Pieter Goeree from Driewegen wins national Barcelona 2022 in The Netherlands with 'Catalana'

And then the gunpowder fumes of national and international Barcelona have lifted again! The battle is over. Dreams have come true but even more have burst like soap bubbles. But that is characteristic of the pigeon sport and certainly applies to a race like Barcelona. Which pigeons are suitable for this, which pigeons can handle that? We can find out by basketing and playing them. To excel on this flight for years proves to be extremely difficult. Pigeons that can race top 100 nationally for several years in a row are rare. And Barcelona is a flight full of obstacles, unknown problems and known and unknown dangers. That every year is different certainly applies to Barcelona. How did the pigeons get into the basket, were they top or could it be better? And along the way, a little luck and luck can't hurt either. Just managed to dodge that one thread well, just found a favorable spot to have a drink. And how many fans do we hear talking about building a squad for Barcelona. Where do you get pigeons that have a lot in their genes to handle Barcelona and at what price (literally and figuratively)? A good portion of luck is also indispensable in breeding, because when and at what age does a certain couple of pigeons give the good racer or good breeder? In reports we always read about the winning and successful pigeons, but how many brothers and sisters of them were worth nothing or barely anything on the flights and in breeding? And they have the same genes! The story of Johan Cruyff and his brother Henny, the same parents but not the same football qualities.

Open and 'heavy' weather

We can say with certainty about Barcelona 2022 that the pigeons had nice open flying weather with a clear sky in France on Friday. But it was against the wind, albeit a very moderate wind, but with a sun that shone exuberantly and with higher temperatures in France and all that made it really hard. In Belgium and the Netherlands the pigeons had to deal with a north-westerly wind that was somewhat stronger and later more westerly. On Friday, July 8, the pigeons were given their freedom just northwest of Barcelona. The international convoy this year included 16,897 pigeons, including 4905 from Dutch participants. In 2018, national Barcelona received 3912 pigeons at the start and that was a low point, but then it rose from 4129 in 2019, 4477 in 2020, 4838 in 2021 and therefore 4905 pigeons this year. And we call that an upward trend, which will mainly have been 'made' by a reasonable number of enthusiasts who basket larger teams on this Spain flight. The first report came early on Saturday morning from the preliminary flight in France, from Criquebeuf sur Seine. There the Dudouit family clocked at 5:49 am and they are at 866 km. Their pigeon reached a speed of 926 m.p.m. and that would later turn out to be the fastest pigeon of the French legion of 4123 Barcelona visitors. Their place of residence already indicates that the town is located on the river Seine and we know that it flows through Paris. The river is no less than 776 km long and flows past well-known release points such as Troyes, Melun, (Paris), Mantes-la-Jolie and Rouen and flows into the Channel at Le Havre. Just south of Rouen is Criquebeuf-sur-Sreine. The second French pigeon managed to reach 862 m.p.m. and that is already considerably less. The second pigeon in time was clocked at 7.10 am in Belgium in Sart-Dames-Avelines, a village in the south of the province of Walloon Brabant and located between Brussels and Charleroi. A three-year-old hen was clocked there by Team Delhove-Paesmans-Bouffa at a distance of 1014 km. With 998 m.p.m. this hen later turned out to be the international winner. And that one is well ahead if one knows that the aforementioned French pigeon will win the 2nd international. By the way, Alain Delhove already had two very early pigeons from Barcelona in 2020. Last year with 10 no previous pigeons were taken, but 9 out of 10 are in the international result. The Delhoved hen has a high Orange content, because the father is a cock from Verweij-de Haan and the mother is bred from two pigeons from Cor de Heijde.

Three ways up

The first Dutch Barcelona pigeon was clocked at 10.30 am by Pieter Goeree from Driewegen in Zeeland. He clocked a two-year-old hen at a distance of 1102 km and she managed a speed of 906 m.p.m. to get. She came to the top of the ZLU reporting list and that remained so, while certain pigeons in the overflight managed to get somewhat close but could no longer really 'threaten' her. On the ZLU reporting list you can immediately see how many pigeons the fancier has with him and yet with some surprise I saw that Pieter Goeree had offered 59 of his own pigeons for basketing in Hoogerheide. The name P. Goeree from Driewegen was already quite striking at Barcelona last year. With 31 entered, he then managed to score 19 prizes nationally and they were 'turned' with the regularity of a clock. And the name 'Goeree' was not a well-known and/or established name in the extreme long distance, was it? More specifically, Pieter participated for the first time in Barcelona last year and only since 2019 has he been active in the pigeon sport in his native village Driewegen. He then bought a house there and a pigeon loft could be placed on the former orchard of his father behind it. And that loft was taken over in 2019 from Koen Minderhoud who returned from Koudekerke to Westkapelle. And that is a large loft of 17 meters long with the necessary sections. Before that, Pieter Goeree lived in Kruiningen and had good contacts there with Tijs van Iwaarden. Initially, Pieter Goeree thought about taking over a loft from him, but then Thijs suggested that he could also play from his yard. And so it happened. In 2018 Pieter took part in the ZLU races Agen and Narbonne with his yearlings. But the long distance adventure in Kruiningen was short-lived. In 2020, Pieter competed with yearlings in Driewegen and basketed 54 on Agen, winning 11 of them. So a year later 31 of this team went to Barcelona with the known excellent result. Last year the yearlings went to Agen and Narbonne and again big teams were basketed. The winner of Barcelona 2022 was also there every time and flew the 735th Agen against 6804 pigeons and the 464th Narbonne against 8188 pigeons.

