Analyze Perpignan

This end of season for the internationals is positive, to say the least, as far as national numbers are concerned, as we have gone from 3,766 to 5,722 pigeons this year. All the entities are in this excellent positive spiral with, however, different impacts. The Walloon PRTs are recording the biggest increases, around 80% more. The Flemish provinces are up by between 45% and 50%, with the exception of Flemish Brabant, which is up by 30%.
Perpignan would have allowed the release on Friday as planned, but the flight line was too unstable to allow a safe return. As a result, the release was postponed 3 times before finally taking place on Monday at 7.15am. At the time, Perpignan was experiencing a temperature of 17°C and a light N.W. wind, which it would maintain throughout the flight.
The release took place in good conditions. Let's hope that the nearby high-voltage power line wasn't a disruptive factor.
The neutralisation played another bad trick on the competition, both nationally and internationally, with many pigeons being seen during this break.
 

2. Hoes A-J from Maaseik, 1072,4142 m
3. Y Haelters de Etikhove, 1059,5908 m
4. Stynen R & N de Geel, 1059,3145 m
5. 6. 7. J Debaene from Knesselare, 1052,1539 m
8. Van Ouwerkerk-Dekkers from Brasschaat, 1048,5925 m
9. K Meerschaert from Moerkerke, 1039,4630 m
10. De Smeyter-Restiaen from Melden, 1038.1605 m

 

The neutralisation covering the period from 22h18' to 5h49', the national top 10 counts 6 pigeons which, were noted during this lapse of time, of which the 2 first. Only one pigeon, the national number 3, was spotted during the first day of flight. In total, 11 pigeons were spotted during the first day of actual flying, i.e. before the start of neutralisation, and 14 were spotted during the stopwatch.
Three provinces stand out: East Flanders has 28 prizes in the top 100, Antwerp and West Flanders 21, Flemish Brabant and Hainaut 11, Limburg 6, Namur and Liège 1. Walloon Brabant and Luxembourg start outside the top 100.
A handful of amateurs managed to break into the top 100 on more than one occasion: 17 of them, 11 of whom concentrated on the double. Others did better, such as Van Ouwerkerk-Dekkers ranked 8, 16, 45, 73, 93, 95, J Debaene 5, 6, 7, 19, 54, De Smeyter-Restiaen 10, 60, 62, 92, Stynen R & N 4, 57, 80, Christiaens-De Smedt 22, 69, 83, Y Haelters 3, 84, 94...


First arrivals by province and EPR
Antwerp, Milovic M & D from Essen, 1097.7453 m, 1 national
Limburg, Hoes A-J de Maaseik, 1072.4142 m, 2 nationals
East Flanders, Y Haelters de Etikhove, 1059,5908 m, 3 nat.
West Flanders, K Meerschaert de Moerkerke, 1039,4630, 9 nat.
EPR HBW, P Dries de Deux-Acren "H", 1027.5418 m, 14 nat (Delstanche-Goffard de Bierges "BW", 942.6170 m, 162 nat) 
Flemish Brabant, Christiaens-De Smedt de Pamel, 1017,7608 m, 22 nat.
EPR LNL, G Delfosse de Mazée "N", 998.7265 m, 40 nat (Henry A & M de Nandrin "Lg", 993.7796 m, 43 nat and JP Degée de Hotton "Lx", 910.4722 m, 333 nat) 
There were 4 provinces in the top 10, with one sharing the top 3 places, and 8 in the top 100.

 

The zones in brief
Zone A1, 2165 old
This zone is already off to a strong start in the national top 10 with Y Haelters de Maarkedal, 3 national, with 6 in the top 10. The same applies to the top 100 for this zone, which is down 46 places. Zone A1 finished ahead of the post, which gave it 49 additional prizes at national level.
Among the strong performers in the top 100 were De Smeyter-Restiaen ranked 6, 27, 28, 43, 64, 69, 75, 82, J Debaene 2, 3, 4, 8, 25, 77, 92, Y Haelters 1, 39, 44, 51, 70, 72, 91...
In Wallonia, Demaret-Marichal 9, H Casaert 15, F Sulmon 16, A Pellitteri 19...
Zone B1, 2729 old
The national winner is also the winner of zone B1. Milovic M & D from Essen is the first of the 3 amateurs in the national top 10. As in Zone A1, Zone B1 took 46 prizes out of the national top 100. On the other hand, it finished at the pole and lost 14 prizes nationally.
The top 100 includes prize-winning series from Van Ouwerkerk-Dekkers classified 3, 7, 18, 31, 42, 43, 69, 71, 88, Saeytijdt P & S 13, 16, 45, 63, P Hellinckx 39, 54, 66, 84, Christiaens-De Smedt 10, 29, 37, 85, Rans J & S 30, 48, 87, 92, Milovic M & D 1, 15, 52, 93...
The south of the country takes position with P Dries 5, Bourlard E & R 6, M Henri 20...
Zone C, 828 old
The top prize went to Hoes A-J from Maaseik, who won 2 national titles. He is the only price in the top 10 and there are only 8 in the top 100. The zone finished with a loss of 36 prizes nationally.
In the prizes per 10, we find Bastogne-Henry ranked 19, 21, 27, 31, 64, 73, W Simons 3, 15, 30, 60, 80, Hoes A-J 1, 33, 43, 53... Also note the 1/1 of J Schmitz 11, P Philippens 17, M Milissen 34, E Didden 36...
The Walloon side started with G Delfosse 5, Henry A & M 6, 10, Fernandez-Pereira-Helder 9, J Schmitz 11, JP Arendt 14...
 

Some figures
Winner's speed, 1097.7453 m
Gap between the first 2, 21'20
Speed of 100°, 963.8547 m
Speed of the last classified, 10h09'22''
Duration of the competition, 5h25'17''
Average gap between 2 pigeons, 13.7 seconds
With 991.264 km, the national winner has the longest distance of the competition, at least of the pigeons classified.

International
As in Belgium, the number of international pigeons has risen sharply. However, the increase was smaller. In Belgium, the number of pigeons increased by 52%, whereas the number of pigeons registered internationally remained stable at 32%, rising from 12,094 to 16,020. In detail, the international numbers are divided between Belgium (5,722 pigeons), Holland (4,635), France (4,540), Germany (857), England (225) and Luxembourg (41).
As in the national competition, the competition suffered from neutralisation with the Dutch particularly good at noting during the dead time. The long distances of around 1100 km or more took advantage of the situation to take the best places. The international top 10 had 5 pigeons found during the neutralisation, including the top 2. Holland took the top 50 places, 9 of which were above 1200 m and 48 above 1100 m.
Holland, B Homma de Balk, 1284.71 m, 1 international
Belgium, Milovic M & D from Essen, 1097.75 m, 51 internat.
France, Potelle-Choquet de Hornaing, 1067.92 m, 80 boarding.
Germany, SG Rontgen & Sohn from Ubach-Palenberg, 1057.95 m, 87 boarding.
Luxembourg, H Alves de Bous, 998.57 m, 183 boarding.
England, 
The top 100 was made up of 91 Dutch, 7 Belgian, 1 German and 1 French pigeon.

 

M Philippe