Walter van der Meulen from Sirjansland triumphs big at national Barcelona 2023

Barcelona 2023 looked set to be a slightly 'easier' and smoother edition than previous years after the release on July 7 at 7am on Friday morning. The pigeons faced a south-east wind in France, although temperatures would rise to hefty values in the afternoon. The flight path was largely cloudless. In practice, of course, it always remains to be seen how everything actually 'turns out'. Last year, Pieter Goeree won national Barcelona at 906 m.p.m. Johan Boonen took gold in 2021 at 1019 m.p.m. And the three years before that, the winner did not even get above 900 m.p.m. Jelle Jellema triumphed in 2020 at 857 m.p.m., Wim Muller in 2019 at 850 m.p.m. and Jacky de Bruine in 2018 at 890 m.p.m. The first French record of Barcelona 2023 already set the tone. At Montiviellers it was clocked at 18.58 and so that pigeon from Barcelona was home within 12 hours of flying. At a distance of 909 km, that gives a speed of 1266 m.p.m. Montiviellers is a suburb of the big port city of Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine. Purely on the coast, the first pigeon fell and very westerly. The westernmost entrants in the Netherlands are more than 200 east of Montiviellers. It was Ben Milou Hamed who managed to clock this pigeon and that 1266 m.p.m. later proved to be a bridge too far for all the other Barcelona entrants. The overflight in France is Calais and with 1043 km one is 134 km further there. The famous Robert Ben clocked there at 22.08 and his pigeon reached 1148 m.p.m. and with 1266 m.p.m. that does make a big difference. But Ben's pigeon still came 15th internationally. In France, 109 pigeons came through on the same day. In Belgium, three pigeons came through on the same day with 1143, 1123 and 1059 m.p.m. The first two went international with prizes 17 and 28. A very big surprise was the pigeon of Mark Gilbert from Winkfield, England, which was clocked at 22:51 at 1122 km and at 1059 m.p.m. Internationally. 51 at 1122 km and will score 6th prize at 1179 m.p.m. internationally. When you are in England this early you know that in the Netherlands the west side of the pre-flight can't be good and certainly not because the wind diminished in the evening and started blowing more to the north-east. The first Dutch Barcelona catcher could be clocked at 5.21 in Sirjansland, Zeeland. And anyone who hears or reads Sirjansland and knows a little about the world of long-distance racing knows this must be about Walter van der Meulen. Walter saw his hen sitting on the shed when he came out and, after throwing a few feed pellets into the sputnik, she came in.

Third time
For Walter van der Meulen, Barcelona 2023 is his third national win. The other two were achieved in the sector south and were on Dax in 2004 and Bergerac in 2019. In 2004, that was still with a hen obtained on a voucher from the Nobels Achthuizen family. Walter van der Meulen plays the midday discharges of his department and a number of ZLU flights. On Barcelona, he has managed to score a wonderful palmares over the last 10 years and the highlight is of course the national victory now. This year he went to Barcelona with 14 pigeons and after 5.21 he managed to clock the following pigeons at 8.53, 9.53, 10.09, 11.57, 12.03, 12.58 and 13.30 And Sunday afternoon 12 of the 14 were back. At the same time as Barcelona, Walter also had 10 pigeons on Dax and let that flight be a big disappointment with two prize pigeons clocked at 12.11 and 13.58. Walter can't explain it either and sees it as the mystery of pigeon racing. Sometimes it goes very well and sometimes less? And the question why is often unanswerable. The winning hen NL20-2024760 'Bonte 760' was played on two (shorter) midday flights as a yearling and she missed correctly twice. However, she did come back very fresh and fruity each time and that is a big plus for Walter and often a sign that they have substance. Last year she went to Barcelona for the first time and won prize 165 nationally and his was then Walter's 5th pigeon and with 39 along he scored 17 prizes at Barcelona in 2021. And so after the 165th prize she now takes the gold in the Netherlands and internationally she is also early with the 8th prize and ahead of all Belgian Barcelona pigeons. Her father is a 2018 cock and he is Walter's 2nd pigeon on this Barcelona and will go on to win the 48th prize nationally. And this cock went to Barcelona for the first time and already flew several good prizes in the long distance the years before. Among his grandparents, we see the sire of the 1st nat. Bergerac 2019 and the mother of the 1st nat. Barcelona 2018 which Jacky de Bruine won in Nieuwerkerk with a cock that came directly from Walter and was therefore named after him. 

