the necessary
space for their hobby. With such security during a period of approximately 10 years (1978-1987) the Patrick partnership was top in Club, Federation and Combine, but most importantly, however, as long- distance aspirants, in the English Nationals the loft won 3 x 1st Section and positions like 3rd and 4th open.

This was a good start to a promising career in the sport. They used the system of widowhood based upon 10 cocks of mainly Busschaert origin and averaged 14 x 1st prizes each year. There was then another move of residence to the county of Shropshire in 1987, prior to which all of the pigeons were sold and an order was made for six Jan Aardens from Martha van Geel of Holland, reflecting the intention of the brothers.After entering the sport and doing well with one of the best strains of the 20th century- the Busschaerts- they knew that to achieve their sporting ambitions representatives from the Aarden dynasty were required. Although not raced until 1990, the van Geels were in residence since 1988 and the latter, with some Van Der Wegens from Simons and Son of Holland, plus Robert Venus bloodlines, took the brothers back to the top in their new area.

However, another change was to occur when the Patricks moved to Somerset in the June of 1966. They took just the breeders and bred 11 late breds in August. It was to be a good move for the brothers who won in 1999 the Pau Grand National with Somerset Lad. Since then they have have won 17 major trophies in the English NFC. With no racing in local clubs (which is the same for young birds) the partners emphasise the channel between England and France as the test to separate the best from the not so good. Racing in only the National races, some of their performances between 1999 and 2002 were extraordinary for they won 91 Positions in the English NFC from Nantes, Saintes and Pau. In addition they won many averages, including the best Average Nantes and Pau and the Langstone Gold Cup Best Average. In those three years the Patrick's won approximately 150 prizes from the French race points.

They had arrived but no one realised they had moulded one of the best European long- distance strains. Of course mention was made about 'this wing' or 'that wing' of the Jan Aarden dynasty, as one spoke of their family of pigeons but slowly and surely the phenotype of their family showed the hallmark of their own strain. My research shows me that the brothers, through line and inbreeding using crosses from the very best of Europe's long- distance strains, were set upon- and indeed succeeded in- becoming strain makers. But has the adventure ended? No! I believe that we have yet to see the best of the Patrick Strain and the racing contests of Europe will see the influence of that unique strain in the years ahead.At present they are now settled in Belgium and have started winning already.


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(6) THE GOMMAIRE VERBRUGGEN FAMILY

Gommaire Verbruggen is considered by some to be the modern face of Belgium pigeon racing and there is no doubt about his committment and managerial ability coupled with a progressive mentality.And although he is the instrument of the appearance and the successes of one of the greatest racers at the distance in the world at present this is not a one bird colony for the achievements of the Verbruggens are too many to relate in this brief insight.The ongoing result of an astute pigeoner.

Gommaire Verbruggen bred and flew the black cheq pied cock rung 2117469 BELG 00 known as Bonte Barcelona (see above right). His record at the distance has been truly outstanding since the year 2002.For in that year from Barcelona Bonte was 35th National and 144th International, to be followed in 2003 with 116th National, in 2004 with 156th National, and in 2005 he was 31st National and 67th International.The prestigious Golden Wing Awards were won in 2003,2004 and 2005. This outstanding thoroughbred contains the bloodlines of Zantboer of Steenbergen,
Van Geel, and van den Burgh of Maasland.

By the start of January 2003 Gommaire Verbruggen of the town of Scherpenheuvel had won 30 Provincial and 6 Semi-National races.Since then he has become world famous because of his successes in the sport, a sport which he entered into in 1970.Having become a master at the sprints and middle distances apparently it was through the influence of a loft helper who loved distance racing that Verbruggen bought some bloodlines more appropriate to what was to come.The latter included pigeons from the Kuypers Bros, Roger Vereecke, Jan Ernest, Roger Florizoone and Aardens from Klaas Oosterhof as well as the bloodlines of Bonte Barcelona.

The pigeons destined for the Barcelona race are kept from the rest of the colony and before departure must race from Bourges and Chateauroux.They are sent to Barcelona after two tosses the week before from 50km.

Some of the latter aside from Bonte Barcelona includes 450 who scored 122nd and 258th National from Barcelona; 403 who scored 133rd National Beziers, 731st National Barcelona and 26th International Perpignan; 473 who was 208th National Barcelona and 192nd National from Perpignan. There are many others but to have Bonte Barcelona alone is the thrill and the achievement of a lifetime.

There is no doubt that Verbruggen is a name that will continue to surface in the competitive nature of modern pigeon racing in Belgium and Europe as a whole.That is beyond question.

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(7) JULES - ANOTHER JANSSEN

I have written about the world famous Janssen Bros of Arendonk but there was also another fancier of the same surname called Jules Janssen whose contribution to the sport of pigeon racing was outstanding. Jules Janssen from Rue Seutin 6, Schaerbeek, Belgium once held the position of the Minister of Finance in the Belgium Government and was in his day reputed to be the 'Father of the Sport' in his native country. At least he was one of its founding fathers.

To the older generation of fanciers this particular Janssen would have been well known especially in these islands and the English speaking pigeon world through the exploits of the stud of the late T.Buck and the world famous 'Theatre Lofts' of Jack Lovell. The Buck 'Janssens' as some referred to them were winners of
countless prizes in Fed, Combine and Open competition and Jack Lovell of London was noted to have received numerous expressions of thanks and congratulations from fanciers world wide arising from the exploits of his pigeons especially of the Jules Janssen bloodlines. In fact there are many outstanding
strains who have had Jules Janssen bloodlines at their foundations including the Janssens of Arendonk. (The latter family were not related to this maestro of the art of breeding). In relation to the base of the Arendonk family some authorities imply that the Janssen Bros and especially their father was somewhat secretive about the pigeons used. This may have been unintentional but there are those who contend that Jules Janssen was a source if not the full source of their strains base. Suggesting that sharing the same surname of an then famous fancier would have seen the Arendonk family making contact with Jules Janssen.

The strain under focus was of the Brussels type of the long distance racing pigeon which tended towards being large, blue and chequered in colour, and was descended from the Wegge strain. Jules Janssen patiently created his strain after he had received some pigeons from Karel Wegge. He had been helping Wegge for sometime to look after his pigeons and when he decided to have a loft of his own the Wegges were an obvious choice.

In due course his name became famous especially as a breeder of marvellous stock and from throughout his native country his bloodlines were sought by hundreds of the fancy. T. Buck had a stud book of Jules Janssen dating from 1893 which he presented to Jack Lovell and in it is revealed the names of many founding fathers and great exponents of the sport who had received birds from Jules Janssen namely Vandevelde, Gits, Delbar, Grooter, Van der Espt and Jurion. Also there are Delmotte, Carpentier, Gallez, Vekeman, Pittevoil and Coopman. The brothers Cattrysse family also carried their bloodlines via the Vandeveldes and in due course the following strains were helped by the Jules Janssens namely Havenith, Sion, Bricoux, Tremmery and Stassart. Of course there are others but the sample provided should confirm that this was a pivotal strain in the sport of pigeon breeding and racing.

In Britain it is opined that the Jules Janssens lie at the base of or influenced the development of the Kenyons via the black pieds of the Thorogoods. They are also said to have been used by the great English national flyer Marriott via T. Buck and there is a story by Jack Lovell in which it is related that N. Barker got in a red stray cock of Janssens which he was allowed to keep, bred good birds off it before gifting it to J.W. Logan who was of the opinion that it was his best breeder. Yes, as well as Logan there were many other lofts in these islands who housed the Janssens for Jules breeding skills helped to develop the sport at its infancy and beyond.

In conclusion, Jules Janssen warrants a special place in this series because of his contribution to the sport of pigeon racing, especially the genetic contribution which is to be found at the base of many outstanding strains of the fancy.


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(8) THE SPANGLES

Mike Young's Spangle Prince- 2nd Marseille 1991,4th Marseille 1992 (665 miles)winner of the International Long Distance Benelux Award.

The creator of the Spangles was Oliver Dix of the County of Somerset in England. Originating from an old family of pigeons
from that part of Britain. However in about 1895 Dix brought a blue chequer cock bird of Hansenne and Logan Bloodlines from J.D. Phillips of Pontypridd which turned out to be a fabulous breeder which produced mosaic or spangle coloured young. Thus the origin of the name.

J.W. Logan and J.W.Toft introduced the Spangles into their strains which contributed to the development of English long distance and marathon racers. From the start they were accomplished long and marathon flying athletes, for example, Hawley's Crafty flew from San Sebastian twice at 700 miles while Jack Hay of Freemantle was 1st and 2nd National at 900 miles. Yes for their founder and many others they flew well, winning much. In their evolution however they were taken over by Mr
and Mrs Bert Bryant in 1944. Doing extra well for their new owners who acted as the source of the strain's permeation of British distance bloodstock. In truth the Spangles made the names of other fanciers well
known such as Taffy Bowen, Vic Robinson, John Kirkpatrick to name but a few from the nations which reside on the island of Great Britain.

One of the great exponents of the strain was the late,Mike Young of Timsbury in England. The Mike Young Spangle family set up some
remarkable achievements in the distance races. One of the most outstanding was 17th Open in the British Barcelona Club's
National from Rome at the distance of 914 miles. Also with the British International
Championship Club Young's Spangles were to the fore in the marathons flown under the auspices of that Club at distances between
558 and 721 miles. Any member of the BICC will confirm the quality of his family of Spangles. Indeed Mike Young may have
brought the Spangles unto a new and higher level arising from his committed management
regime.

One of G.M.Young's best pigeons was the famous Channel Queen.This chequer hen in 1984 was 1st Dax (530 miles),1986 1st Perpignan (648 miles),1987 1st Pau (558 miles). 1987 2nd Perpignan (648 miles),and in 1988 3rd Perpignan and 3rd Pau.Excellent performances!

Admittedly this was one family or strain which until recently remained a mystery to me until I researched it. Now however in
understanding its origins and successes I appreciate and acknowledge one of the greatest European marathon families in the
history of the sport. And I dedicate this brief insight to the memory of Mike Young who ensured that a strain which had its origins in 1895 or thereabouts was brought successfully into the 21st Century.

May I add that some of the best of Spangle bloodlines arrived in Ireland around the period of Mike Young's death (at his wish)
where in the future as in the past they will win into the far reaches of Ireland's north west.

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(9) THE OSMAN STRAIN

The Osman surname has been associated with the sport of racing pigeons since the birth of the sport in Britain, not only with its practical aspects including racing, administration, and so on but from this family came the oldest racing pigeon publication in the world, still going strong today, The Racing Pigeon. The Osmans have other publications to their credit, including the monthly magazine the Racing Pigeon Pictorial International and books on the sport.

Then, of course, there is the association with the annual Old Comrades Show. However, in this article I'd like to recall the origins and some feats of this carefully bred strain founded by A.H.Osman.Initially, I would like to recall an incident when I attended a pigeon auction in the Protestant Hall at Glenavy, Co. Antrim, shortly after my return to the sport about two and a half years ago. Whilst there I got into a conversation with a number of fanciers from Co. Down who were discussing British pigeon families. Upon introducing ourselves, one of the participants referred to my name- rather more in ignorance than prejudice- with the usual question, 'What is it in English?'. He changed the subject slightly when I asked him, 'Would you ask the Russian author Solzhenitsyn to translate his name for you if he was here?'

