Fondunie 2000 – provisional results and summary

Harold van der Kruijk, Monster, wins 1st National Pau

Mid-June marks the annual start of the International Marathon for our pigeons. This traditionally begins with the Pau race. The downside of this race is that the release point is situated against the Pyrenees. As a result, persistent fog and even cloudy conditions with rain can easily develop. Fortunately, this year everything went more smoothly. The pigeons were released at 8.45 am on Friday morning. Nothing seemed to stand in the way of a fine race. Yet there were thunderstorms on Friday evening. The western half of Belgium and the Netherlands felt the full force of these. The pigeons were probably caught up in these storms… although I heard from several fanciers that their pigeons had ‘got wet’. This thrilling race was won by Harold van der Kruijk from Monster (a village between The Hague and Hoek van Holland). He was the fastest of the leading pigeons from Batenburg-v.d. Merwe in Klaaswaal. A magnificent performance by Harold’s hen ‘Amy’!

Pau FondUnie 2000
The pigeons for the first International Race of 2026, starting from Pau, were released on Friday morning at 8.45 am. The pigeons performed well on the short-distance races in France and Belgium on Friday evening. Consequently, it was expected that the first pigeons would arrive in the Netherlands in the early morning. This proved to be the case … at 4.54 am, the winning pigeon was recorded at Harold van der Kruijk’s loft in Monster, having travelled a distance of 1,026 km. This resulted in a winning speed of 1,201 mpm. Internationally, this secured a fine 2nd place. In the Netherlands and in the FondUnie 2000, it resulted in a magnificent victory. In the FondUnie 2000, 2,829 pigeons were entered by 490 fanciers. Second, third and fourth places were taken by three pigeons from last season’s Keizer Kampioen, Batenburg-v.d. Merwe from Klaaswaal. They clocked their pigeons at 5.02 am, 5.44 am and 6.05 am over a distance of 1,005 km. The Top 10:

1. Harold van der Kruijk, Monster
2. Batenburg-v.d. Merwe, Klaaswaal
3. Batenburg-v.d. Merwe, Klaaswaal
4. Batenburg-v.d. Merwe, Klaaswaal
5. Henk Verheij, Hendrik Ido Ambacht
6. Sil van Vliet, Ter Aar
7. Wiebe Benschop, Woerden
8. Verweij-de Haan, Mijdrecht
9. Kaptein-Soeterbroek, Akersloot
10. Lex Thijs, Sint Jansteen
 

It was worth noting that the first five pigeons in the race were basketed at De Luchtbode in Hendrik Ido Ambacht. Henk Verheij had entered seven pigeons in the Pau race, and six of them featured in the results (5, 26, 45, 57, 236 and 582). J.W. Looren De Jong from Streefkerk basketed two pigeons, both of which won prizes: 12th and 605th. The same was true for Phillip Geerdink from Hoogerheide: 18th and 219th. Tom Jacobs from Heerlen entered four pigeons and won three prizes, starting with 21st prize. Piet van de Merwe from Dordrecht did well, with five of his seven pigeons winning prizes. He starts in 30th place. Nico Pronk from Mill had two of his three Pau pigeons win prizes and starts in 36th place. This was also the case for J. van den Kieboom from Raamsdonksveer. He starts in 40th place. Raymond and Germa Niks from Westerhaar have 60 per cent of their Pau pigeons winning prizes. With 10 pigeons entered, they start in 49th place. The Van Beveren brothers from Nieuw-Namen had a 75 per cent prize rate with 4 pigeons entered, starting in 50th place. Vos-van Wanrooij from Geffen start in 52nd place and have 6 of their 9 pigeons in the prizes. To round off this edition on the Pau results, Kees de Graaf from Eethen is also performing well in 2026, with 6 out of 8 pigeons in the prizes, his first pigeon finishing in 53rd place.

The winning fancier
Harold van der Kruijk is a cheerful man who really enjoys his pigeons. ‘Jaco,’ he said to me, ‘the report shouldn’t be too formulaic, you know. Make sure you make it an enjoyable read.’ ‘Then I’d love to hear some good stories from you,’ I said. And they came… Harold’s health still leaves a lot to be desired to this day. He has survived various serious illnesses (including the one beginning with the letter k), so you could say that Pau isn’t his first major victory in life. As far as his pigeons are concerned, however, this National Race is certainly his greatest victory. Harold is a man with a great sense of humour and a passion for his pigeons. He won’t say a word about his age: ‘I’m forever 21. Even if you ask our children how old I am, they’ll say: “Dad’s 21.”’ From his early years (which last ‘forever’), he has been self-employed, running a contracting business in horticulture. Our top fancier from the South Holland village of Monster grew up in a family of pigeon fanciers. Harold: ‘I already had pigeons when I was still in the womb. My father also kept pigeons, as did several others in our family.’ Harold has two lofts at his disposal. The large loft measures 11 metres, whilst the small one is barely 2 metres. The early birds always return to this small loft. As you can see from the photo, few fanciers would consider this a top-class loft, but that is exactly what it is.

