荷兰艾本（Ebben）联盟持续辉煌，又以无与伦比的成绩完成了心想事成、旗开得胜的一年

Year after year, Combinatie Ebben manifests itself as one of the best colonies in the Netherlands. In 2024, among other things, the general championship Division 8/GOU (1,615 members) was won for the second year in a row ... a title that only partly does justice to Ebben's status. Because, in particular, the endless series of victories and top rankings in major contexts impress time and again. And that with a loft accommodation of just six metres and three departments!
It often remains amazing to stay ahead of all the big names ‘with the small basket’. The general division 8 (provincial) championship tells that this happens with great regularity at Combinatie Ebben. The top step was also climbed in 2023; for 2024, it was certainly no mean feat. Tail wind and rain were regularly on the menu, making it very difficult to achieve good results on one of the shortest distances. Nevertheless, in this period, Combinatie Ebben already laid a good foundation ... when later in the year the races became harder and more work had to be done, the Ebben pigeons turned out to be perfect and they regularly flew into the limelight. 

National top performances
Since Falco has also been racing old pigeons from his own address since 2020, he invariably manages to rank among the champions. With limited resources, because the loft has room for a maximum of 16 couples of old pigeons and just under 50 youngsters. Then top quality is a must and if places are scarce ... only the very best can stay. This much becomes clear from a fine list Falco can present:
- In 2021, 2022 and 2023 in the top 10 Best Fancier of the Netherlands
- At least one provincial victory every year and numerous championships in the department
- Winning the Silver Pigeon in 2022 and 2023.
You guessed it; on Falco's wish list is winning the “Golden Pigeon” by a bullet.

Due to a difficult first part of the 2024 season with a lot of changeable weather, it proved impossible to achieve the top 10 in the National Championships for the fourth year in a row; of course, as the 36th best fancier in the Netherlands, Falco still leaves many thousands of fanciers behind. In division 8 GOU (1,615 fanciers) the following championships, among others, were won:

1st General Speed Unnominated (as in 2023)
1st Natour Unnominated + nominated
1st Pigeon Champion Natour NL23-9147666
2nd Pigeon Champion Sprint NL23-9147633
3rd Middle Distance Unnominated
3rd Youngsters Unnominated
7th Forces Unnominated + nominated
(*These are unofficial championships due to the fact that average points have yet to be awarded to principle fanciers who do not fly on Sundays; the first places will not change)

As every year, the best pigeons moved to the breeding team at the end of 2023. Like the NL20-1302164 ‘Pandemic’ (son ‘Linus’) with 19 x 1:100 and 4 x 1st in big competition and BE20-6130891 ‘Pieta’ who became 1st provincial ace long-distance pigeon. ‘Then it always remains to be seen whether other pigeons show up as new toppers,’ Falco knows. In 2024, these were mainly pigeons from the line of the new progenitor NL16-1310994 ‘Linus’. Some of the best:

- NL23-9147666 ‘Salvador’ (son ‘Linus’), winner of 2nd Provincial Chimay against 11,374 birds but also winner 1st Bierges 2,939 birds, 7th Sourdun 6,094 birds, 29th Bierges 11,333 birds, 20th Chimay 3,363 birds and so on. For the pedigree click here.

- '苏茜' （'萨尔瓦多' 的同窝姐妹），在 2024 年5次获得前1/100 的成绩，包括奇梅 11,374 羽第 4 名、奇梅 7,646 羽第 10 名、比尔吉 16,149 羽第 14 名、道夫尔 13,910 羽第 24 名、伊苏丹 8,840 羽第 31 名等等。

NL23-9147639 ‘Suus’ (granddaughter ‘Linus’) manifested herself especially on the day long distance with, among others, the 12th Gray 10,043 pigeons and 32nd Issoudun 8,840 pigeons. With also the 16th Melun 1,820 pigeons, 28th Bierges 11,333 pigeons and 62nd Niergnies 9,870 pigeons, she showed she can fly from 100 to 600 km head; a true all-round pigeon. 