With no response to my question he hurriedly translated 'Liam' as William, referring to its diminutive as 'Billy' and asked us if we had ever heard of Old Billy. Some had, some hadn't, but the translator proceeded to outline the life of one of the most famous pigeons ever to be born in Europe. The incident which I recall confirmed that amongst the racing pigeon fraternity there is a wealth of knowledge- some fact, some fiction, some a combination of both- which ensures the continual presence in one's memory of a famous pigeon or fancier.

The Osmans from which Old Billy came were a strain whose members were of medium size and whose colours were mainly red chequer and mealy. They descended initially from birds obtained from fanciers such as Oliver, Cottell, Stanhope, Harris and J.W. Barker. They were carefully bred to the line via the sire but crosses were introduced via well- tried hens of impeccable long distance bloodlines. Osmans would cross well with other strains, especially the Logans and the Gits. In fact, in the creation of his strain the founder carefully bought for many years the best representatives of Gits, Rey and Vassart from Belgium, plus, as a good friend of Logan, he obtained fine specimens from the latter's family. One of those was a dam of Revived Hope, a famous Osman pigeon.

Now Old Billy (who was less well known as '59') was a mealy cock whose genes permeated, I believe, every bird of the Osman family for generations. His sire was bred in 1885 and was a blue chequer cock known as 'No. 35', bred by James Harris and derived from the Belgian bloodlines of a Mr. Pescher, whereas his dam was a J.W. Barker mealy hen born in 1886. Old Billy in due course fathered Mumpy, Mortification, and Blue Bell among others, the latter three being winners from Arbroath, Thurso, and Lerwick respectively.

It was then in due course that Old Billy's blood- via his grandsons Wanstead Wonder and Forlorn Hope- progressed the family. These grandsons being landmark pigeons in the history of British strains, Forlorn Hope as a breeder being responsible for many winners world-wide and as a racer winning 2nd Perth, 1st Thurso, 23rd Thurso, 8th Lerwick, etc,. He was approximately 18 years old when he died and the passing of this dark red chequer cock was a cause of much sadness in the Osmans' circle. Wanstead Wonder also won many races including 1st Thurso, and a pigeon from Forlorn Hope, named Revived Hope won 1st Federation from Lerwick in 1913 and again in 1914. It was a very hard race and Revived Hope reflected the strain's example in hard, bad- weather races. Yes, the Osman strain, for its founders and hundreds of fanciers worldwide, got going when the going got tough, so to speak.

In America, as in Britain and indeed in Ireland, there are still fanciers who claim to have Osman bloodlines today and who race well, especially showing a consistency when the odds are terribly opposed to them, weather- wise. In the meantime, I hope my article, however modest, recalls if not for the younger, at least for the older generation,the memory of a pivotal strain moulded by a master in the history of the sport in the United Kingdom.


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(10) JIMMY BRANDS

Jimmy Brands from Belgium is a specialist in long distance racing and is one of the most notable European fanciers of that discipline. Born into a pigeon racing family his father raced well at the speed events but Jimmy joined him when he was about
30 years old and through his influence the partnership raced the middle distances, doing very well at club and provincial level. Then he began to race by himself in approximately 1980. In next to no time Jimmy Brands took the step towards the distance
events where he has definitely left his mark.

The basis of his family were birds of the strain of Jan Nobels of Holland via Karel Huygen of Starbroek, Belgium. The Nobles
would still share the majority aspect of the bloodlines although important inputs included a three year old grizzle cock of
Tournier bloodlines via Jos Verkuyl of Holland and the Widurski Bros. When this cock was paired with a hen containing Jan
van Hout and Etienne Devos blood they were immediately recognized as a golden couple, producing very good pigeons including Brands well known Museeuw and The Grizzle. The cock also produced with another hen the renowned Tamme. Another important addition to the loft were two hen pigeons from Jos Joosen in about 1997. The Grizzle however has helped
to create the view that Jimmy's family is a grizzle distance one, because of the successes of birds of this colour but there are other colours in the Brands who are successful.

With a sound base it was only a matter of time for the Brands to achieve something special and this came in the form of the
Extreme Long Distance Championship Of Belgium in the year 2000. In this championship the competitor chooses three races out of five which includes Narbonne, Marseille, Perpignan, Dax and Barcelona. Brands had a coefficient of 22.32 for six prizes with 1st and 2nd nominated pigeons from his best three races, which obviously reflects the managerial ability of the owner. A major success but the Brands have scored much since then. The family continues to sparkle at the distance as the name crops
up in the results of events of endurance and intelligence. They were made for this type of racing and the family has scored for
other pigeoners and will continue to do so for the base of the house is right and its builder comes second to none.


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(11) ANDRE VERMOTE OF BELGIUM

Our subject was born about three or four years after I first saw the light of day in 1940 and he was not born into the sport for
his father was not a pigeoner. Being a friend of Emiel Denys however he was influenced and started racing in his early teenage years. In about 1963 Vermote entered the KBDB and experienced a disappointing start but later in the 6Os things began to
brighten up. It was in 1967 that Vermote went to Maurice Vandevelde and picked one of 30 late breds It was a hen, later to
be called Spreeuwtje. He bred her with a cock called Oude Blauwen, which was a Casteleyn bred pigeon obtained earlier,
and this resulted with the birth of Wringer who eventually won 1st National Cahors in 1971. In that same year the lofts won
2nd National Ace pigeon KBDB with Den Atleet, half brother of Wringer. A brother of Wringer is the father of Vermotes 1st
prize international Perpignan 1976. And the mother of his International Perpignan winner in 1981, Nero, was a sister of Wringer. Obviously when he visited Vandevelde in 1967 he was wrapped in the green for he had discovered a gold mine.

The yield from this mine shocked the world's pigeon racing fraternity as the lofts won hand over fist in the important races of
the Belgian and European calendar. In fact too numerous are the positions obtained against the best to be quoted in a brief
article. An article that lauds the Wringer's parents as one of the best strain base of all time. For not only has the bloodlines won for Andre Vermote they are winning today for numerous fanciers throughout the continent of Europe and beyond. In time
crosses have to be brought into a strain and Vermote has utilized the Florizoone X Coutteau bloodlines. Denys and Devooght
also appear in the pedigrees.

As an example of his 1st prizes there were: 1st National Cahors 1971, 1st National Perpignan 1976, 1st International Perpignan 1976, 1st National Perpignan 1981, 1st International Perpignan 1981, and 1st National Limoges 1985 plus 1st Series National San Sebastian 2002 and 1st Series National St.Vincent Yearlings 2002. As for championships in Belgium and Europe Andre Vermote won 1st National Decathlon, 1st National Marathon, 1st National Super Prestige and 1st International West European Marathon. What can one add- this speaks for itself! As for the strain maker, himself, Andre Vermote can survey across decades in the sport and every year has been a blessed one. Surely one of the great modern masters and strains of our sport!


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(12) THE LEGENDARY POL BOSTYN

This is an insight into one of the greatest of European pigeoners and by all accounts a man bigger than life itself. Sadly he died in 1985 but for decades his genius prevailed in the top most level of the Belgium pigeon racing fraternity. His name Leopold 'Pol' Bostyn. The pigeon sport historian, Jules Gallez, once wrote that Pol Bostyn had
overshadowed everyone in the 1940s. In fact, Bostyn, who had started in the sport in 1932 appears a dominant figure over the next three or four decades inspite of being absent from the sport on a number of occasions. However upon each return to the fancy he came back as strong as ever.

To take a few of his many National successes Pol Bostyn scored 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 14th positions from Pau. Also 1st National Ruffec and again from Pau in 1970 the lofts were 1st and 3rd National. He also won an
Internationals from Biarritz and also Pau. Further research revealed 1st National Narbonne, 1st National Argenton, 1st National Brive, 1st National St.Vincent as well as 1st National Marathon in 1978. In total Bostyn won about 14 Nationals in the home of the sports origins. Thus who can deny his genius, a genius of the sport who could not read or write.

As a pigeoner, Bostyn, had the reputation of being a strict manager and by all accounts he was an excellent judge of a pigeon. Based upon this judgement he started in the 1930s with four pigeons containing Marien, Julian Matthys, Vandevelde, and Commines bloodlines. From their matings one of the young was to become the famous Bleken and another Oude Zwarte Bordeaux, the latter winning seven first prizes from Bordeaux.
Eventually a Stichelbaut cross was introduced to the fledgling strain. This was confirmation of the owners genius for the key to many of his successes arose from it. In truth Stichelbaut and Bostyn became good
friends and swapped and loaned stock which contributed to the success of both families. A happening which has helped many other strain founders in their stock enterprises and ambitions over the years. In
fact it was reported, arising from their mutual benefiting venture, that Bostyn and Stichelbaut were once on the verge of signing a legal contract. It must also be noted that via the Stichelbaut crosses Bostyn had contributed to the birth of the Cattrysse dynasty.But that is another story.

To conclude, Pol Bostyn played a pivotal role in the development of the world's modern distance and marathon racing pigeons, that's the opinion of many historians of the sport.It is an opinion of which I am firmly
in accord.

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See also:

• Recreation: Pets: Birds: Species: Pigeons: Breeders  (46)

