Paul & Sven Saeytijdt (Brakel) win Narbonne provincial yearlings East-Flanders

Originally, the release of the international race from Narbonne was scheduled for Friday, July 25, but due to poor weather conditions at the release site or along the flight path, the Narbonne racers had to remain in the basket until Monday, July 28.

Narbonne turned out to be a tough race—one for true powerhouses, for pigeons with pure marathon blood running through their veins. Such pigeons are the Saeytijdt pigeons, and it came as no surprise to us that they reached the top of the national results in Narbonne.

Some time ago, we already put Paul and Sven Saeytijdt (Opbrakel) in the spotlight when their hen “Aagje” (B24-4156912) won 1st Provincial and 2nd National from Agen, showing that the race team was clearly in top form.

Now, at Narbonne, hen “Emma” (B24-4156821) wins 1st Provincial against 800 yearlings and 5th National against 3,754 yearlings. Hen “Blauwe Narbonne” (B20-4066001) takes 2nd Provincial against 894 old birds and 6th National against 4,021 birds.

Marathon
Father Paul (67 years old) and son Sven (45) have a deeply ingrained passion for the heavy work. Everything started a long time ago with a setback with the young pigeons when Sven was still attending school in Brakel. One of his teachers was Luc Van Coppenolle (Kruisem), and Luc helped Sven out of compassion and motivation for the loss by giving him some of the best pigeons from his own lofts. At that time, there was no better source to draw from. These pigeons were later supplemented with birds from Denis Druwez, Georges Carteus, Marc & Franky Van De Walle… and later on, further reinforcements were brought in from Team Vollebrecht (Netherlands), Noël Peiren, Hendrik Mortier, Solleveld, among others—always pigeons bred for long-distance marathon flights. Breeding, racing, and selecting from this pool has ultimately led them to build a team of pigeons that consistently perform at the international top level in marathon races.

Success doesn’t fall from the sky
Since 2021, they have fully switched to the natural/nest system. This was not an easy transition and came with its share of learning costs. It’s a completely different approach that, although seemingly more natural (letting nature take its course), demands a great deal of dedication from the fancier. This season, they started with 200 racing pigeons (mostly yearlings). All of them are paired at the beginning of the year and allowed to sit on dummy eggs. Then they are trained under the widowhood system up to races like Vierzon and Bourges, after which they are paired again (where possible per loft) specifically for a marathon race. Ideally, the pair is raced together. Only in the case of top older hens is the nest partner a cock that stays home.

A key aspect of this method is training. The birds must have enough racing experience, enough flight kilometers, and must train well—otherwise, results are not possible. That’s why they train at home, but—weather permitting—they also do almost daily training trips of 25 km using their own transport. This takes about one and a half to two hours a day… just to show that in Brakel, success doesn’t just fall from the sky either. Pairing strategically, caring for the nests, ensuring sufficient training—all of this demands a lot of effort from Paul and Sven.

Once the pigeons are sitting firmly on their nests, they are given unlimited feed, consisting of classic racing mixtures supplemented with high-fat energy feed as the basketing date approaches.

Ideally, pigeons are basketed when sitting on pipped eggs or young chicks in the nest, but for early-season races like Pau, they are still incubating eggs. Upon return, they are allowed to re-enter their nests if possible, but the next day everything is taken apart, and the nest cycle starts anew. Typically, the pigeons are raced twice a year (sometimes three times, depending on the race difficulty and planning).

We wish them the best of luck at Perpignan!