Not a direct descendant of ‘Linus’ but certainly worth introducing is NL23-9147633 ‘Super 33’ (his grandmother, however, is half-sister ‘Linus’). As a youngster already a real super at Combinatie Ebben, with 5x 1:100 from 8 flights and crowned 5th National ace young NPO; that indicates that in 2023 there were not many better youngsters flying around and so the name ‘Super 33’ does him full justice. And still he appeared to have not shot his powder and - despite the changeable weather - also in 2024 top prizes followed in quick succession. If the course was somewhat normal, the ‘Super 33’ was invariably in the lead. No fewer than seven 1:100 prizes were added to his record. Two years in a row, this puts him among the very best in the department ... the titles do not lie 
2nd pigeon champion young in Division 8 (1st region) 2023
2nd pigeon championship for short distance in Division 8 (1st region) 2024

Between the National ace pigeons yearlings (‘De Allerbeste’), he is listed 4th in the provisional final ranking. Reason enough for Falco to move him to the breeding team; these are the white ravens Falco is looking for to provide new good offspring. And the first signs that he has breeding potential are already there. Jelle Jellema took his eggs in March and a youngster from them won the 4th Grand Prix Chalons en Champagne (399 km) against 4,854 pigeons on two old pens.

W. & F. Ebben; 2x 1st division in 2024

So much for the Ebben Combination; on to W. & F. Ebben. There ‘where it all started’ with Willy and where uncle and nephew have been hitting high peaks for a long time. And believe it or not; here they play with even fewer pigeons. In fact, Will's loft only accommodates a maximum of 12 racing couples and some 40 youngsters are weaned. Like Falco, Will's loft has six breeding couples. That even in such top colonies things don't always go crescendo, was proven on the W. & F. Ebben loft. Wil got problems with his health and once again it turned out that if the owner cannot optimally dedicate himself to the pigeons, it affects the performance. Meanwhile, the men found a good mode in coaching at this location and, almost as a matter of course, the quality came right back to the surface. The performance has been on an upward spiral since 2023, which in 2024 translated into the regional victory at Tienen against 3,413 pigeons and no less than two departmental victories, both with the youngsters!

It was bingo for the first time on 17 August; a weekend in which the departmental race from Roye (310 km) against 9,558 pigeons was flown under tough conditions. Conditions - after all, we know - in which Ebben pigeons are at their best and NL24-8253025 ‘Tiny Roye’ proved that as the fastest of the total competition. She is a little hen from the old lines. After all, both parents are grandchildren of the legendary foundation dam NL03-2083516 ‘Roosje’, who dominated the skies with 6x 1sts in big competition. ‘Roosje’ once won the NPO flight from La Ferte Bernard (540 km) with a six-minute lead ... a genetic quality that “Tiny Roye” definitely adopted, as she managed to win Roye 2024 with a lead of 1 minute and 42 seconds.

Two weeks later, it was the turn of NL24-8253050, a daughter of ‘Marnix’ (1st Ace youngster Region ZW 2017) x ‘Paulina’ (top pigeon including 1st Provincial Morlincourt 6,385 pigeons).  Once again, the bloodlines of ‘Roosje’ reign supreme; her DNA is represented three times in her pedigree. Out of the exact same pair comes the 1st ace youngster in Division 9 with Frans Strikker - is a new wonder pair in the making? And where ‘Tiny Roye’ won by 1 minute and 42 seconds, The 050 flew itself nearly 2 minutes off the convoy of 6,596 pigeons at Soissons over 312km. Winning with a lead; it is increasingly becoming the trademark of colony Ebben. 

Anyway, Soissons on 31 August became a huge success story for W. & F. Ebben; with the series 1-31-69-364-368-419 and so on against 6,596 pigeons (13 birds, 11 prizes) the best loft performance of the entire department was achieved; the so-called Grand Masters title.

Ebben pigeons excel at One Loft Races

Besides his own performance, Falco also values the performance of Ebben pigeons at One Loft Race. ‘After all, it is an indication of whether your pigeons do well in different places and under all conditions,’ he rightly notes. Falco need not worry about this at all, as performance at One Loft Races has been excellent. In 2023, among others, he already won the 1st prize semi-final AS Golden OLR (Greece) and the 1st Ultimate 600 km AVI Rings OLR (Slovenia) ... in 2024, it was NL23-9132033 ‘Spartacus’ (pedigree click here) who flew himself into the limelight. He did the well-nigh impossible by not only winning the semi-finals of the AS Golden OLR, but then relegating the competition to extras in the final by claiming victory with a whopping 28-minute lead. Remarkably, the three winners at the One Loft Races are all cousins of each other ... and all again grandchildren of ‘Linus’; what a super bloodline! ‘Linus’ is therefore not only a top breeder for the programme and day long flights, but certainly also for the One Loft Races.