• Ad Schaerlaeckens - Site provides articles, as well as information on some of history's well known birds and fanciers.
• Bob Fenech.com - Small UK loft of Louis Cooremans.
• Canary Islands Breeding Station - Breeding station for long distance racers of José Ledesma Batista.
• Circle Loft - Foundation birds, racing history, sale birds and links.
• C.L.& Sons Loft - Breeding, sale, and racing of Homers.
• Continental Breeding Station - Large selection of racing pigeons imported from Europe. Youngbirds and breeders are available from many of the popular champion lofts. Also hosts futurity races.
• Des Moore's Pigeon Domain - Photos of several breeds of pigeons and their best performances. Extensive links.
• Dr. Norbert Ally - A breeder/veterinarian in Belgium provides information about his own pigeons and tips on pigeon racing.
• Empire Breeding Station - Bad weather racing homers bred to endure the harsh environments of upstate New York.
• Ferreira Family Lofts - Breeder of the President bloodline.
• Freddies Bekaerts - Photographs of lofts and birds.
• Freedom Loft.Com - Sale birds, breeders and loft walkthrough.
• Ganus Family Loft - Photographs of lofts, race results and sale birds.
• Gauld & Morrison Bricoux Pigeons - Scottish breeders based in Crieff, Perthshire. Proven long-distance flyers.
• Gene Hearl's Devriendt Racing Pigeons - Racing pigeons bred by Gene Hearl for more than 45 years.
• Harborview Loft - Breeder of Leen Boer, Super Crack Crousson, and Jack Yohe birds. Also the N.E. U.S.A. representative for all Tauris electronic clocking system products.
• J. Luchesse Lofts - Belgian site offering birds for sale.
• Jim Calia Loft - Home page for the Calia Janssen strain.
• Jojos International - Pedigrees, photographs, race results and auction.
• Loft Johan Heylen - Belgian long distance fancier. Breeders include direct Piet Lazeroms (Jan Aerden). In English and Dutch.
• M&C Hansen - Danish breeder of De Klak pigeons. Site is in Danish, English and German.
• Mojave Breeding Station - Australian racing pigeon stud with articles on breeding, feeding, care and management. Race information and links.
• Oak Haven Farms ~ Peeman & Sons - Texan racing pigeon stud with editorials, results, breeding stock, photographs and links.
• O&L Devries - World Class Racing Pigeons - A winnning family of racing pigeons, built from some of the best families of birds available.
• Panorama Lofts - United Kingdom site offering sale birds, race results and information.
• Pigeon World of Reybroeck & Zonen - History of their loft, pictures and race results. Located in the Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
• Pro Pigeon Loft - A family of fast-maturing pigeons bred to win one loft pigeon races! Birds include crosses of Janssen, Hofken, VanDenabeele, and Tournier.
• Sampson Brothers Loft - American site offering breeding birds, race results and loft management techniques. Spanish translation.
• Sky Lake Sions Loft - Information about the Sion breed, race results and links.
• Sleepy Hollow Loft - Bloodlines of Staf Van Reet, Ludo Claessen, Mike Ganus and Campbell Strange. Also provides articles and links.
• Smith Family Loft USA - Breeder of Ludo Claessens. Pictures, genetic information, and articles.
• St Clair International Stud Pigeons Lofts - Located in Sydney, Australia. Pictures and articles.
• Straight Home Racing Pigeons - Breeding stock and racing stock. Birds bred from pedigreed, proven breeders and race winners for generations. Many popular strains available, including old line birds. Pedigrees furnished with all birds sold. Located in Illinois.
• T &S Bonett Lofts - A racing pigeon breeder located in Malta.
• TNT LOFTS Performance plus Pedigree - Sale birds and links.
• VIP Lofts - Home of the "Silver Shadow" Van Loons in Australia. Loft information and race results.

"Breeders" search on:	AltaVista - A9 - AOL - Ask - Clusty - Gigablast - Google - Lycos - MSN - WiseNut - Yahoo

 

Subjects:
(1) Jan Aarden (2) Wouter Jorna (3) Andre Brouckaert (4) Christian Wittendal (5) Super Crack (6) The Muller Strain (7) Marijn Van Geel (8) The Dordin Strain (9) J.W.Logan (10) Emile Denys (11) The Schaschkows Of France (12) Jan Polder

 

(1) THE JAN AARDEN STORY

 

Zilvervorsje- The Silver Fox

3 rd Prize National Dax,
2 nd Prize National Dax,
27 th Prize National Dax,
52 nd Prize National St.Vincent,
47 th Prize National St.Vincent.

Bred By Rinus Meesters
From Slaper- (T.Schouteren Bloodlines)
And Scar- (T.Schouteren Bloodlines)

A Major Player In The Aarden Dynasty

When one gets involved in discussing the sport of pigeon racing the name of Jan Aarden is sure to appear especially in relation to the long distances because the strain of racing pigeons created by this master has been immortalised by some due to the impact it has made throughout the world. But who was this Dutchman credited with being the creator of a great marathon strain? A man whose bloodlines run through many of the winners and others to the fore in the Barcelona International and indeed many national and international winners throughout the world of modern pigeon racing.

Jan Aarden was born in the city of Oosterhout on the Sixth of November 1893 to Martinus Aarden and Lucia Schoenmakers. There he attended school at the Abbey of St.Paulus. From his earliest days Jan had a great love for animals and birds and in particular racing pigeons. The love of the latter was kindled by a Fr. Paulus who kept some racing pigeons in the Abbey grounds and needless to relate the young Aarden in due course became the "boy manager" of the good Father's stock. There his passion for the thoroughbreds of the sky intensified and by the time he was 18 he was a member of a racing pigeon club in Oosterhout, where in a short period of time he owned a loft of good short and middle distance racers.

An early influence upon Aarden was the family of Oomens from Breda who were the long distance stars of the Netherlands prior to World War 2. Aarden developed a close friendship with the father of the family and in due course owned some of their birds.

After Jan's marriage to Janntje Akermans on the twentieth of July, 1916, the Aarden's moved to and lived in the village of Teteringen for almost four years. There Aarden built a loft and moved his pigeons there but because of family commitments and the First World War there was a lack of success. In 1921 the family moved again- this time to Steenbergen, followed by another move to Grintweg in 1924.This was not to be the last removal for eventually the family settled finally in Steenbergen.

The early nineteen twenties saw another important influence bearing upon Jan in the person of his son Anton who was also interested in the sport and who at the age of 18 joined with his father in a combination. Anton's influence led his father from the shorter to the longer races and although the results were not outstanding Aarden through his skills and patience began to build his wonderful strain.

By the end of 1930 in the breeders of Jan Aarden was the blood of Ost-Roe alongside stock from Henrey Rey and a super hen from Leo De Cock. The Ost- Roe bloodlines belonged to Jules Roeckaert- the former title he used for sometime. Here I relate to the colour of reds in the Aardens which raises some eyebrows to the extent that there is disbelief that red is a colour truly representative of the strain. Research however confirms that reds were at the basis of the strain through the stock of Rey and Roeckaert. The most prominent of the former's loft was Ouden Vassart- a red which Rey purchased at the auction of Pauwels from the Sas of Gent. From Roeckaert Aarden bought for stock a light checker Belske, whose father was Leon a red cock from Leon Van der Saude. Perhaps this may lay to rest the suspicion surrounding the Aardens of red or mealy plumage.

With his natural talent and genealogical knowledge coupled with an emphasis on inbreeding Aarden used the stock obtained from Roeckaert, Rey, and others to build and experiment. Initially, he paired the Blaue Ost Roe to the Oude Rey duivin which showed the spark of genius for he had immediate success with this pairing. Their famous product was the great Fietsvlieger who as well as a winner on the road bred some outstanding birds. Mated to Dikke Blauw his outstanding nestmate he bred the Schone Blauw - a pigeon who excelled at winning first prizes at racing. When pairing the Reydoffer with Belske Aarden produced another great pigeon in 46- who won many races. A full sister of the 46 namely Orleanske won from Orleans three years in a row. From the pairing of Vetkonk from De Cock with the Fietsvlieger Aarden bred Verkeeroe Duivin- one of the best racing hens in his loft if not in Holland. The Dikke Blauw was also mated to Roeckaert's Duveltje and produced the Mooike - another famous representative of the strain. The above where in the main Aarden's basic couples and indeed Mooike, Dikke Blauw, Schone Blauw, and the Verkeerde Duivin won prizes from a very tough race from St. Vincent. From this and other results Jan Aarden realised that he owned pigeons of excellent quality.

The major influence however in the development of the Aarden strain and the consequent dynasty was Zilvervosje. This light check hen with a reflection of silver in her wings was a wonderful breeder as well as a racer. Her bloodlines are there in the families of the great Aarden fanciers like Muller, van Agtmaal, van den Burgh, van der Wegen, van den Eijnden and the Kuypers, as well as being the grandfather of Ko Nipius's second national Barcelona. In fact her contribution to the development of the marathon pigeon in Europe is immense. Thanks to Steve Patrick of Parick Bros, who won the English NFC Pau National with an Aarden, I can state that the Zilvervosje is a daughter of Slaper (H 46- 270518), which was of Schouteren bloodlines.Other research confirmed that another Schoutern pigeon was the other parent. This fabulous hen when mated with Zesentachtig ( H 47- 433486)also known as 86 bred Late Meesters (H 49- 525758): a pearl of a pigeon. (The famous 131 was a great granddaughter of Late Meesters). The latter appearing in the pedigrees of many of the best modern representatives of the strain. The late partnership of Eijerkamp- Muller confirms that Zilvervosje was the foundation bird of their family. The sire of van Wanroy's the Spin is a grandson and the dam is a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. And of course the Spin was the foundation bird in the families of Kuypers Brothers and Peter van den Eijnden. Aarden's famous 37 was a grandson of the hen. In turn 37 was the grandfather of Giel van Agtmaal's 500 as well as the grandfather of Jan de Weert's 131. Surely two of the best of the Aarden dynasty.

Further research showed that Zilvervosje was the granddaughter of the Oude Witpen- a famous breeder of Toon Stoffelen. And that the Bontje Aarden, dam of Ligtenberg's 10 was a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. Bearing in mind that the Bontje Aarden was the mother of Janus van der Wegen's Oude Doffertje. The list appears to be endless re the breeding influence of Zilvervosje but as stated she was also a very good racer. Some of her triumphs included the following: 3rd nat. Dax (1949); 2nd nat. Dax (1950); 55th nat. St. Vincent (1950); 7th nat. Dax (1951); 47th nat. St.Vincent (1951).

Although a reserved person Aarden made some friendships which added to the building of his strain. One of those friendships was Piet de Weerd, the world famous pigeonologist, whose knowledge and advice Jan pondered. Another fruit of their friendship was the so called ' Piet de Weerd pigeon': perhaps Aardens main breeding hen, of Delbar / Deguffroy origin. In fact the Delbar's played a prominent part in the Aarden's origins for some of the early breeders carried the blood of this strain. Now during research for this article I encountered material suggesting Aarden was the builder but de Weerd was the architect of the strain. Whatever the merits of the suggestion there is no doubt that Jan Aarden was a master of stockmanship. Visiting good lofts and obtaining the best upon which to build. Like all great creators however he knew that genius can involve the experience of others.

The success of the developing Aarden strain caught the attentions of Jan's fellow fanciers in Steenbergen and many were purchased resulting in the area becoming the hot bed of long distance racing in Holland. This also contributed to the evolution of the strain. A few of the latter around the period after the Second World War until 1960 included Toon and Piet Ligtenberg whose famous hen Oude Witpen when coupled with another Aarden were the parents of two of the most famous representatives of the strain. The famous number 10 of Ligtenberg and the fabulous Oud Doffertje of van der Wegen. The latter being the foundation of the van der Wegen strain while number 10 became the father of the famous Dolle of Marijn van Geel- the origin of the van Geels.

Alongside other Steenbergen fanciers who set the sport alight with Aarden stock where Toon Toffelen, Jan van der Par, Jan de Weert, and van Agtmaal. The latter being credited in some quarters with being a better racer of the Aarden's than the great master, himself. Another important input to the Aarden's was the great Jan Cools. A good friend of Aarden's, Cools owned some good pigeons of the strain and they shared breeders with each other. Resulting in the production of top class performers.

As the strain developed it dominated the races from Dax, St.Vincent, Bergerac, and Barcelona, among others. Taking Europe by storm and extending beyond to become a truly world wide family. Piet de Weerd helped in this context by buying good representatives of the strain and selling them off to others. Another important contributor to the success of the Aarden dynasty was Piet Lazeroms from Zegge. This Aarden specialist bought out top lofts of Aardens and through this he owned the best of the strain. In turn Lazeroms was used as the main source of the Aardens by the best fanciers in Europe and elsewhere. For example, Van Peperstraten and de Heyde. The latter built his
loft on his famous Klapper which he had got from Lazeroms. There's also the exploits of Van Zelderen who won five nationals with Aardens. Recent examples is Theo Ernest whose Barcelona successes are based upon the Aardens and also the Brugemann Brothers whose famous loft is foundered upon another Aarden source - Hein and Hub Oostenrijk. Nor should the exploits of Jac Stekatee of Bruinisse be overlooked for he formed one of the top Aarden studs of the 1990s. His Golden Breeder 788 is considered one of the best of the Aarden dynasty as is the highly thought of 60 of another Aarden ace, Cees de Jong. Then there is the world known breeders and racers of Polder and de Vogel of today
...

