Team Platteeuw (Rumbeke) shines at Argenton

Introducing Team Platteeuw to the pigeon world is like asking every well-heeled Belgian for the name of the king.....

Father Raf, son Kurt and all the helping hands that take care of the pigeon team have been guaranteeing spectacle and top results in the big middle-distance and long-distance races for years.

8 national victories

With 8 national victories and a laundry basket of provincial wins, they are in the line of the top lofts in Belgium.  Also stunting is in their genes. In the past it happened more than once that they "rolled up" a race as they say in the pigeon world.  They don't come with a small basket but always with a large number of pigeons.... but also a large number of potential winners.
Everything in the Platteeuw house is played, cocks and hens. The system is a kind of organised chaos in which there are sometimes more hens than cocks or vice versa.  All this leads to a lot of jealousy, territoriality, conquering, drive to protect his or her place etc. ....
This rivalry is cleverly exploited to achieve top results. But all this is not just haphazard with a high lottery rate. Not at all, beforehand they think carefully about which pigeons will be placed on which lofts as yearlings and whether a lot or a few will have to move or change lofts. All this to take into account the nature of the pigeon and of course the location of the loft within the row of lofts.

Building up to top form
Work hard, play harder..... is the motto Kurt uses to illustrate his approach. But he and his team are not unique in this, there is a saying in the pigeon world that states "if the fancier puts in as much effort as his pigeons, the chance of success is great".  This is also the case here. In the preparation of the most important races, nothing is left to chance. The trainings are watched closely, the behaviour of the pigeons on the loft is observed, the recovery after a heavy flight is watched, the food and the care is tip top ... and all this to peak to a number of races.
This motivated group also succeeds to let the pigeons perform top some weekends in a row. In the past, they already let the pigeons fly a one-day long distance race 3 weeks in a row with top results on the results and only then they let the pigeons rest again.  There are many roads that lead to Rome, also in pigeon sport and the path that is taken in Rumbeke sometimes goes against the known and trodden paths.
This is only possible with strong pigeons and a strictly selected team of pigeons. A few years ago there was a big sale and a large number of top pigeons were sold.... but the old basis is still there. Sometimes these are daylight pigeons of origin that are crossed with speed pigeons or vice versa, but the testing and the results show who can or cannot handle this regime.

Behind the scenes Kurt has meanwhile reinforced his breeding loft with a number of national winners to guarantee the future.

Argenton with a very strong result !

Last Saturday, the national race from Argenton was flown. The days before the release, the weather forecasts were not favourable, but in the end the pigeons got a normal, but heavy, flight.  With wind on the nose, sometimes pushing side winds, it was a fair race with top pigeons spread over a broad line in Belgium.  It was a fight and then the Platteeuw pigeons are at their best.

There were 183 pigeons basketed (124 old birds and 59 yearlings).

This team achieved a very strong result with a very high number of prizes:

Provincial old birds (4,299 d) : 1-2-4-5-12-19-.....(84/124)
Provincial yearlings (4,091 d) : 5-6-19-.............(47/59)
Zonal old birds (2,860 d) : 1-2-4-5-11.................(68/124)
Zonal yearlings (2,823 d) : 6-7-16-18................(33/59)
National old birds (20,467 d) : 7-10-14-16-.........(92/124)
National yearlings (18,763 d) : 19-24-40-47-.......(47/59)

74% prize national old birds, 79% prize national yearlings.

A very large team was basketed and proportionally a very high prize percentage was achieved.  Clearly a colony in top form!
It was not really a surprise that they played strong at Argenton, the weeks before it was clear that the forme was rising and the results have confirmed this.

Results 2022
Orleans : 809 old birds : 1-2-3-4-8-11-13-14-16-17-18-21- etc ... 109/194
Orléans : 343 yearlings : 1-4-6-7-8-10-12-13-14-18-21-23 etc ....38/65
Chateauroux : 1081 old birds : 2-3-4-5-9-11-13-15-16-17-18-21-23-24-25 etc . 120/191
Chateauroux : 397 yearlings : 2-3-4-5-6-8-10-11-13-14-17-19-21 etc.... 40/64
Bourges : 699 olds :1-2-3-4-5-7-9-10-13-14-15-17-18-19-20- etc 83/125
Bourges :360 yearlings : 1-2-3-5-7-9-11-12-14-15-16-18 etc... 37/62

Including doubles, 557 prizes of 884 pigeons were won or a prize percentage of 63%. Talking about a homogeneous and strong colony.

A few toppers in the picture

MELISSA BE 19-3119219 (provincial winner old birds) wins as yearling 1st provincial Limoges from 2,139 pigeons, fastest from 4,387 pigeons. Wins in 2021 also 4th provincial Chateauroux from 4,688 pigeons, and now 1st provincial Argenton from 4,294 pigeons.

PASCALE BE 19-4184174 : (2nd provincial). Is a pigeon bred on the lofts of PEC , flies 10 times in the 9 first club , national 10th and national 11th. In 2021 this top pigeon was lost to a race. A few days later she was picked up and taken care of, totally exhausted.  Apparently she is made of very strong material and she has a strong motive to achieve this performance again. Flew in 2022 3 times top on Argenton, Bourges and Chateauroux.

SISKA : BE 19-3119062 : (4th provincial) is also a top hen, flying this year 4th provincial Argenton 4. Flew already 4th Orleans 809d and 9th Chateauroux 1.081d and 10th on Bourges from 699d. Flew before that 1st on Souillac and 1st on Chateauroux (2nd provincial from 4.688 pigeons).

MIKE : BE 18-3118573 : (5th provincial) is a cock and son out of top pigeon Sea Surfer.  Was until last Saturday rather a moderate performer but now stepped out with this strong performance. A proof that in the system of organised chaos, pigeons sometimes outperform themselves. 

We are at the beginning of June and on the eve of the day long distance season. With these results, you can bet a lot that Team Platteeuw will still be around in 2022 with a team like this in form!

Congratulations from the Herbots Team !

Geert Dhaenens