Herman Brinkman - Tuk Marathon champion at one of the furthest distances

Tuk: Located in the province of Overijssel and for those who know the Netherlands know that they have to look in the northern part of the country to designate Tuk. For the Brinkman pigeons, this means they always have to race one of the furthest distances in the Netherlands and we are talking about distances such as Barcelona 1,308km - St Vincent 1,153km - Cahors 1,053km - Agen 1,053km - Perigueux 935km. The Brinkman pigeons must have an iron character to always be present at such distances. 
Herman, in his mid-70s, has been infected with the "pigeon virus" since childhood. Father Jan Brinkman was a “programme racer” but Herman has always had a taste for marathon races. Especially when he moved to Tuk with his wife Ria in the late 1970s. Herman is a teacher and he performed that profession with great love for no less than 41 years. 
Herman says: "When we moved to our new home, we naturally needed new furniture, and where do you buy new furniture as a pigeon fancier? Indeed at furniture giant "Eijerkamp" in Zutphen because when you buy furniture, you also get pigeons. As I love marathons, Hans Eijerkamp advised me to buy van der Wegen pigeons. Hans had bought a round of youngsters from Adrianus van de Wegen in 1973 and that was also the year they won 1st national Barcelona. Herman was allowed to put grandchildren of famous van der Wegen pigeons such as "Lamme" and "Oud Doffertje" in his basket. I still remember them being delivered by a courier service. Full of impatience and with great expectations, I took my van der Wegen pigeons out of the basket and frankly, I was seriously disappointed. They were like starlings. So small. But their character to shine on the marathon flights knew no limits and a few years later I bred from 2 van der Wegen/Eijerkamp pigeons the 1st national St Vincent '86 and also my famous pigeon "Schoorsteen" which also became the 1st national acebird WHZB Netherlands in '86 and represented the Netherlands at the Olympiad in Dortmund in 1987. In 1990 Herman was at the front door of champion Vertelman en Zoon and reinforced his colony with the famous Jan Theelen blood. 
Another hit was the purchase of "3 Zeventjes" from Mees-van Ginkel. 
 

Current toppers

We could make a list of the current toppers but everything is nicely presented in the "Racing to 2023" brochure. Herewith the 2 pages of Herman Brinkman

Success thanks to "Brinkman pigeons
The successes piled up in Tuk and and also on other lofts the Brinkman pigeons excelled. Nice anecdote is that Herman organised a sale of late youngsters and at that sale Buellens and Son from Heverlee bought several youngsters. Buellens were real Barcelona specialists in the 1990s and their "Black Brinkman" and "Little Brinkman" became their basic pigeons. 
Also in the international Barcelona winners "New Laureaat" at Luc Wiels and "Jef" at Rans, we come across the name Herman Brinkman in the pedigree. 

 

For the marathon fanciers among us who want to strengthen their pigeons with the real character pigeons of Herman Brinkman, they can now make their move on internet sales Pigeon Bids where Herman offers a nice selection of his toppers.