It should be noted that most authorities place Aarden's 37, 38 and 49 as the most famous birds of his loft.The three were brothers and sisters bred from Rinus Meesters cock bird the 86 and Zilvervosje. The 49 was 7th National St.Vincent for Aarden and he was the sire of Aarden 1 which was the Stam Vader of the Van Den Burgh lofts.Aarden 1 sired Aarden 2 who sired the winner of 1st National St.Vincent in 1975. The 38 won 6th National St.Vincent,28th National Dax and 45th National St.Vincent, as well as being the grand dam of the famous 500 of Van Agtmaal. The 500 was responsible for many winners for Ligtenburg and in turn for the Dolle and the Lange of Van Geel.

Finally, it should also be noted that the Devriendt strain via a sister of The Pau who was 1st National Pau and 2nd National Bergerac within two weeks was an input to the Aarden's as well as Stichelbauts from Michael Descamps. Interestingly one of the latter inputs was the dam of Oude Ijzeren of 54 which was the sire of the Ware Ijzeren of 57 which was the 1st National Ace Pigeon and literally responsible for scores of winners. This great pigeon was a dark cheq pied and many are of the opinion that in it lies the origins of Pied Aarden's.

It would appear to be the case that the
few mentioned adherents of the Aarden strain
were fired by the master in their pursuit
of excellence. I say a few for there are many,
many more who could have been named
who in their own way as breeders or racers
contributed to the development of the strain. In his early days in the sport Jan Aarden could not have imagined what his love of racing pigeons would lead to, for arising from the strain which he produced there now exists a dynasty- the Aarden dynasty of long distance and marathon thoroughbred racing pigeons. Therefore, what better memorial to Jan Aarden but to ensure that the strain which he moulded and which became a dynasty will continue to overcome distances, mountains, seas, and other obstacles on the way to nest or perch. Thus, all todays Aardenists will continue the work of the master from Steenbergen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wouter & Selma Jorna

 

(2) WOUTER JORNA - A MARATHON FLYER

The subject of this article is a fancier from Holland who is perhaps the greatest marathon flyer in Europe at present if not in the world. Wouter Jorna is from Hippolytushoef in the Netherlands, a place miles beyond Amsterdam in the north of the country. It lies on a crown of land which forms the west bank of the Ijsselmeer and the east bank of the Waddenzee. It is a relatively desolate place and the prevailing winds buffet all that travels through it and after hundreds of miles of flight it takes the most courageous of pigeons to traverse it. And what is Wouter's measurements from Barcelona- wait for it- a staggering 1308 kms, that is 817 miles. What a breed!

Apparently the core of Jornas stock are the bloodlines of Nico Volkens, Jan Theelen and the old Aarden blood of Bas Batenburg. Our subject sent 14 pigeons last year (2004) to the Barcelona International and registered considering the distance perhaps the best ever racing performance in the history of the sport.From the number sent Jorna timed in 9 (7 hens and 2 cock birds) from a convoy of 25,000 birds. Those nine in the official result occupied the following positions: 42nd, 128th, 526th, 754th, 807th, 1,538 th, 3,770 th,4,759 th, and 5,247 th. The following times of each pigeons arrival confirm that they were racing 1132, 1213, 1255, 1307, 1310,1338,1459, 1541, and 1605 hrs. Jornas arrivals were in the top 25 percent. Yes, some flying!

As well as the bird registering 42nd in the International it was 17th International Hens from 6,903 of that sex participating. Another interesting fact which confirms the quality of these thoroughbreds and their condition as well as the expert managerial ability of Wouter Jorna is that the race was the second trip to the Spanish race point for the bird which scored 807th. This pigeon, a hen born in 1998 was 260th Open in 2003 flying against more than 20,000 other birds. These are blue blooded thoroughbreds were luck does not play a part as they race to their home lofts confirming that they are the aristocrats of the pigeon world.

The achievements of Wouter Jornas pigeons over 800 miles in 2004 are simply mind boggling. Let us reflect upon the wonder of the marathon racer and the managerial ability of its manager. In this case both are unique!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(3) ANDRE BROUCKAERT AND THREE IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES


Since my return to the sport I recalled aspects of pigeon racing management in the 1950s and early 60s whilst in partnership with my father. Reflecting upon our system of the time I knew that I had to learn lessons from that period if I wanted to pursue my objective of breeding for and winning from distances of 300 miles plus. For as I have said and written often the channel programme from France and Britain into the north west of Ireland is in the words of Gordon Chalmers ' the toughest of tough routes'. Now my reason for prefacing this article with the foregoing is that in my research for it I found myself in total agreement with its subject Andre Brouckaert. For the reader I offer my shared thinking with the great Belgium flyer: (1) if you exploit a pigeon from an early age its career will not last more than 4 years; (2) for long distance racing such exploitation is the height of folly for a pigeon requires in practice 3 years to become ready to face its long endurance tasks; (3) always treat your pigeons with the aforegoing thoughts in mind and eventually one will create a type of long distance and marathon pigeon, if the blood is right. The latter principles of management and the truth contained therein were confirmed by Andre Brouckaerts achievements at the ultra distances.

Brouckaert built his family upon the strains of Vanbruaene, Cattrysse, Van Hee, and Stichelbaut. Based upon the objective of creating a strain capable of winning at the longer distances. A project of pure specialization. Eventually culminating in the builder becoming the first Extra Long Distance Champion Of Belgium. The latter but one of many achievements recorded in an illustrious career in the sport. Randomly choosing from the results relating to Brouckaert for example in 1990 when no Belgium won any of the 4 International Competitions of that year he won the prestigious Colombe Joyeuse European Cup. A competition based upon the same races from Pau, Barcelona, Marseille, and Perpignan. A reward which crowned Brouckaert as an international champion. Prior to this he was the Long Distance Champion of Belgium in 1975 and 1978 as well as winning the St.Vincent National in 1980 and the Lourdes National in 1984. The lofts also won an international young bird race in Japan in 1986.

The go slow aspect of management as revealed earlier in this article ensured that Brouckaert had pigeons winning at the ultra distances at the ages of 6 and 7 years old. Unlike many others his racers were not burned out before their prime. Yes, patience is a virtue and Andre Brouckaert had it in abundance which is one of the main reasons that he was a master of his chosen sport. It is a valuable lesson that many have yet to pay heed to, both old and young, therefore may it become the norm in the present and future management of our thoroughbreds.



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Barcelona 22- seven times Barcelona- 1040kms

(4) WITTENDAL - A BARCELONA STRAIN

Because of the prominence of the Dutch strains in the distance races and those from the land of the sport's origins there is a tendency to ignore or overlook the flying exploits of other countries such as France, for example. Now that is about to be changed for the subject under consideration is an authentic Barcelona ace from the north of France whose name is Christian Wittendal.

Christian Wittendal was involved in the sport since early in his teens for he started racing at sixteen and from the start shared in success. Paddling his own canoe, however, was to end for in time he became the loft manager of the great Robert Sion. Then in the event of Sion's death Wittendal restarted on his own at Wattrelos, a suburb of the city of Tourcoing. There he began to build his family with the precise objective of tackling Barcelona.

As the past loft manager of Sion our subject was in a position of using some Sions at the base of his intended strain. At the start of the 1970's he received a couple of eggs from Leopold Coudou, the hatch resulted in two
pigeons of Sion- Commine bloodlines. He also purchased 12 birds from Arthur Taelement who was considered a very good breeder but not a racer. Taelement's pigeons were of the Commine bloodlines and as this strain was a special favourite of Wittendal the latter was confident that he had the right pigeons for what he had in mind.Another addition was a stock hen of Commine- Sion lines purchased by Wittendal at the auction sale of Alberic Desmet of Roubaix.

Thus began a task and a career of tackling the marathon of all marathons by a fancier who eventually produced so many outstanding Barcelona pigeons that Wittendal used the following means of recognition: Le Barcelona 01,followed by Le Barcelona 02, and so on arriving eventually at Le Barcelona 96 for cocks and Le Barcelona 14 for hens. All being birds which scored successfully from Barcelona in the French Nationals. So let us imagine entering the lofts of this Barcelona ace between 1970 and 1990 and observing over 100 pigeons who successfully flew from the Spanish race point, some more than once. For example, Barcelona 22 flew seven times from Barcelona scoring in the Nationals and the Internationals at a distance of 1040 kms. Pigeons who also showed their mettle in races from other race points in the French racing calendar. A sight to behold!

Looking at some French National positions from Barcelona we see that the Wittendals from 1979 until 1990, won the following positions: 26th, 30th, 13th, 17th, 33rd, 18th, 24th, 12th, 2nd, 5th, 1st, and 17th. A fantastic national record based upon a system of widowhood for the cocks and a natural programme for the hens. A colony managed by a master of the sport of long distance pigeon racing, whose success should be acknowledged, for Wittendal's achievements from the Spanish race point puts him at the top of the creme de la creme of the pigeon sporting world.A world in which he won three Nationals and several Gold Medals from the Cureghem Centre via one of the best ultra distance teams ever in the history of the sport and yet, how many of our readers has ever heard of Christian
Wittendal and his strain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

(5) SUPER CRACK - CHAMPION RACER &
BREEDER

There have been many outstanding racers and breeders in the history of the sport of pigeon racing. As well as those gems who
combined the gold of the breeder and the silver of the racer. But has there been any greater than the French born Super Crack? None,would be an opinion held by many across the world wide pigeon racing community.

The pigeoner, Robert Venus,bought this pigeon from a fancier called Gruson in 1974 after its marvellous racing career, and
shortly afterwards bought all of the pigeons bloodlines. Gruson had initially bought the pigeon from a friend, named Hovaere,
thinking that it was a hen.

Super Crack (rung 457421-68) is a legend of the sport and the legend continues to grow. Yes, the sport has had many pigeons capable of being dubbed a legend, some of which we shall look at in due time but in the opinion of authoritative pigeon folk Super Crack Gruson is number one! The only pigeon deserving of the title bestowed upon him arising from extraordinary flying
exploits and breeding productivity.

All this from a pigeon which in the mind of one past owner was born a hen but which in time was found to be a cock of small
proportions and lacking a pedigree.Allegedly a mysterious bird of origin who in due course would stamp its name forever in the
annals of pigeon racing not alone in Europe but throughout the globe.There exists confirmation or an almost one hundred per
cent certainty however that this great racer and breeder contained the bloodlines of Commines and Bricoux via Paul Sion.

