On the last national race from the Rhone Valley we close with the international flight from Marseille, a classic of the years. Willy Verbruggen enjoys pigeon racing and has enjoyed being among his animals in the loft for decades. Only the hive will tell you the secret between a good one and a bad one. There is nothing more to it, the selection will reveal the evidence. Willy is now 88 years old and with this new national victory after he also won national Barcelona in 2011, this is a fantastic icing on his pigeon career. 

His winner was a red cock who, as was supposed to be, was home on the same day of release. He arrived in Londerzeel around 9:33 PM and this classic became a hard float where this cock reaches a speed of 972m/min. There were only 5 pigeons in Belgium that did more than 900m/min.

System 

About 50 widowers are raced here in classic widowhood, where the eggs are collected from the best racers in the winter so that we can also test the young from them if they are left behind on one or another flight. 

The widowers always only train once a day, but if I think about it this could also be twice a day. The 2-year old and older males in particular are used for the extreme long distance. The pigeons here are given a quiet structure from birth, with as a young pigeon only able to train properly until Noyon. Afterwards, the oldest yearlings have their exams at Agen and Narbonne and those who come home fresh can stay as old pigeons. The youngest yearlings only fly middle distance and are given another year of respite. 

The pigeons from Marseille flew to Valence and the winner was present for the first time. Sometimes you have to give them miles before they wake up, that's just the case with long distance pigeons. 

The widowers usually fly 2 international flights per year outside the Barcelona team, which usually only flies this flight. On the day of basketing they get to see their hen from noon until basketing. 

Willy uses a number of sports mixtures for nutrition and he keeps it quite simple, the message is a pill against tricho and keeping him healthy. 

Winner Marseille

BE-22-2052171 Red Cock
1st National Marseille 2.082 old birds 

Arrival time : 21:33:29
Velocity : 975,48m/min
Distance : 866,702km

Pedigree Grandfather BE 20-4159171

Pedigree grandmother BE 17-4063424