Official announcement Jan Hooymans regarding Limoges national

Last Saturday, 3 June, the Belgian National flight Limoges was on the cards. Team Hooymans WVL basketed a team of pigeons that already showed their form the week before, so expectations were high. Will it be "Red Harry" again, or still " De Wout" , both were no.1 and no.2 in the Belgian Worlds Best Pigeon ranking 2022 on the long distance. After season 2022, after long deliberation with the attendant, it was decided to continue playing both top birds for another year with a view to a possible Olympic ranking, which would require at least 1 more top prize. 
Jan Hooymans went to Desselgem on the Saturday 3 June to follow the arrivals. In the Netherlands there was no "NPO" flight so Jan always tries to go to a satellite loft to see arrivals. Bart Houfflijn was also present, as was of course the groom of Team Hooymans WVL. Before the pigeons from Limoges could drop, the pigeons from the provincial flight Chateauroux arrived home. There was some great racing on this one (e.g. 1st Prov. Chateauroux Yearlings and 2nd Prov. Chateauroux Old Birds) so the excitement for Limoges was raised somewhat.
At exactly 16:00, a pigeon popped out of the blue sky onto the board, the NL20-2014738 "Wout" and tapped in at a speed of 1,137 metres per minute, under the admiring eyes of Jan and his attendant and Bart Houfflijn. On the KBDB Reports, they immediately saw that it was the fastest pigeon and the wait for a possibly faster pigeon could begin. Meanwhile, pictures were taken of the "Wout" in its breeding loft and the breeder in Jan naturally woke up. Winning a National 1st twice is truly unique and not many have gone before this. In addition, the " Wout" also won a 4th National on Brive so his record was unequalled. 
However, what was supposed to turn into a celebration ended in a minor note. There was discussion about what to do with "Wout" and this escalated enormously. So much so, that police had to be called to enter the pigeon loft. Together with the police, Jan found that the ring of the winning pigeon had been cut off by the attendant. Of course, we deeply regret this state of affairs because for Jan Hooymans, pigeon sport is still a true hobby, in which having fun with the pigeons comes first. That this had to end this way no one could have imagined. Whether the "Wout" remains the official winner (because the ring has been removed, the chip ring is still there) is now also the question. Officially, "Wout" cannot be identified during a check. However, pictures were taken of the "Wout" after it returned home and the chip ring can be read. The "Wout" is now in the breeding loft and will have a place of honour there. This supercrack fell victim to a bad situation but has delivered world-class performances and we have great admiration for that. 
Of course, we prefer not to go public with this kind of news, but to get all the cowboy stories out of the air, it is good to clarify what happened. 

Kerkdriel, 5 June 2023
Jan Hooymans
 

"Wout" photographed 15 minutes after arrival

"Wout" photographed on Monday, June 5, at Kerkdriel