In 2025, Paul and Sven experienced a series of remarkable highlights, such as 1st International hens Agen (2nd National) and 5th & 6th National Narbonne. The "Poulidors" of the heavy middle distance also played for the 4th time in their careers the 2nd National, the most thankless position in the results for champions, but for the majority of pigeon lovers it’s a dream to achieve something like that. Year after year, they strengthen their favorite role, and that was certainly no different in 2026 with various national top rankings! The long list of first prizes and championships in middle distance and heavy middle distance is living proof that father and son Saeytijdt truly have "the good" among the pigeons. What do you think of their 2026 season, for example? An overview:
Beautiful results 2026
1st Provincial Champion KBDB East Flanders Heavy Middle Distance Old.
1st National Zone Cahors 820 old pigeons.
2nd Provincial Narbonne 856 yearlings.
4th National Champion KBDB Rhône Valley.
4th Provincial Champion KBDB East Flanders Heavy Middle Distance Yearlings.
5th National Cahors 3156 old pigeons.
10th National Champion KBDB Heavy Middle Distance Yearlings.
10th Provincial Asduif KBDB East Flanders Heavy Middle Distance Yearlings.
13th National Narbonne 4223 yearlings.
33rd National Champion KBDB Heavy Middle Distance Old.
1st King and Emperor Heavy Middle Distance Old and Yearlings Viane.
1st General Champion Heavy Middle Distance Viane.
1st Champion Heavy Middle Distance Yearlings Viane.
1st and 2nd Asduif Heavy Middle Distance Yearlings Viane.
2nd Asduif Heavy Middle Distance Old Viane.
2nd Champion Middle Distance Yearlings Viane.
3rd Champion Middle Distance Old and Yearlings Viane.
3rd General Champion FCD Middle Distance and Heavy Middle Distance 1+2
3rd Champion FCD Heavy Middle Distance Old and Yearlings 1+2
5th General Champion FCD Middle Distance and Heavy Middle Distance.
7th Champion VOVD Heavy Middle Distance Old and Yearlings.
10th Champion OVV Heavy Middle Distance Old.
10th Champion OVV Super Marathon Old.
A glimpse of the (inter)national top from recent years
1st International Agen 5752 hens 2025.
2nd National Agen 5955 yearlings 2020.
2nd National Agen 5314 yearlings 2025.
2nd National Perpignan 4850 old pigeons 2024.
2nd National Pau 2183 old pigeons 2010.
3rd National Barcelona 11590 old pigeons 2012.
3rd National Narbonne 4983 old pigeons 2024.
4th National Perpignan 6661 old pigeons 2012.
5th National Narbonne 3734 yearlings 2025.
6th National Narbonne 4021 old pigeons 2025.
History
The pigeon story at Saeytijdt began in 1980 when good performances were achieved in the sprint races in Everbeek and Brakel. Now and then, a successful transition to the half middle distance was made.
With the introduction of pigeons from De Springer Robert (Barcelona specialist Opbrakel) and Van Schoorisse Gebr. (Etikhove), the taste for more was ignited. These acquisitions were paired, and good results were obtained by racing beyond Paris. This fueled the desire for the real heavy work, and from the early 90s, the transition to the long and heavy long distance started slowly.
However, this did not come without its struggles. Due to Paul starting as a self-employed builder, there was less time for the pigeons. Fortunately, son Sven was completely crazy about the pigeons. Thus, it was decided to only race with the young pigeons and temporarily keep fewer pigeons.
The start was overwhelming, and it was soon decided to race a limited number of yearlings on total widowhood. The cocks performed very well in this system, and thus a flying start was made.
It was Sven who took care of the colony until 1995 when misfortune struck. During a training session, almost the entire young pigeon team was lost, 75 in total. That hit Sven quite hard, and his teacher (Sven was still a student) noticed this and offered a solution. He offered to provide him with about 25 young pigeons that would help him get back on track. And indeed, it turned out to be the case, as we are talking about none other than Luc Van Coppenolle from Ouwegem, a great champion of the heavy middle distance for years.
