Ronny & Domien Wouters have been owning a strong heavy fond strain for years, from which they reap the rewards abundantly. What do you think of the following results in just 3 years:
- 1st National Champion Rhone Valley 1+2 Old 2023!
- 14th National Ace Pigeon Rhone Valley 2023 2 races with BE20-5028997
- Best Montélimar pigeon over 2 races (2021-2022) with BE18-5044946
- 2nd Best International pigeon Narbonne over 2 races (2021-2022) with BE18-5044981
- 4th Best Montélimar pigeon over 2 races (2022-2023) with BE20-5028990
- 5th Best Montélimar pigeon over 2 races (2022-2023) with BE20-5028997
Zelem, a district of the city of Halen located in the province of Limburg. This is where the Wouters combination is based. For years, the focus has been on fond and heavy fond racing, resulting in a strong strain of pigeons for this discipline. This year, the colony demonstrated once again their iron will to fly early in difficult conditions by winning the title of 1st National Champion Rhone Valley 1+2 Old.
Thus they became National Champion Rhone Valley
1st race 2nd race Number of pigeons
Valence II 13 22 624
Valence I 95 24 879
Marseille 3 164 1390
This championship is probably one of the hardest to win. Every pigeon fancier knows how challenging these races are, not only because of the hilly landscape that the pigeons must overcome but also due to the feared wind, “the Mistral,” that can be present. Because of this Mistral, the planned flight from Montélimar, a release point that suits Ronny & Domien's pigeons perfectly, was replaced by Valence this year. At 6:45 AM, the pigeons were set free; the Zelem combination had 16 fighters on board who had to defend their honor, and at 5:39 PM, the first pigeon arrived. The BE21-5006915, entered as the third signed in the basket, was clocked at 1029 m/m and achieved a 10th provincial position. Despite the tough flight, the pigeons in Zelem arrived as if it were a small middle-distance race. The first 4 signed pigeons arrived within a span of 20 minutes! And this over a distance of 674 km. Provincially, the following result was achieved against 624 pigeons: 10(3rd race)-12(4th race)-13(1st race)-22(2nd race)-31-36-51-70-86 (9/16).
After the first Valence on 09/06, where the pigeons also performed excellently and flew the following series provincially against 879 pigeons: 10-24(2nd race)-32-53-65-66-70-95(1st race) and 15 prizes out of 17!, they were well positioned at the Wouters household with a 4 out of 4 with their 2 first signed pigeons.
The pigeons were prepared for a real classic, Marseille. This international flight is traditionally a significant challenge, but for Ronny and Domien's pigeons, it is exactly what they excel at. 4 fighters were entered and released on Friday at 7 AM. After a flight of 858 km, the first pigeon dove downward at 8:49 PM; it was the BE20-5028997, which entered as the 1st signed pigeon after successfully completing Valence twice (95/879 & 12/624). This top doffer covered the distance from Marseille to Zelem at 1034 m/m, and it soon became clear that this was going to be a very early pigeon. Provincially, he won the palm against 536 pigeons, achieving 3rd place zonally against 1390 pigeons, 10th nationally against 2590 pigeons, and 28th place internationally against 9887 pigeons! A top performance; now it was just a waiting game for the 2nd signed pigeon. This one was clocked the next day at 7:18 AM, which resulted in a 164th position zonally against 1390 pigeons. This later proved more than sufficient to secure the title of Rhone Valley champion.
Breeding
The colony mainly consists of the old strain (Nouwen-Paesen) supplemented with pigeons from Lieven Buelens, a heavy fond ace from Scherpenheuvel. 45 Widowers are in charge here in Zelem, and each year about 150 young pigeons are bred. These are trained up to a maximum of 250 km. Everything is kept as simple as possible. The pigeons have been strictly selected for these flights >700 km for years, resulting in a type of pigeon that can handle the heavier work perfectly. To support this statement, here are some results from this top loft:
Results 2023
Marseille
- Club 75 : 1-6-16 (3/4)
- Prov. 536 : 1-15-80
- Zone 1390 : 3-35-164
- National 2590 : 10-68-330
Narbonne
- Club 94 : 1-3-4-17-28 (5/11)
- Prov. 562 : 6-16-19-79-149
- Zone 2483 : 52-122-167-459-617
- National 5000 : 119-235-312-858-1172
Perpignan
- Club 139 : 3-4-46 (3/4)
- Prov. 666 : 18-19
- Zone 2729 : 108-114
- National 5722 : 231-240
Agen
- Club 92 : 5-20 (2/5)
- Prov. 602 : 35-118
Barcelona
- Club 191 : 3 (1/1)
- Prov. 922 : 13
- National 6533 : 353
Results 2022
Valence
Prov. 1052 : 3-34-35-36-53-82-83-94-124-209-243-269-351
Montélimar
Prov. 518 : 2-5-7-9-17-18-24-36-62-69-74-90
Narbonne
Prov. 756 : 3-25-43-63-84
Beautiful results 2021
- 1st & 2nd zonal Montélimar
- 8th & 15th national Montélimar
- 15th national Narbonne yearlings
- 15th & 16th national Narbonne old