This small blue bar in races between 150 and 650 miles had 11 first prizes which included 3 first Nationals from St. Vincent (520 miles) 1972, Barcelona 1974 (630 miles), and Narbonne (530 miles) in 1974; 2 in which he was the only bird home against thousands.In fact the wins from Barcelona and Narbonne in 1974 were within the space of 14 days. In total 46 good positions in 4 years including 43 positions in the first 10. On one occasion Super Crack finished 2nd National and was beaten by his son when both arrived together.What a record! As for his breeding accomplishments which are also outstanding: Super Crack is now apparently responsible for 120 National winners and approximately 20 1st International winners, as sire and
grand sire. In fact he sired at least 8 National winners.

Apparently Super Crack, psychologically, was of a good disposition, a character of which Robert Venus (as its final owner) has been known to speak of as if he was a son. Needless to say Gruson was literally flabbergasted by his then pigeon's racing
ability for apparently prior to racing he was not impressed by his purchase.It should also be noted that this blue blooded
thoroughbred was raced out of a Province of France that was included in the Belgium National results. On another occasion he
won a distance event which was his fourth 1st National but sadly, Gerald and Michel Van Hee finished in second place to Super Crack and petitioned the Belgium organization to have the French province eliminated from the results. Thus Van Hee
was awarded the race and Super Crack was allocated a provincial victory.

Finally it is reckoned by Super Crack enthusiasts that in about 48 countries descendants of this powerful pigeon are winning at all distances. Upon residing at the Venus lofts a descendent is Prins who was sire to: 1st International Pau 1994; 1st. National Pau; 2nd National Pau 98; 11th International Pau plus other super racers and breeders! Then there is Claudia Schiffer the number one hen and full sister to Prins who was dam and grand dam to 1st National winners and champion breeders! Not
forgetting Super Crack 305 who bred 1st International Tarbes,5008 pigeons, as well as 6th International and 9th International
on other occasions.

Yes, this is what dreams are made of and the lesson for every fancier is that handling and ones eye can overlook a genius in pigeon terms. They come in all shapes and sizes and although we have to seek a norm or standard we must realize that there
are exceptions to the norm and the standard. That is what makes pigeon racing so enchanting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(6) THE MULLER STRAIN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Magic Boy- 1st National Ace-Pigeon ZLU 1994
1st National Ace-Pigeon ZLU Barcelona 1993-1997
1st Internat. Ace-Pigeon Barcelona 1993-1997
44 nat. Barcelona; 73 nat. Barcelona; 118 nat. Marseille; 119 nat. Perpignan; 149 nat. Barcelona.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALTHOUGH A MAJOR COMPONENT OF THE AARDEN DYNASTY IT WOULD BE TRUE TO STATE THAT WIM MULLER HAS, AFTER APPROXIMATELY 30 YEARS AT THE TOP OF BREEDING AND RACING, MOULDED HIS FAMILY OF PIGEONS INTO A TOP MODERN STRAIN NAMELY THE 'MULLER STRAIN'.

Around 1970 Wim Muller entered the sport of pigeon racing and he obtained his stock from a friend named Piet Schot. The stock were Aarden and there was one of special bloodlines from the history of the latter strain. Gradually Muller through study and thoughtful experience developed a good stock sense so much so that he was quickly on the road to success in the sport. Some of us may take a life time but Wim Muller blossomed within a decade or thereabouts.

For at the beginning of the nineteen eighties the Muller lofts were supreme within a national context with great pigeons like Hercules, Willem and Adonis amongst others with the highlight of that decade being the winning of the Europa Cup in 1985. The year prior the famous 'Magic Boy' had won the title of 1st Ace Pigeon in races from Barcelona, Marseille and Perpignan; also the latter bird for the period 1993-1997 was crowned best European pigeon for five races from Barcelona. Some of the positions attained by this fabulous pigeon were as follows 44th nat. Barcelona; 73rd nat. Barcelona; 118th nat. Marseille; 119th nat. Perpignan; 149th nat. Barcelona from thousands of a convoy. Of course the basis for this family greatness was as implied the immortal Zilvervosje- a silver winged hen with an impeccable racing record that was to become the star of the Aarden dynasty and the pigeon acknowledged by Wim Muller (through a far from beautiful grand-daughter) to be the lynch pin of his racing pigeon enterprise.

The fabulous success of the Muller lofts at this time was observed and acted upon by an astute fancier called Hans Eijerkamp who decided that he would purchase the entire Muller family including Wim Muller himself. Eijerkamp was a stud owner (the successful Ponderosa enterprise) who throughout his life invested large sums in the sport and he hoped that he could impress the mind of Muller. His ambitions were not entirely achieved for Muller was as astute as Hans Eijerkamp. Finally there would be a new partnership Eijerkamp- Muller but the latter would remain at Wilhelminadorp on the Oosterschelde because he decided contrary to the wishes of his to be partner to sell 'the fruit of his orchard but retain the trees'. This Muller did when he sent his entire team of widowers and their hens to the Eijerkamp base and retained the stock birds which included the so called Superkoppel (super couple) of 'Kraag + Superduivin'.

For other lofts this would have spelled disaster but not for Muller for as a thinking fancier he had been influenced by the genetic writings of the Hungarian Professor Alfons Anker and according to the latter's principles the master of Wilhelminadorp knew that he had retained as rich a genetic pool as had won the Europa championship. Well, whose to know better than a strain's founder? For in due course Muller was again producing a team of new champions such as 'Madonna 86' and 'Madonna 2' alongside cocks of the quality of 'Hercules 2'. Yes this was a unique partnership beginning in 1989 and never seen before in the world of pigeondom and both partners were happy in fact very happy with the arrangement and in next to no time the productive aspect began to bear fruit via the multitude of breeders and winners. The off spring of Muller's pigeons spread throughout Europe via the Ponderosa experience and beyond to other parts of the world. This distinct strain moulded by Muller and distributed by Ponderosa became known as the indestructible marathon pigeons of the planet. Others began winning with the strain and breeding winners in which the Muller name became mentioned in the same breath as Delbar, Vanhee, Catrysse and of course his mentor Jan Aarden.

An important aspect of all this was the continuing winning and the fact that Muller became a full time pigeon fancier backed up with the most upto date computerized equipment which arose from the large financial injection by Eijerkamp based upon an allegedly five year agreement which was open to renewal if required. An agreement perhaps similar to those unique partnerships which exist in the field of horse and greyhound racing. It began well for 'First Lady' won the Perpignan national in 1989 which was into approximately the first six months of the new venture. Then in 1990 Mona Lisa won 1st National Bordeaux Yearlings. Bred from a brother of 'Madonna '82' who later became known as the Golden Breeder. To be followed by 'Lady Sarina' who in 1996 won 1st National Munchen. Then the strain won its second Europa Cup in 1997, which no other loft had achieved previously. And as well as being the winner of the General Championships of the ZLU it also won the title of Ace Pigeon Ultra Distance.

Being 39th in the Barcelona National in 1999 from a personal entry of four pigeons. Also the combination Houtekamp (a relative) won the millennium Barcelona International in 2000 with a one hundred per cent Muller bird. These continuing achievements were accomplished when the partnership of Eijerkamp- Muller was approximately fifteen years and allegedly three contracts in existence. It had proved to be a worthwhile arrangement but through the growth of his sons Wim and Andres and their interest in the sport the time had come for an end to the arrangement which had seen much success and today the partnership is a family of Muller and Sons. The contract with Eijerkamp ended on the last day of the year 2003.

As Muller and Sons (not forgetting Wim's wife and mother of the boys- Rina - who has been there as an important part of the enterprise from the beginning) the change in partnership did not effect the winning ability of the stud. For in 2004 the loft won 4th national Perpignan with a hen named 'First Class', 7645 birds; 1st national Perpignan hens; 1st international Perpignan hens; 5th national Pau; and 5th national Bordeaux as well as 23 prizes in the Barcelona race beginning with 70th national. Also from Dax 31 prizes beginning with 31st and 33rd national. So the Muller lofts appear to be ready for another period of outstanding results and in the process stamp the strain as one of the greatest of the new century. I look forward to its progress!

In conclusion I offer for the readers consideration some notable pigeons from the Muller family and their positions in the top ten: La Signorita- 2nd national Barcelona; Red Bull- 4th national Dax; Power Boy- 4th national Bordeaux; Marseille Star- 4th national Marseille; Lady Melissa- 5th national Bordeaux; Magic Max- 5th national Pau; Silver Boy- 5th national Perpignan; Black Rose- 5th national Barcelona; New Madonna- 6th national Barcelona; Porsche 911- 8th national Perpignan; Porsche 911- 8th national Pau; Grand Cru- 9th national Bordeaux; Evita- 10th national Perpignan;
Willem II- 10th national Perpignan; Adonis- 10th national Pau; and Lourdes- 10th national Lourdes.

Muller 2006 National results:
5 Nat. Bordeaux
14 Nat. Dax
48 Nat. Pau
4 Nat. Bordeaux NPO S1


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(7) MARIJN VAN GEEL - THE MASTER AARDENIST

What can be written which has not already been written about this master of the sport of pigeon breeding and racing? A native of the Netherlands who obtained stock from a dynasty of the best marathon- type pigeons and in due course made a valuable contribution to that same dynasty. A fancier who made Nieuw Vosemeer known far and wide throughout Europe and the world. When did it all begin?

Marijn van Geel and the great Jan Cools, another enthusiast for Jan Aardens, were a partnership but decided to separate and thereafter went to Steenbergen to obtain long- distance pigeons to build up their own families. The only proviso being that the stock obtained had to be based on the old Jan Aardens. Marijn van Geel acquired some birds from a fancier named Van Agtmaal: he was the best friend of Aarden and could get all the pigeons he wanted from him. Van Agtmaal gave to Van Geel five eggs, two of which became the sire and dam of the famous '500', one of the best long- distance racers and also a superb breeder. Two more youngsters from the same pair were also to join the Van Geel colony that year and along with two more birds, Ligtenberg and the Old 59, bred by Van Geel from the Big Cock from Stoffelen. With these few
pigeons van Geel laid the base for what were to become perhaps the best distance birds in the world. Later two other pigeons were introduced to his loft, the 1st National St. Vincent winner of Willem van den Burgh and the 1st International Barcelona winner of Piet van der Slik. This formed the basis of the wonderful van Geels.

However the future success of this family of pigeons did not come about through the chance matings of blue blooded birds. No! The owner epitomised the thinking fancier and hours of thought went into preparing the groundwork for his potential enterprise. As the master breeder, which he was, Marijn van Geel's course was that of inbreeding, in fact he was always reluctant to cross other pigeons into his family. This strategy paid
off dividends for within a brief period of time van Geel was considered one of the very best Dutch fanciers especially from the start of the nineteen sixties onwards. Perhaps most important of all that this master of breeding technique kept the Aardens as they were during the 1950s. For even 25 years after the death of Aarden the van Geel Aardens were true to type and performance. What a family- it included the famous
Dolle and Lange, Bonte 62, Old 54, Old 59 and numerous others including Vlekje whose bloodlines were the fertile soil from where champions blossomed within Holland and beyond. There is no doubt that van Geel was an outstanding master of the pigeon art and indeed, in the opinion of many,a genius of the sport.