The foundation
In the following years, the foundation was supplemented with the Carteus type and later with pigeons from the Gebr. Van de Walle from Zwalm, Druwez Denis from Everbeek, Collet-Dubois, and several other top breeders.
Regularly from the 2000 season, a pigeon was clocked in the first 100 nationally, and eventually, in 2010, the big breakthrough came with the 2nd national Pau with a 100% Coppenolle hen, namely 'Blauwe Pauduivin' B08-4245011, which would later emerge as the absolute foundation mother of the Saeytijdt colony.
After that, it quickly escalated, with a 3rd national Barcelona in 2012, but also the winner of the prestigious Silver Wing in the Bruges Barcelona Club. This was achieved by ‘Blauwe Barcelona’ 75% from the Walle Brothers x 25% Luc van Coppenolle.
Later in 2012, the 4th national Perpignan was also won with the ‘Asgrauwe Libourne’ B08-4245072 of Coppenolle 75% x Carteus 25%. The ‘Asgrauwe Libourne’ would later grow into the founding father of the Saeytijdt dynasty.
The ‘Asgrauwe Libourne’ was paired with the ‘Blauwe Pauduivin,’ and thus the 'Golden Couple Libourne-Pau' was born. Progeny from this ‘Golden Couple’ race at the absolute top of the results in heavy middle distance classics throughout Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the same period, strong Florizoone pigeons were introduced via the Dutch combination Peet & Paloma Solleveld, which again came via Luc van Coppenolle. But pigeons were also obtained from Team Vollebregt from Wassenaar, which had long been one of the best Barcelona lofts in the Netherlands, including ‘De Kilometervreter’ and ‘De Nieuwe Tarzan.’ Louis became a true friend of the Saeytijdt family.
A few years later, the ‘Peiren-pigeon’ was introduced via Saarloos & Son Klaaswaal, producing a real TOP-breeder who became the father of ‘Miss Perpignan,’ along with more ‘Peiren eggs’ from friend Louis.
This resulted from 2020 in national top 5 standings in the Heavy Middle Distance with 5 different pigeons. Moreover, there were also 50 rankings in the National top 50. Speaking of class!!
Back to nature
Since 2021, there has been a complete switch to nest play with both cocks and hens. From the end of March until the separation of the pigeons in November, straw is placed in the lofts.
There was also a transition to a more natural way of pigeon racing with the introduction of BONY products from the SGR range, Bio Compleet, Previsal, BioBoost, the Omega3 Oils, Basiskern, Bio BMT, and others. For the young pigeons, it was further supplemented with Sambucca.
This resulted in a minimum of medications being added to the drinking water during the season.
We can say that the last seasons have been a rollercoaster in the last international races Narbonne and Perpignan, namely:
2nd National Perpignan 2024-Miss Perpignan 22/4077234
3rd National Narbonne 2024-Miss Narbonne 22/4077304
5th National Narbonne yearlings 2025-Emma 24/4156821
6th National Narbonne 2025-Blauwe Narbonne 001 20/4066001 already 18th Nat in 2023
11th National Narbonne 2023-Narbonneke Mortier 20/4066067
25th National Perpignan 2023-Emma's Witteke 20/4206981
28th National Narbonne yearlings 2025-24/4156910 Blauwen Saarloos 910
30th National Narbonne yearlings 2025-24/4156901 Bonte Narbonne 901
32nd National Perpignan 2023-20/4066056 Blauwe Souillac
43rd National Perpignan 2025-19/4028704 Blauwe Barcelona 704
And while 2025 will be remembered as just missing on Agen, that was due to "Aagje" 24/4156912 .
She led the standings up until the very last moment but was passed at the finish:
2nd National Agen yearlings 2025 but did achieve victory among the ladies internationally
1st International Hens 5752 2025
So she did nationally what Almost Agen 19/4028815 did for her in 2020.
We conclude with a summary of the Poulidor-pigeons:
2nd Nat Pau 2010 Blauwe Pauduivin 4245011/2008
2nd Nat Agen 2020 Almost Agen 4028815/2019
2nd Nat Perpignan 2024 Miss Perpignan 4077234/2022
2nd Nat Agen 2025 Aagje 4156912/2024
Who has done better?