 

Dordrecht
The van der Meulen family is originally from Dordrecht. The 1953 flood disaster caused Walter's grandparents to move to Sirjansland. In Dordrecht in 1953, the van der Meulen family welcomed people from Sirjansland in Zeeland who had lost their homes due to the floods. These later went back and through friendship, the van de Meulen family also went to visit Sirjansland and came up with the 'idea' to live there. The now 54-year-old Walter cleverly bought his current home as a 19-year-old and the house was then in poor condition with even a stacked foundation and therefore cracks everywhere and was built in 1870. Many renovations have embellished the house over the years. A garage was later built next to the house with an attic for pigeon accommodation. But it never housed a car. Above it, Walter has three wards for some 30 nesting couples. The garden loft contains four departments and on it there is room for 30 racing couples, among others. And this garden loft is very old and originally belonged to an uncle of father Aart v.d. Meulen at van der Spoel in Ridderkerk. The front is now in need of replacement. The Barcelona pigeons left on youngsters of 5 to 7 days and they have been played in separately. With a view to the first long-distance task, the pigeons are paired. After a flight, the nest is broken off and an attempt is made to get them back on that nest position on the next assignment. The successful Barcelona pigeons will not get a second flight this season. Walter prefers to play entire divisions on a particular flight. Before the long distance season, the pigeons were treated with tricho-cocci from Travipharma for 6 days and two weeks before a long distance flight they get that for 2 more days. In Walter's strain there is a lot of Ernest blood and that is from Jan Ernest from Steenbergen. An Ernest hen from '97 played an important role paired with two Hausouldoffers obtained via Jacky de Bruine and Hans Matthijsse. The Ernest blood also later came from brothers Paul and Luc Bramel of Loerbeek. Paul Bramel 'descended' to Sirjansland on Saturday morning and saw another hefty number of Barcelona pigeons arrive. 


Port Zelande
Because of the hawk danger, Walter no longer releases pigeons in the early morning before leaving for work these days. When they arrive home at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, all the pigeon work has to be done and the racers are obliged to train. On Sunday morning after Barcelona, Walter went to Hoogerheide to rake a team of pigeons that have to go to a next flight. Just basketing at the Nishoek for Quievrain or Noyon is no longer possible. Walter works at the Port Zelande holiday park of Center Parcs, which is located halfway along the Grevelingendam between Schouwen Duivenland and Goeree-Overflakkee. The holiday park has many cottages and Walter works in the field service there to maintain everything. Sirjansland lies east on Schouwen Duivenland and almost on the Grevelingenmeer. For the ZLU, he crosses the provincial border to basket in Middelharnis on the other side. The letter 'PWA' are inextricably linked to the van der Meulen name and they stand for Walter's baptismal names. And those are Pieter, Willem and Aart. His two grandfathers were called Pieter and Willem and his father's name is Aart.

Sober
We can characterise Walter van der Meulen as a very down-to-earth and likeable guy. Do not expect any grandiloquence or bold statements on his part. He considers everything calmly and we may say that he has managed to build up an extremely strong long-distance colony with skill. The races that will be played in a season and the pigeons that will go there are decided in advance. Yearlings do the midday release races and are therefore immediately tested. He plays the same type of pigeons on the midday and morning releases. Pigeons have to prove themselves on the races and Sirjansland has already done so on Barcelona. For this 1st national, Walter already won prizes 9, 10, 17, 21 and 32 on national Barcelona. Friend Jacky de Bruine flew 1st and 2nd national in two years and Pieter Goeree surprised friend and foe on Barcelona in 2022, winning 1st national with 'Catalana' and she has as mother an hen which came directly from Walter van der Meulen. This hen Walter bred from a brother of the mother of the 1st national with Jacky de Bruine paired with an hen that herself flew the 37th Barcelona in 2017! It must be in there one could say. Most pigeons that have the 'good genes' may not be able to do it themselves but the shots that turn out to be hits do come from such pairings. . Yes Walter has already proved his class on many long-distance races over the last 10 years and so we can expect that 1st national Barcelona will not be his last appealing feat. But winning Barcelona nationally is of course 'the top' and the man from Sirjansland now has that achievement. On behalf of the ZLU, congratulations on this grandiose success!
Ad van Gils