Let us consider the great Dolle who died in 1985 at the age of 18. This great pigeon participated in 17 races and won 17 prizes including 1st Provincial St. Vincent 1.684 birds; 3rd National St. Vincent 6.844 birds; 1st Provincial Dax 1.032 birds; 3rd National Dax 3.649 birds; 9th Provincial Limoges 1.610 birds; 12th National St. Vincent 6.917 birds; 20th Provincial Chateauroux 2.176 birds; 22nd Provincial Chateauroux 2.425 birds; 39th Provincial Moulins 5.146 birds; 59th Provincial Moulins 4.612 birds; 66th National Dax 3.561 birds. Vlekje was a grandson of the Dolle and he won a car in the national from Dax which confirmed the breeding potential of the Dolle which won a car in a St. Vincent national and lost by a few seconds another car in the
Dax race, and this was when he was eight years old. Even today the Dolle bloodlines remain quite potent for Martha van Geel, the wife of the late Marijn, who returned to the sport after a period of absence was 12th in the Barcelona national in the year 2000.

Throughout the world today the van Geel pigeon genes ensure that when it comes to the distance they as a strain are not found wanting. What better memorial to Marijn van Geel, a gentleman of our sport, who put so much of a wonderful intellect into his contribution to the continuance of the Jan Aarden dynasty. The name of van Geel will be forever etched in the annals of the sport of long- distance pigeon racing

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(8) THE DORDIN STRAIN OF FRANCE

The founder of this great world renowned strain apparently would tap a walking stick and just like a regiment of soldiers his pigeons obeyed and done what was required of them. Now I'm old enough in the tooth so to speak and because of life experience I would not doubt the veracity of the first sentence. At any rate myths can grow around a wonderful enterprise and that is what I am writing about - the story of a great enterprise in the sport of pigeon racing. Pierre Dordin was a legend in his lifetime and his racing and breeding lofts were called 'Villa Patience' which stood below the Church tower in Harnes, France. With a background in farming prior to opening a pharmacy Dordin no doubt had learned much about animal husbandry for he was a maestro at the sport. So much so that his name is as revered as much as the earlier Wegge, Hansenne or Gurnay.

The son of a fancier Pierre Dordin was born into the sport which he loved and he knew that in order to succeed in it one had to have an abundance of patience and a tight regime of management. Hence the name of the lofts and the story of the tapping control. As a master of his art the founder of this strain knew that if he put the best into management that in turn his breeders and racers would eventually reward him and this they did. His discipline in his management, and it was hard, perhaps also derived from the fact that he was an ex- soldier who had answered the call in defence of his country in the World War.

Prior to a regime of management however one had to have pigeons to manage and the Dordin base arose from his father's colony. But we all know that we need crosses for the benefit of our stock therefore pigeons from the Commines, Hansenne and Stichelbaut strains plus some stock from Felix Rey were brought in. The latter contained Grooter bloodlines and it apparently contributed to an increase in the Dordins phenotype.This would appear to be the main input but I tend to believe that under the control of Dordin and his great loft manager Guy Barre other crosses were made if it was warranted.

Initially racing wise Dordin had some success and it grew but it was in the decade of the 1960s which saw all his hard work come to fruition. For in 1966 in a race from Angouleme the Dordins took the first 8 positions which included such greats as 'Spahi', 'Papillion' and 'Ramses' from an entry exceeding 3,000 birds. However one could not imagine what the following year would present to 'Villa Patience' and neither could I believe Pierre Dordin would either for in 1967 the new strain won 4 Nationals and 2nd International St. Vincent at a distance of 580 miles. Yes, the Dordins had arrived!

The following year saw more success with the famous 'Scout' winning 1st International San Sebastian whereas the 'Ut' in 1969 won the National from St. Vincent. In fact 4 of the Dordin strain finished within the first 8 in that race. In due course as the Dordin success went into top gear it is believed that many fanciers in France and in other European countries at the big races where in unison asking the question: 'What is Dordins time?' So many were his successes that a list of them would exceed the space which I have...

In this insight into a great strain and as a tribute it should be noted that it was not easy for any French pigeons to overcome the drag of other countries in the great International races but Dordin proved that it could be done if one had the right bloodlines and a committed managerial mindset. In a sense he was a pioneer and I hope that his example and spirit will influence the distance flyers of Britain and Ireland to follow suit. For there are more Internationals out there to be won!


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Old 86

(9) THE LOGANS

Although a man of many interests John W. Logan was destined to become the pioneer of distance pigeon racing in England. It was the late scribe and Logan specialist who wrote under the pseudonym of 'Old Hand' S.W.E. Bishop, the original editor of the 'Pigeon Racing Gazette', who referred to Logan as 'the wild Irishman'. Well its not the first time that persons of Irish blood or association have contributed to the culture and the sport of other lands. And what better area of contribution than the sport of pigeon racing in the land of the rose. Of course because of the close proximity of the two nations the land of the shamrock or the harp would also reap the rewards emanating from the stamina and the endurance of ' The Logans'. For many a fine representative of the strain flew hundreds of miles through all elements including crossing the English channel and the Irish sea to win for their proud owners in Ireland.

John Logan was a man of immense wealth and influence based upon his role as a master of engineering of which his hand is seen in some of the most important engineering feats in Britain of the nineteen century. In fact his success at this aspect of human endeavour as time progressed saw him elected eventually to the House of Commons. A role which as an MP he performed like all his many other interests to the best of his ability. By all accounts Logan was a unique individual.

As to his beginnings in the sport of pigeon racing it is believed that this was in approximately 1870 when there were none or very few long distance pigeons in England. But once he was hooked so to speak Logan would have attempted to move mountains on behalf of the sport as well as establishing the United Counties Flying Club and ultimately becoming Chairperson of the English National Flying Club. Yes, in those formative years of the sport he was often referred to as a person of immense importance. In fact at that fledgling period he was looked upon as the leader of the sport in England if not in Britain. And along with the late Colonel Osman the founder of another great English strain
Logan founded the British based 'Racing Pigeon Weekly'.

But in creating in due course England's number one strain where did Logan procure the foundations of the latter? In the nineteen hundreds an Englishman by the name of Northrop Barker from Yorkshire had settled in Belgium and raced so well in the sport there that he was second to the great Grooters of worthy fame. The astute Logan had been observing Barker's achievements for sometime and in 1878 he surprised many by buying out the latter's loft and bringing them to England. He then as an original thinker sold most of the old birds ensuring that he got quite a number of their offspring back crossed with pigeons from those whom he had sold the young birds too. The latter with other purchases for example input from the Gits, Hansenne, Tofts, Blampain, Soffle, Dardenne, and Goosens were the foundations and the blocks of the Logan strain.

With a millionaire revenue Logan bought other outstanding birds although some others he failed to obtain in fact he once offered Gits a pair of the best carriage horses in England for two of the latters best birds but was refused.

He did obtain one outstanding champion and that was 'Rome 1' which he purchased from Gasper Heutz and which was the leading pigeon in the 1878 Rome race, appearing ultimately in the bloodlines of Logan's 'Old '86'. The latter bird 'Old '86' was born in 1879 and in 1882 flew Arras; 1883 3rd from Rennes; 1884 1st from Rennes and also flew La Rochelle; then in 1886 1st Ventnor; 1st Rennes and 1st La Rochelle. Outstanding victories in an era when the transport of the pigeons was an obstacle to their form and health. Surely one of the great racing pigeons of all time was 'Old '86'.

Apparently Logan was a hard but fair task master and was known to have killed off many birds in the build up of his strain. As an advocate of careful crossing the evidence from his time confirms that he was extremely careful and this appears to be part of his genius for otherwise no successful strain would have evolved without this factor.

An important aspect of his breeding method was the pairing of an outstanding Cock with two outstanding hens and then to pair the offsprings of the initial matings. Many successes arose from this method.

His family of racers were very game and definitely of long distance par excellence. And as they were based upon many strains the Logans were noted to be good crossers with any other strain or family. But like some other strain founders inspite of their successes and there were many the development of the strain were helped by others like the late S.W.E. Bishop whose family in due course were labelled 'Bishop's Logan's'.

The latter development is nothing new in the sport for it took other breeders who in a sense were masters in the art and the science of pigeon breeding and racing to develop the dynasties. As if the founder of a strain was but the seed setter but others were necessary for the nurturing and the fruition of the original work. The latter is true to a certain extent as one can see in the development of the Aardens and the Stichelbauts for example.

It is to be noted that one of Logans famous hens '1826' won 8th and 1st in the English NFC National in successive years at a distance of 640 miles. The latter outstanding racer proved also to be a good
breeder. Rome 1st was in her bloodlines as well as another of Logan's finest breeders '129'. Also '1826' bloodlines are found in the great ' Twilight ' of world renown and of latter times.

The record of results which I have encountered in researching the background for this article are too numerous to mention: but apparently between 1877 until 1886 J. W. Logan experienced continual
success at both racing and breeding with the family which he created. And in due course the Logans cultivated by others such as the above mentioned Bishops, and to include Shearing, etc., added to the onward march of the dynasty which has established the strain forever in the folklore of pigeon racing.
That is as it should be for there is no doubt in the mind of this writer that the Logans were on a par with the best of distance strains from the European mainland.

Thus the 'wild Irishman' if he had accomplished nothing else in his lifetime has left his undoubtable mark on the history of the sport of European pigeon racing.


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(10) EMILE DENYS

Emile Denys is one of the greatest masters of the sport of long distance pigeon racing and in the opinion of many amongst the top three Barcelona flyers since the race's origin. He was one of the famous Denys Brothers who in 1969 were so outstanding in national racing that the great pigeonologist Piet De Weerd said that the Denys loft was the second best in Belgium. De Weerd made his announcement in 1970 and because of his standing amongst the world's pigeon community the Denys name came to the fore.

One of Emile Denys notable achievements was his ability to successfully nominate pigeons to win the Belgium Golden Wing Award on a number of occasions. This award was conceived by the Barcelona Club of Brugge in order to equalize the competition from Barcelona. With fanciers sending one or a few entries and other fanciers basketing 50, 100 or more it was felt that a single bird nomination would be more equal. Thus one entrant alone was nominated i.e. a 'One Bird International'. It followed that Emile Denys won the competition in 1982 and 1986 with a father and son combination named 'Tee' and 'Playboy'. On another occasion 'Tee' was runner up. The odds against the latter achievements are tremendous and the fact that Denys was so successful implied he was one of the great masters of the sport.

His success at nominating winners of the Golden Wing Award are not alone the reason for his appearance in this series. For other results of the Denys strain in high class competition reveals 1st International St.Vincent in 1969 with 'Bliksem'; 1st International Narbonne with 'Prins' in 1974; 1st, 2nd and 3rd National St.Vincent (hens) in 1974. During that period Emile Denys was crowned General Champion of All Belgium KBDB from a total of 97,000 other fanciers. Then in 1983 Deny won 1st International Hens Perpignan with 'Blue Perpignan'. A great pigeon which flew from Perpignan 5 times in total.

