“The Duif Chronicles Online” …by www.syndicatelofts.com

De Smeyter-Restian 1st Provincial Pau East Flanders 934 pigeons

It has begun. Traditionally Pau is the first of 7 international flights. The opening classic has welcomed more and more entries in recent years and this year too we speak again of a record edition with more than 14,000 pigeons entered internationally. And whoever Talks about extreme long distance races must also mention Joost De Smeyter in the same breath.

Again this year, in Melden, there was a strong start for the team.

Joost could count on almost all the pigeons that caused a furore from Pau last year and to maybe freshen up the memory, in 2020, Joost recorded 12 early ones into the clock in the 101st national.

So the expectations this year were high and as if the tension was not enough, it was also a matter of waiting to see what role the rain would play.

It was clear that it would be nice weather for the other half of the country but because the drizzly rain had lingered all night it did not look good on race day.

The rain combined with the earlier westerly winds was two additional obstacles that the pigeons had to overcome. It then only wait and see how they would deal with the conditions. But the ‘De Smeyterkes’ don’t get knocked out of their stride so easily.

At 6:23 p.m., the first warrior from Pau came nicely out of the line and dived to

The landing board. Joost had seen it immediately, ‘it’s the ‘Ladagnous’!’

Who’s this Ladagnous? Well, he’s no ordinary pigeon. He’s been three years in a row to Pau and successively managed an 87th national, an 8th national and now an 11th national. They don’t come much better than this.

In the run-up to this provincial victory he already had shown to be in form with a first club prize in a preparatory race from Chateauroux. At Pau he clearly continued on his momentum and succeeded against both weather and wind with a new top ranking prize.

His lineage is also really easy to see. The father of this warrior is a son of ‘Zidane’ of the late Etienne Devos. Highlights that ‘Zidane’ flew in his career included a 1st international Carcasonne. He was then paired against the best lines in Melden, in particular ‘Elsie’ winner of the National Ace Pigeon extreme long distance 2013 for Joost. His mother’s side descends from the basic breeder ‘De Joost’.

In other words, his bloodline is no stranger to success.

‘Ladagnous’ was the standard-bearer in another impressive series of top early prizes. The second arrival in the list was a son of ‘Cas’ who himself flew  the international victory from this classic race so in other words these genes also pass on nicely to the next generations.

And then it continued on…

Pau provincial East Flanders 934 pigeons: 1, 9, 26, 32, 34, 50, 75, 76, 77, 81, 84, 86, 89, 90…

Joost recorded 14 pigeons per ten! Quite impressive, although this is not the first spectacular result we have seen in Melden.

In any case, this result is promising for the upcoming international competitions, it shows that the level of form is there! The opposition have been warned with this performance. Good luck in Melden and we are already looking forward to the next explosive performance!

 

Authour KC

Translation Witpen