Numerous references

Another important parameter of class is references: how do other fanciers perform with Ebben pigeons. Because there are so many, we limit ourselves to only the very best of 2024 with at least 50% Ebben blood:

- Henk Vonk won 1st Quievrain 1,940 pigeons, 1st Pont St. Maxence 4,615 pigeons, 1st Melun 717 pigeons, 1st Etroeungt 6,392 pigeons.

- Robert Maaß won 1st Lubin 897 pigeons, 1st Lowic-Just 1,311 pigeons, 1st Modia Kolweska 1,534 pigeons, 1st Sroda Slaska 1,523 pigeons.

- Frans Stikker flew only youngsters in 2024 and won 1st Marche 14,130 pigeons, 1st Luyksgestel 2,024 pigeons, 1st Quievrain 1,218 pigeons.

- Hendriks-Sanders won 1st Tienen 2,172 pigeons

- The mother of super pigeon ‘Femke’ of Adri van der Linden comes straight from Ebben. ‘Femke’ won among others 1st Nat. Saulieu (630 km) 6,218 pigeons, 1st Prov. Duffel (243 km) 13,945 pigeons, 2nd NPO Langres (549 km) 5,039 pigeons, 4th NPO Morlincourt (439 km) 6,957 pigeons etc.

- Maas-Luijkx won 1st Niergnies 1,234 pigeons

- W. Geurtz and Son won 1st Bierges 811 pigeons, 1st Bierges 6,374 pigeons and 1st Tienen 5,484 pigeons.

- B. & M. de Kramer won 1st Lennik 2,169 pigeons, 1st Duffel 1,857 pigeons, 1st Roosendaal 1,568 pigeons and 1st Niergnies 913 pigeons.

The statistics of 2024

Finally, the hard figures of the year 2024 ... an overview of some results of Combinatie Ebben:

20.4, Tienen (126 km), 4,294 birds, 30 basketed, 22 prizes: 
7, 23, 24, 25, 26, 42, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152 etc
28.4, Bierges (144 km), 11,333 birds, 30 basketed, 25 prizes:
12, 14, 28, 29, 66, 175, 185, 213, 215, 219 etc
4.5, Chimay (221 km), 11,591 birds, 29 basketed, 25 prizes: 
99, 135, 138, 234, 312, 313, 357, 448, 538 etc.
11.5, Soissons (313 km), 10,879 birds, 27 basketed, 15 prizes: 
16, 37, 201, 206, 244, 359, 379, 516, 574, 667 etc
25.5 Chalons en Champagne (337 km), 2,280 birds, 23 basketed, 15 prizes:
10, 11, 43, 64, 138, 148, 177 etc.
2.6, Duffel (116 km), ,.872 birds, 24 basketed, 18 prizes: 
9, 23, 28, 61, 78, 81, 139, 157, 243, 244, 266 etc
8.6, Sourdun (404 km), 6,094 birds, 25 basketed, 19 prizes: 
7, 9, 39, 97, 100, 117, 240, 605, 612 etc.
23.6, Melun (413 km), 4.141 birds, 25 basketed, 20 prizes: 
4, 31, 32, 48, 58, 65, 126, 178, 187 etc.
29.6, Chimay (221 km), 3,363 birds, 13 basketed, 12 prizes: 
6, 11, 18, 19, 20, 30, 60, 64, 108, 149, 353, 456
28.7, Issoudun (605 km), 3,553 birds, 12 basketed, 7 prizes: 
11, 12, 50, 70, 129 etc.
10.8, S-Prov. Chimay (221 km) 5,496 birds, 29 basketed, 20 prizes:
8-29-32-33-48-64-144-223-227-253-433-448 etc.
10.8, Tienen (126 km), 3,033 birds, 10 basketed, 9 prizes: 
4-6-58-62-102-117-275 etc.
17.8, Prov. Roye (312 km), 9,558 birds, 27 basketed, 17 prizes: 
3-43-58-109-138-156-195-215-224-339 etc.
17.8, Bierges (144 km), 2,939 birds, 10 basketed, 10 prizes: 
1-2-5-7-15-25-26-36-38-783
24.8, Chimay (221 km), 1,365 birds, 20 basketed, 16 prizes: 
18-19-20-33-42-45-99-102-134 etc.
31.8, Prov. Chimay (221 km), 11,374 birds, 10 basketed, 8 prizes: 
2-4-22-106-134-316-380 etc.

The lofts W. & F. Ebben and Combinatie Ebben won no fewer than 23 pure first prizes (no doubles) in 2024.