Perhaps Denys best racer was the famous 'Tee' whom many consider was the greatest Barcelona racer ever. He flew Barcelona 5 times and each time he was in the prizes. Being officially recognized as the best from the Spanish racepoint for the years 1978- 1982. In Belgium Nationals from Barcelona 'Tee' scored 2nd, 3rd, 24th, and 69th as well as 4th, 8th, 46th, and 102nd in the Internationals. Competing against entries of between 12,200 and 15,600 of the best pigeons in Europe. 'Tees' son 'Playboy' scored 2nd National Barcelona and 5th International as well as the Golden Wing Award in 1986.

Apparently the Denys base were Vandevelde but Stichelbauts were introduced and this proved to be a stroke of breeding genius for from the cross came the great producer 'Remi' who left his mark upon this outstanding strain. Other bloodlines were apparently introduced over the years such as Vanbruaene and Cattrysse which added to the ongoing development of the strain which continued to win for the founder and others in many countries. Yes, this is one of the great strains since the origins of the sport and in this brief introduction or tribute there is not the space to illustrate its successes wherever it has taken root. No wonder Emile Denys is known throughout Europe as 'Mr. Long Distance"

The following are the 1st positions obtained by the Deny team, at National and International level from various race points, followed by results from Barcelona:
1st National Limoges Derby 1966
1st National Limoges OB 1966
1st National St-Vincent 1969
1st National Cahors 1970
1st International Narbonne 1974
1st National St-Vincent Hens 1974
1st National Limoges YL Hens 1981
1st National Limoges Derby Hens 1982
1st International Perpignan Hens 1983
1st National Perigueux Hens 1984
1st National Limoges YL Hens 1985
1st National Limoges Derby Hens 1986
1st International San Sebastian 2002
1st International San Sebastian Hens 2002
1st National St-Vincent Sector A 2003
1st International San Sebastian Hens 2003
1st International San Sebastian Hens 2004


BARCELONA – 1075 KM
1st GOLDEN WING 1982; 1st GOLDEN WING 1986;
2nd GOLDEN WING 1980; 2nd NATIONAL 1982; 2nd NATIONAL 1986; 3rd NATIONAL 1980; 4th GOLDEN WING 1988; 4th INTERNATIONAL 1982;5th NATIONAL 1997; 5th INTERNATIONAL 1986; 6th NATIONAL 1999; 6th NATIONAL 2001; 7th INTERNATIONAL 1997; 7th NATIONAL HENS 1998;
7th INTERNATIONAL HENS 1975; 8th INTERNATIONAL 1980; 12th NATIONAL 1999; 15th NATIONAL 1974; 15th NATIONAL 1977; 15th NATIONAL 1988; 18th NATIONAL 2005.





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Diva Barcelona

(11) THE SCHASCHKOWS OF FRANCE

Aside from the article relating to the great Dordin strain this is the second article which refers in this series to the sport in
France. Its subject is one of the most consistent of distance families of racing pigeons for decades in Europe and indeed the lofts in 2005 won the Barcelona International. In fact this brothers partnership known as the Schaschkows have long since made the marathon of all marathons their number one objective or goal in the sport.

The brothers are Cyrille and Raymond and their record at the distance within
recent years is outstanding with the following highlights: 2004 1st & 2nd International Hens Yearlings Marseille; 2004 4th National Barcelona, and 28th International; 2003: 1st National Barcelona, and 8th International. Winning the 'Barcelona De Cuyper Fondsport Prize (France)' 2003: 7th International Marseille Hens. 2002: 1st National Perpignan. 2002: 12th International Dax Hens. 1999: 1st International Marseille Hens. 1999: 15th Barcelona '2000 Pigeon Championship'. 1995: 16th International Perpignan Hens. 1995: 17th International Marseille. 1994: 1st National Marseille and 5th International. 1992: 5th International Marseille Hens.

As stated the Barcelona National and International races are what they have set their sights on and their whole year is geared for this cause. Here they commit their hens to the marathon and only upon eggs. Only the best are prepared for the Spanish race point and this is via daily tosses of approximately 90km from Straatsburg. Their winner of the tough 2005 International flying against 25,835 other birds is referred to as 'Diva Barcelona' and is an outstanding representative of a distance pigeon. Prior to her success in the International at 4 years of age this medium sized blue cheq hen in 2002 recorded a prize from Marseille, followed by scoring 292nd in the 2003 Barcelona International race. In the 2004 season the 'Diva Barcelona' flew well from Dax and was 216th International Hens from Pau.

The 2005 winner must have flown gallantly through the rain on the first day of the race from Barcelona for Cyrille found her on the loft at 4.40am. Being clocked at approximately 5.03am on the 2nd morning implies that she was not far from home on the night of the race or interestingly as it has been suggested the 'Diva Barcelona' flew through the night to make it home so early in the morning. Whatever the answer she has made her mark upon pigeon racing history and the Schaschkows have joined the unique and elite band of International Barcelona winners.

The base of the Schaschkows include some of the best strain names in Europe including the legendary Aarden strain especially the Van Der Wegen strand of the latter pigeon dynasty coupled with the bloodlines of the Vanhees, the Kipps, the de Weerds, the Vanbruaenes, etc,. Obviously aware that to conquer the distance the best bloodlines available were required to fulfil their ambitions. Thus coupled with an extreme motivation Cyrille and Raymond Schaschkow have written a chapter of modern pigeon racing history and they have done so relatively young. We shall hear more of them as we traverse the new millennium!


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(12) JAN POLDER OF THE NETHERLAND'S

Jan Polder is from Middleharnis in Holland one of if not the hottest spot for distance racing in that country. Polder is there at the top with the best and not surprising he is there because of the Jan Aarden dynasty of long and marathon distance pigeons. For the latter strain coupled with the Van Wanroy's are the tools of his trade and there is no doubt that he is a master craftsman.

Jan Polder started the long distance type of racing in 1985 with approximately 15 pigeons which he bought from Jac Steketee the Bruinisse maestro of the Aarden strain. Based upon the above bloodlines Polder kept the pigeons for breeding and as it turned out he had made the purchase of a lifetime for during the next 5 years he had made himself a name in European pigeon racing with excellent results, like the 3rd National Barcelona, 5th and 9th National Marseille, 8th National Perpignan, 9th National San Sebastian, etc.

Through a regime of strict inbreeding accompanied with extreme culling Polder created in a short period his own and a new strain of distance racing pigeons. A thinking fancier he knew that good health was required in fact the number 1 priority for pedigree and bloodlines were useless unless the health was of top class therefore he sought immunity against a background of the dry droppings method. And the fruit of his thinking is flourishing at Middleharnis today or in other words the proof of the pudding is in the eating. His strain also being advanced by an intelligent use of crossing Cattrysse, Brugemann and Brinkman strains into his own.

His strain has provided increasing numbers of winners for other fanciers at home and abroad but it is his own successes that stamp this new strain to be one of the best for the ultra races of the new millennium: Barcelona National 3rd, 28th, 67th, 74th, 79th, 102nd, 189th, 215th, etc; Perpignan National: 8th, 44th, 66th, 75th, etc; Marseille National: 5th, 9th, 18th, 21st, 32nd, 39th, 50th, etc. Superb flying by any definition in a country which has been acknowledged to be the greatest long and marathon domain in the world of pigeon racing. The St. Vincent results over the last few years also confirm the greatness of these lofts, for example, 3rd, 5th, 7th. and again 7th. National. An example of the calibre of the strain is the great 'Rainbow Warrior' who won 3rd. and 7th National St. Vincent against 6,385 and 6,330 pigeons and 8th National Mont de Marsan against 7,245 of a convoy. Then there is 'Husky' who was crowned as 1st International Ace Pigeon Pau over the years 1998 - 2002 and not forgetting ‘Witstaart’ who was crowned the best Barcelona pigeon in the Netherlands over 3 years scoring 28th, 67th and 215th National Barcelona, which won the prestigious title of ‘Golden Barcelona Pigeon’. And these are but a few of many outstanding racers housed at Middleharnis.

As stated others have reaped the pigeon racing harvest sowed by Jan Polder scoring as an example: 1st National Marseille; 2nd National Barcelona; 3rd National Perpignan; 3rd National St. Vincent; 3rd National Mont de Marsan; 1st Ace Pigeon Overnight Noord en Zuid Holland; 1st National Ace Pigeon ZLU International Flights. Also in France a Mr Poirrier has been acknowledged as one of the best Barcelona racers with pigeons based on the Polder strain. As for the Polder lofts in the year 2004 had a remarkable result from St.Vincent against 6,385 birds in the Dutch National: 3th, 7th, 199th, 479th, 768th, 819th from 6 entrants.

It is always good to do a write up on a fancier who is committed to the sport, who has a dream of conquering the distances and, like the late President Kennedy who paraphrased George Bernard Shaw when he said 'I dream dreams that never where and say why not?', shares those sentiments.

Op deze pagina een foto van mijn favoriete duiven: de St.Vincent Doffer en Popeye en mijn duivenhok (+nog een apart kweekhokje)	In de toekomst zal deze pagina nog verder worden uitgebreid. W.G. van de Put   Pius X Straat 1 5531 GA Bladel
In 1992 ben ik opnieuw begonnen met de duivensport nadat ik vroeger in België omstreeks de jaren ’70 ook al een jaar of 10 met duiven gespeeld heb. Ik kom uit een echt duivennest want mijn vader was ook duivenmelker en mijn broer is momenteel een van de te kloppen liefhebbers op de Vitesse en Midfond in het samenspel Bladel-Hapert.   In oktober ’99 ben ik verhuisd, alwaar ik veel moeite heb gehad met de vergunning voor mijn nieuwe duivenhok, ik heb door omstandigheden slechts 15 koppels aan kunnen houden waarmee ik een nieuwe start heb gemaakt. Ik zal je vertellen dat dit in eerste instantie niet meeviel (van het jaar 2000 zit er geen enkele duif meer), maar dat het er nu weer aan zit te komen. Optimist blijven en vooral hobbyist.Aangezien ik het liefst overnacht vluchten speel en ook de eendaagse vluchten wel leuk vind, gebruik ik de vitesse en midfond vluchten als invliegvluchten. In 2004 ben ik opnieuw verhuisd naar een andere woning in Bladel en ook dit keer heeft dit de nodige problemen gekost, waardoor de prestaties dit jaar wat minder zijn. Gelukkig ben ik nu weer helemaal klaar met de hokken en ik zie de toekomst dan ook weer met vertrouwen tegemoet. De foto's op deze pagina zijn van de hokken bij de nieuwe woning.    Mijn duivenstam heb ik opgebouwd uit enkele duiven van mijn broer welke veel duiven heeft van Louis Stabel en Zn.uit Goirle, waar hij keihard mee speelt op de vitesse en midfond. Bij deze duiven heb ik een doffer van het ras van Wanroy, via Jaap van Alphen en een duivin van Piet Lazeroms, via Sjef van Eijk. Deze twee duiven had ik tegen elkaar gezet en ik heb er enkele zeer goede duiven uit gekweekt, o.a.de St.Vincent doffer 4173023-95, die in ’97 de 26e prijs had van 106 duiven van St.Vincent en de16e prijs van 93 duiven van Dax, in het samenspel Bladel-Hapert.In ’98 vloog hij de 311e Nat. van 21385 duiven vanuit St.Vincent en in ’99 de 184e van 21210 duiven van St.Vincent en 1067e van 19125 duiven vanuit Dax.   Verder zitten er nog wat duiven van Gebr. Hagens, via Erik Vromans en van Erik Vromans zelf. Ook zit er nog wat soort in van Jantje Theelen dat ik via via verkregen heb en een vale doffer van de gebr. Bruggeman uit Hengelo. Deze had ik opgevangen en mocht ik behouden. Vandaar dat er nogal veel rode duiven zitten.    In ’98 ging het erg goed en werd ik 1e aangewezen kampioen op de eendaagse in het samenspel Kempen West en in ’99 werd ik 2e aangewezen en 3e onaangewezen kampioen in dat zelfde samenspel. In Bladel had ik de 1e en de 2e duifkampioen.
Links zitten de jongen in een deel van de garage, rechts het hok van de oudjes..	Het hok van de "oude" duiven. Het glimt nog van nieuwigheid.
De jonge duiven.	Hapje eten, altijd lekker.
Nog wel een tikje rustig. Even fluiten en ...	... al snel komen er meer
... en meer.	Ook de oudjes krijgen wat te eten.
Ziet er allemaal keurig uit toch ?	Hier de kweekduiven en enkele van hun jongen.
Ook daar lusten ze wel wat.