Catalana

Pieter Goeree said that he did gain weight in a targeted manner for the extreme long distance. And we see that when we look at the pedigree of the Barcelona winner 'Catalana'. Her father is from 2017 and comes from Herman Brinkman from Tuk in Overijssel. In the autumn of 2017, Pieter Goeree bought a number of (late) youngsters from Herman's better and best pigeons. The father comes from a cross between brother and sister. And Herman Brinkman got their parents again from J. Eggink from Laren (Gld) and Team van Ginkel from Veenendaal. The mother of 'Catalana' is a hen of Walter van de Meulen from Sirjansland van Schouwen-Duivenland. And her parents knew about the extreme long distance and won the best prizes themselves. First Peter bought pigeons from Walter through Toppigeons, but later at his home and in the meantime the two fanciers click very well. In addition, Pieter also has pigeons from Chris Paauwe from Kruiningen and Willem Mulderij from Vinkenbuurt (near Zwolle). Pieter has a cock that won the 73rd nat. Barcelona flew (his first pigeon) and now will win the 138th national and now he was his 7th pigeon! This cock was bred from a cock from Willem Mulderij and a hen from Simon van 't Hof from Kruiningen. After 10:30, Pieter had further arrivals at 11:27, 12:06, 12:10, 12:17, 12:45, 12:57, 13:07, 14:06, 14:20 and 14:43 and had 21 at home the same day. On Sunday morning at 8 o'clock 4 more pigeons had registered in Driewegen. His fourth pigeon at 12.10 pm is by the way the nest sister of 'Catalana' and she will race the 58th national. A nest pair with the prizes 1 and 58 can be called special. And understandably, their parents are now given a special status. Pieter has about 30 breeding couples that he has housed elsewhere and they select between them based on the Barcelona results.

Nest game

Barcelona is/is the only extreme long distance race raced this year in Driewegen. The yearlings did not go to Agen and were raced up to and including the one day long distance. All perennial pigeons are raced from Barcelona and 'Catalana' left for Barcelona on youngsters of 5 days. Almost all couples left on youngsters of 3 to 6 days and a few went on eggs. The Barcelona pigeons reside in three departments that are connected to each other. There are 50 boxes in those departments, but 'Catalana' and her nest sister looked for another spot. 'Catalana' had her nest on the ground, under a slanted plank. Her nest sister had looked higher and started breeding in the sputnik. Pieter let the two have their own way because they wanted to have those places for themselves. The long distance pigeons stayed together in Goeree until the end of March on shelves in front of the closed breeding boxes. After that they were separated and that is how they were trained up to and including the one day long distance flight Issoudun. After that flight they are coupled to arrive on small youngsters when basketing for Barcelona. The cocks were then raced again on Pont St. Maxence and the hens on Duffel. The pigeons for Barcelona have been trained about three times from Belgium for a flight of 30 or 60 km. Then first the hens were released and fifteen minutes later the cocks. When Pieter noticed that the cocks were definitely starting to take shape at the end of April, he started feeding the pigeons more tightly when they were separated. The pigeons trained twice a day on the nest for Barcelona, ​​as early as possible in the morning and around half past eight in the evening. And then everything goes outside.

Checking

In the months before Barcelona, ​​Pieter Goeree had his pigeons checked regularly at Belgica-de Weerd in Breda. There he was helped by Jan van Wanrooij and/or Domien van Acker. The pigeons were also given a yellow cure at the beginning of the season and a week before Barcelona they were given a cure for the 'heads' for a few days. Pieter states that good pigeons are the basis for success, but that you also have to do the necessary to get them to the start as optimally as possible. The moment 'Catalana' fell from Barcelona, ​​Johan Rentmeester from neighboring Overzande had just 'popped in' and he had just said that there were no Barcelona pigeons in the Netherlands yet. The shock, joy and emotion were great for Pieter when suddenly his own Barcelona pigeon arrived. Johan himself had pigeons from Dax with him and they could gain weight just as well. In the results of the Zeeland department we see that he clocked a good prize pigeon from Dax at 3.29 pm. By the way, Pieter was already interested in racing pigeons at an early age. He often went to visit his 'uncle' Ad van Merrienboer in Oost-Souburg. Pieter works in the construction industry as a self-employed person and specializes in the 'laying' of concrete floors and in this context we talk about monolith floors and butterflies. And in this area there is a lot of work and also for him. In addition, Pieter is renovating his own house and for the time being he lives a few houses away. In addition to the pigeon sport, a lot of other work and then it will be difficult to combine all of them. There was only one race in the 2022 pigeon season and that was Barcelona. And his dream did come true. Everything has been focused on. A big team has played at Barcelona twice to test them out and see what they have to offer. And a good number of pigeons appear to be 'cut' for this work. The ultimate highlight was the 1st national and 4th international with 'Catalana'. We can rightly proclaim Pieter Goeree as the new Barcelona star of our country!

Ad van Gils