The loft does not contain any breeding boxes, but rather a blind box. In the autumn, the shelves are set to ‘solo’ mode, so that the pigeons can no longer mate in this box, but the pigeons are not separated within this loft. When the pigeons are paired in the main loft, the blind box is switched back to ‘pairing mode’.   

The winning pigeon, ‘Amy’ at Pau 2026, is ‘Amy’.

 This dark-striped hen is named after a granddaughter of Harold and his wife Bea. She is descended from two grandchildren of ‘Gold Digger’ owned by Antony van Dijk from Honselaarsdijk. This cock was 1st National Ace Pigeon Marseille over 5 years. Among other achievements, he won 14th National Marseille against 3,680 pigeons and 42nd National Marseille against 3,248 pigeons. ‘Amy’s’ sire won 27th National Agen against 5,449 pigeons. He is descended from a daughter of ‘Gold Digger’ crossed with ‘Son 121’, who, amongst other achievements, won 89th National Barcelona against 5,244 pigeons. ‘Amy’s’ dam is by a son of ‘Gold Digger’ out of ‘Miss Polska’ (15th National Marseille) and ‘Daughter Charlie 121’ (21st National Barcelona 2020 and 21st National Perpignan 2019). ‘Amy’ is a late-season hen from 2023. In 2024 and 2025, she won a few minor prizes in marathon races. In 2026, Pau was her ultimate race, where she won 1st National/FondUnie 2000. She was basketed at 10 days old. She is housed in the most extraordinary little loft in the Netherlands, as described previously. André van Boxtel had the opportunity to examine the winning hen and had this to say about her: ‘“Amy” is a lovely little bird to handle and she is exceptionally clever in the loft, but also when you hold her in your hand. What’s more, she has a pair of brilliant eyes and a lovely wing length. All well and good, but the class, motivation and character of this hen must surely have been the most important factors in her wanting to return home so quickly.’

The Season
Harold: ‘I start the season with far too many pigeons. You only need a handful of good ones, but you don’t know in advance which ones they’ll be … that’s why we all start with too many pigeons. Whilst I was ill, the breeders were sold to Taiwan. There were a few pigeons they didn’t want, and those are still here. So I’ve still got a few spare breeders.’ The pigeons were paired in the first week of March. They reared their young during that period. From the start of the season, the pigeons have been trained in small groups. Due to his poor health, Harold is unable to basket all the pigeons at once. He therefore uses several basketing times: at the weekend and during the week. Most racing pigeons have covered at least 1,000 kilometres in flight. According to him, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve flown 1,000 or 2,000 km. What matters is the quality of the pigeon and its form on the day. Harold on the feed and what else is involved: ‘I’ve been feeding Charles de Zwart’s feed all my life. I was very happy with it. However, during the off-season, there was a forum evening where Aidi feed was promoted. They had a very interesting story about this feed. The feed alone is sufficient; you don’t need any supplements. You can use them if you like, but you don’t have to. Now I use that feed. They have mixes 1, 2 and 3, and ‘Long Distance’ for marathon races. I think it’s a good feed and I’m happy with it. I have Stephan Göbel check the pigeons regularly. I’m very pleased with that. The pigeons only get something when it’s necessary. I’d been round a couple of times and they hadn’t had anything. On one subsequent visit, they had a bit of mucus. So I’ve been given something to sort this out. When I got the first report from Pau, Stephan rang me to congratulate me. He asked, ‘Have you given them that anti-mucus remedy yet?’ I said, ‘Only the little loft!!!!’ … hahahahahahaha.’

In Conclusion

Harold on the day of the Pau race and the days that followed: ‘It was absolute chaos when the fanciers realised I was going to win the 1st National Pau. Loads of phone calls and messages from people I knew well and others I didn’t know so well. Fanciers whose pigeons I’d looked after on occasion – and vice versa – and who’d kept my number, giving me a quick ring or sending a message… it was lovely. For instance, an 89-year-old fancier, who’d given up the sport years ago, rang to congratulate me. It’s really lovely that a man like that still thinks of you. As for ‘Amy’s’ arrival, I can keep it brief. I was on the loo. I’d got up early and had cleaned out the lofts when I needed to go to the loo. That’s when I got the message on my phone from the Benzing system telling me she’d arrived. I was absolutely delighted, because I suspected there weren’t many other pigeons in at that point.’ And that turned out to be the case… she was the first! His illness and periods of ill health have already been mentioned a few times in this report. The winner of the Pau race suffers from a lung condition. He knows better than anyone that good health cannot be taken for granted. That is one reason why this victory means so much to him. His lung specialist once gave him some advice he will never forget: if he were ever to give up his pigeons, he would probably lose much more than just a hobby. The pigeons give him a daily purpose and the motivation to carry on. From where I sit behind my laptop, I’d like to congratulate once again the remarkable man and fantastic enthusiast Harold van der Kruijk on this magnificent victory. I’d like not only to wish you every success for the new season, but also to express the hope that you’ll be able to keep competing alongside us all for many years to come, and that you’ll enjoy every moment of it. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fun. See you next time!