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PIET LAZEROMS O.L. Vrouwestraat 123 Zegge phone 0031165-538094 The man who kept the 'AARDENBIRDS most pure is Piet Lazeroms. He purchased them from Van Stoffelen, Jan van de Par, Toon Ligtenberg and van Van Agtmaal. Sometimes a whole colony at a time so that no birds were skipped (this is what Piet de Weerd advised) For Piet Lazeroms it was a challenge to reserve the strain Jan Aarden or even make it better. How successful he was is proven by numerous long-distance racers both at home and abroad who all became winners in this sport with the Lazeromsbirds.

Mr Piet Lazeroms and Mr  Piet de Weerd

In many loft  reports on great Dutch long distance champions or national winners you can read the top-birds descend from the sensational ‘Aardenpigeons’ of Mr Piet Lazeroms.

• Oude Ligtenberg (64-1096022), the "Oude Ligtenberg" is a pure Jan Aarden, closely related to "Oud Doffertje" of  Janus van der Wegen and  "Dolle" of Marijn van Geel.  "Oude Ligtenberg" is at the base of enormous successes for Piet Lazeroms himself but even more for many others via the Lazeromsbirds.
• The "500" of v. Agtmaal (61-141500) was mated to "Oude Ligtenberg". This pair of  world class gave excellent breeders such as  "NUL-twee" (67-1561002),  "NUL-drie" (67-1561003),  "NUL-achttien" (67-1561018),  "427" (69-2025427),  ""433" (69-2025433) and so on. A book could be written about the successes of the descendants of these Jan Aardenbirds.  
• The "26" (65-567226) undoubtedly the best hen at long distance ever. She was a daughter of  "Oude Stoffelen" (58-315130) x  "500" (61-141500). This hen won 4th National Dax, 6th national. Dax, 13th National. St.Vincent, 16th National Dax, 17th National  St.Vincent, 44th National Dax, 74th National Dax, 220 National Dax, 327 National Dax, 508 National St.Vincent, 580 National St.Vincent, 689 National . Bergerac. This  "26" had a great impact on the Lazeromsstrain. 
• The "Oude Sproet" (66-2029053) is a sensational basic bird, bred by Piet Lazeroms and closely related to the legendary  "10" from Antoon Ligtenberg (54-472110) x the   "Oude Stoffelenduivin". The "Oude Sproet" himself won 2nd National St Vincent and  21^st  National Dax, both races held in the hard season 1968. But as a breeder the  "Oude Sproet" was of even more value. She became the mother and grandmother of a lot of winners on the long distance races. The "Oude Sproet” (66-2029053) was mated with the worldfamous  "38" of Jan Aarden. This couple gave a lot of super birds such as  "Gouden Crack" (69-2096674),  "86" (69-2096686). "Gouden Crack” and  "86" (brother and sister) were mated for many years. Many fanciers both at home and abroad owe their successes to the incredible ‘breeding qualities’ of this pair..

Now at the wake of the 21st century this superior ‘LAZEROMS/AARDEN’ strain has lost nothing of  its value. That’s why Cor de Heyde of Made went to the little town of Zegge. Piet Lazeroms gave him the "Klamper'' (84-1870149), bred off of  74-2385421 x 79-1461678.  "421" is a son of  the faboulous hen "26". The "678" is of the bloodline of "Oude Sproet". The ‘Klamper’ is a miracle as a breeder and made Cor de Heijde famous all over the world.  He also got from Lazeroms the 308-duifje (81-F308) which was her halfsister.. This 308-duifje won 15 prizes in the National races for Piet Lazeroms.   

The attraction at the auction in the town of Zundert was  't Kleintje ( 81-1524). She was the best hen which was sold then and was off of the same mother. 't Kleintje won 13 prizes among which 14th National Dax (12.943  birds), 39th National St.Vincent (16.629 birds) and  41st National Bergerac (13.302 birds).

A remarkable bird is also "Prinses Petra"( 87-2328857), the basic hen of Bros Maas from Zundert. She is a granddaughter of  308-duifje.   The Jan Arden Story - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When one gets involved in discussing the sport of pigeon racing the name of Jan Aarden is sure to appear especially in relation to the long distances because the strain of racing pigeons created by this master has been immortalised by some due to the impact it has made throughout the world. But who was this Dutchman credited with being the creator of a great marathon strain? A man whose bloodlines run through many of the winners and others to the fore in the Barcelona International and indeed many national and international winners throughout the world of modern pigeon racing. Jan Aarden was born in the city of Oosterhout on the Sixth of November 1893 to Martinus Aarden and Lucia Schoenmakers. There he attended school at the Abbey of St.Paulus. From his earliest days Jan had a great love for animals and birds and in particular racing pigeons. The love of the latter was kindled by a Fr. Paulus who kept some racing pigeons in the Abbey grounds and needless to relate the young Aarden in due course became the "boy manager" of the good Father's stock. There his passion for the thoroughbreds of the sky intensified and by the time he was 18 he was a member of a racing pigeon club in Oosterhout, where in a short period of time he owned a loft of good short and middle distance racers. An early influence upon Aarden was the family of Oomens from Breda who were the long distance stars of the Netherlands prior to World War 2. Aarden developed a close friendship with the father of the family and in due course owned some of their birds. The famous 37 of Jan Aarden's was a grandson of Zilvervosje which had Oomens bloodlines on both sides of the pedigree. This light check' hen with a reflection of silver in her wings was a wonderful breeder as well as a racer. Her bloodlines are there in the families of the great Aarden fanciers like Muller, van Agtmaal, van den Burgh, van der Wegen, van den Eijnden and the Kuypers, as well as being the grandfather of Ko Nipius's second national Barcelona. In fact her contribution to the development of the marathon pigeon in Europe is immense especially in the light of the truth that there is very little known about the hen's origins but thanks to Steve Patrick of Parick Bros who won the English NFC Pau National with an Aarden I can state that the Zilvervosje is a daughter of Slaper (H 46- 270518) + the Goris Duivin of Alfred Goris (Kruisland). This fabulous hen when mated with Zesentachtig ( H 47- 433486) bred Late Meesters (H 49- 525758) : a pearl of a pigeon. (The famous 131 was a great granddaughter of Late Meesters). The latter appearing in the pedigrees of many of the best modern representatives of the strain. The partnership of Eijerkamp- Muller confirms that the Zilvervosje was the foundation bird of their family. The sire of van Wanroy's the Spin is a grandson and the dam is a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. And of course the Spin was the foundation bird in the families of Kuypers Brothers and Peter van den Eijnden. And as stated Aarden's 37 was a grandson of the hen. In turn 37 was the grandfather of Giel van Agtmaal's 500 as well as the grandfather of Jan de Weert's 131. Surely two of the best of the Aarden dynasty. Further research showed that Zilvervosje was the granddaughter of the Oude Witpen- a famous breeder of Toon Stoffelen. And that the Bontje Aarden, dam of Ligtenberg's 10 was a granddaughter of Zilvervosje. Bearing in mind that the Bontje Aarden was the mother of Janus van der Wegen's Oude doffertje. The list appears to be endless re the breeding influence of Zilvervosje but as stated she was also a very good racer. Some of her triumphs included the following: 3rd nat. Dax (1949); 2nd nat. Dax (1950); 55th nat. St. Vincent (1950); 7th nat. Dax (1951); 47th nat. St.Vincent (1951). After Jan's marriage to Janntje Akermans on the twentieth of July, 1916, the Aarden's moved to and lived in the village of Teteringen for almost four years. There Aarden built a loft and moved his pigeons there but because of family commitments and the First World War there was a lack of success. In 1921 the family moved again- this time to Steenbergen, followed by another move to Grintweg in 1924.This was not to be the last removal for eventually the family settled in Steenbergen where Jan and his wife managed a hotel where even today many fanciers from throughout the world visit and is held as a sort of shrine. The early nineteen twenties saw another important influence bearing upon Jan in the person of his son Anton who was also interested in the sport and who at the age of 18 joined with his father in a combination. Anton's influence led his father from the shorter to the longer races and although the results were not outstanding by luck and friendships Aarden through his skills and patience built his wonderful strain. One of those friendships was Piet de Weerd, the world famous pigeonologist, whose knowledge and advice Jan pondered. Another fruit of their friendship was the so called " Piet de Weerd pigeon": perhaps Aardens main breeding hen, of Delbar / Deguffroy origin. In fact the Delbar's played a prominent part in the Aarden's origins for some of the early breeders carried the blood of this strain. Now during research for this article I encountered material suggesting Aarden was the builder but de Weerd was the architect of the strain. Whatever the merits of the suggestion there is no doubt that Jan Aarden was a master of stockmanship. Visiting good lofts and obtaining the best upon which to build. Like all great creators however he knew that genius can involve the experience of others. By the end of 1930 in the breeders of Jan Aarden was the blood of Ost-Roe alongside stock from Henrey Rey and a super hen from Leo De Cock. The Ost- Roe bloodlines belonged to Jules Roeckaert- the former title he used for sometime. Here I relate to the colour of reds in the Aardens which raises some eyebrows to the extent that there is disbelief that red is a colour truly representative of the strain. Research however confirms that reds were at the basis of the strain through the stock of Rey and Roeckaert. The most prominent of the former's loft was Ouden Vassart- a red which Rey purchased at the auction of Pauwels from the Sas of Gent. From Roeckaert Aarden bought for stock a light checker Belske, whose father was Leon a red cock from Leon Van der Saude. Perhaps this may lay to rest the suspicion surrounding the Aardens of red or mealy plumage. With his natural talent and genealogical knowledge coupled with an emphasis on inbreeding Aarden used the stock obtained from Roeckaert, Rey, and others to build and experiment. Initially, he paired the Blaue Ost Roe to the Oude Rey duivin which showed the spark of genius for he had immediate success w