In 2008, Harco Poelman (46) formed a tandem with his father Ep under the name Comb. Poelman, then still using his father's old strain, namely the world-famous 'Black Power' line. Since Ep's passing in 2017, his wife has been helping take care of the pigeons, and a shift was made towards the long-distance races. “Due to my illness MT (spinal cord damage), it is physically too demanding to still pursue the program flights 100%. The marathon was therefore the logical choice for us. We aimed for the Marathon races from 800 km to 1300 km,” said Harco. Significant investment and selection were made with these races in mind, but ultimately it was decided to put all the pigeons up for sale. This marks the definitive end of this colony, and promising pigeons will go to auction where they will undoubtedly seize their chance at other lofts.
The star of this auction is undoubtedly "Mister Ruffec" 1st NPO Ruffec 891km!
He clocked in as a night flyer at 1:36 AM and secured the victory against 1448 pigeons. Mister Ruffec has already fathered "Miss Narbonne," who won 289th internationally against 8492 pigeons at a distance of 1106 km from Narbonne.
This auction also features direct top performers from Jan Willems (Nijverdal), a very successful marathon champion. Year in and year out, Jan clocks early pigeons on the 1000 km races, and he often finds himself on the podium of various marathon championships! He is one of the best friends of Jelle Jellema, the world-famous fancier from Nijverdal.
As a result, 4 grandchildren of the infamous "MG430" are offered. This long-distance top bird is the father and grandfather of, among others:
- 1st National Barcelona 4,477 '20
- 2nd Int Barcelona '20
- 3rd Nat Narbonne 5,042
- 8th Nat Agen ZLU 4,776 '18
- 9th Nat Perpignan 4,027
- 10th Nat Barcelona 5,339
- 13th Nat Marseille 3,320
- 14th Nat Pau '19
- 22nd Nat Marseille '19
- 22nd NPO Sint-Vincentius
- 27th Nat Perpignan 5,589
- 30th Nat Agen ZLU '18 yearlings
Two of these promises are also grandchildren of "Zwart Goud" by Jelle Jellema, pigeons with at least a unique lineage.
From the same Jellema, we also see for sale a grandson of "'t Klein kweekstertje", a top breeding hen and mother of "Sylvie": 3rd International Barcelona 2014!
In short, an auction of great significance in which, without exception, all the last pigeons of Harco Poelman are offered!