Iwens Jan & Tom (St. Katelijne Wavre) The "coming man" on the 500km races

If you ask us who is one of the coming talents in the large middle distance, the name of Iwens Jan and Tom from St Kathelijne Waver will definitely be on our list. We visited them for the first time in 2016 because then their hen BE16-6113416 had won national race Argenton. She had a new sweet in the week before basketing from Argenton and super motivated as she was she left the then 27,284 Argenton racers behind. A victory that put our father-son tandem extra in the international spotlight. 
But it did not stop with that one "bang performance", no...last season 2022 they were allowed to nail the international win against 6,345 yearlings (also the fastest of 15,267 pigeons) against the proverbial ceiling. 
To give you an overall picture of the quality present at the Iwens home, here is an overview
1st inter-provincial Vierzon 6345 yearling pigeons, fastest of 15267 pigeons 2022
5th national champion KBDB GHF Old & Yearling Pigeons 2021
1st provincial Châteauroux 1501 yearlings 2021
1st zonal Châteauroux 1668 yearlings 2021
1st provincial Argenton 845 old birds 2018
1st national Argenton 19592 young birds, fastest of 27284 pigeons
 

With the knowledge and experience of the short distance

Jan is the son of Albert Iwens from Bonheiden. At the time, Albert was one of the best speed players in the region. There, Jan learned the tricks of the vitesse game and the art of motivation and feeding. He is quite proud of his vitesse performances in the past and illustrates this as follows "on vitesse, you can still win a euro, during 25 years of playing the vitesse, I only added 2 years, all other years were closed with a big profit". 

Whereas Jan is a motivated and passionate player, son Tom is even more so. He spends every spare minute taking care of the colony, and in the racing season he himself loses several kilos of his body weight due to the intensity with which he practices his hobby ! It is a family event there at the Iwens. Tom lives at 2 minutes cycling from his parents and can therefore regularly be found at the lofts. With great motivation, they therefore decided a few years back to venture into middle and heavy middle distance.

The main basic strains that make up the colony at the Iwens home are the old type of Albert Iwens (Bonheiden) and enriched with direct toppers from Patrick Vervloesem (Rijmenam), André Roodhooft (Pulderbos), Van Eynde-Goovaerts (Putte), Frans & Marc Van Oosterwyck (Testelt), Luc De Laere (Anzegem), 2 breeding hens from Jules Lens (Putte), 1 breeding hen from Eddy Caluwé (Mechelen), 1 breeding hen from Jos De Belder (Sint-Katelijne-Waver) and a cock from Luc & Hilde Sioen (Moorslede). 

Only racing with hens
With the old and yearlings, only hens are played here. The team was only 24 birds in spring 2022. In preparation for the season, 3 to 4 days were put together with their partners during the spring. At the same time, they took the opportunity to get the training basket out from under the dust and have the first learning flights completed. For this period, we are talking from September to mid-February, they were simply in the run. In mid-February they came to their racing loft where they were immediately darkened until the end of April. This darkening is done entirely in function of the national races. From mid-February onwards, the youngsters gradually return outside to resume training. During the season, they train once a day, which is Monday and Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. If they are 20 minutes out of sight by Wednesday we know they are fine. Sunday is always rest day. 
The hens are always in an aviary during the day which is shielded by wind-break netting and where the top can also be shielded with insulating boards should the thermometer buy 25 deg. Celcius. At night, the hens are confined in their nesting boxes. The hens are fed twice a day, they are given 15 minutes and then everything is taken away. 
Medical and system
We stick to a set schedule, this is super diet with Immunol by Schroeder - Tollisan on arrival home and the day after. From Monday to Wednesday morning they get Galaxy Sport Light by Beyers, on Wednesday evening this is then 50% Galaxy Sport Light and 50% Energy Beyers. On Thursday, they then get 100% the Energy Beyers. Every day they are given flat white seed as an extra. 
Furthermore, the medical supervision here is led by Vincent Schroeder. Before the season, we went for a check-up and found light tricho, the pigeons were treated for this and afterwards weekly "yellow drops" disappear in the nose. Against respiratory disease, we waited as long as possible to treat. When they arrived home from the first big middle distance race, they were given "Nano Tolyamin", the previous weeks these were "electrolytes".

Some nice results of the last seasons
Argenton, Provincial, 845 old birds: 1 (1/2)
Argenton, National, 5828 old birds: 13 (1/2)
Châteauroux, National, 2858 old birds: 51 (1/1)
Bourges, Zone, 1561 old birds: 27-36 (2/2)
Châteauroux, Provincial, 2394 yearbirds: 2-169-215-236 (4/5)
Vierzon, Zuiderbond Mechelen, 127 yearbirds: 1-3-5-6-7-11-17-20-23-26 (10/10)
Issoudun, National, 8248 old birds: 37-401-750 (3/3)
Argenton, Zuiderbond Mechelen, 150 youngbirds: 1-4-5-7-10-11-14-18-21-40-41 (11/14)
Argenton, National, 16496 youngbirds: 63-148-150-268-437-499-688-1037-1141-3023-3074(11/14)
Tulle (643 km), Provincial, 969 yearbirds: 30 (1/1)
Melun, Union Antwerpen zone west, 851 youngbirds: 1-18-53-59-72-73-74-79-83-86-100-107
114-116-128-156 (16/27)
Vierzon (462 km), Zuiderbond Mechelen, 179 old birds: 1-2 (2/3)
Vierzon, Provincial, 2691 old birds: 9-33 (2/3)
Vierzon, Interprovincial, 6377 old birds: 26-69 (2/3)
Limoges, Nationaal, 10319 old birds: 73-333 (2/2)
Bourges (465 km), Zuiderbond Mechelen, 360 youngbirds: 1-11-82-91-114 (5/6, 5 firts nominated)
Bourges, National, 28551 youngbirds: 20-488-3867-4309-5158 (5/6)
Melun (296 km), Tussen Vaart, Zenne & Nete, 415 youngbirds: 1-2-4-5-9-11-16-23-24-26-31-35-39-40-51-52-72-77-82-89-91-103-109 (23/30)
Melun, Union Antwerpen zone west, 1085 youngbirds: 3-5-10-15-30-32-45-59-60-64-83-91-96-97-130-131-194-208-229-261-271-320-334 (23/30)
Bourges, 4313 old birds duiven provincial: 10-80-108-333 (4/4)
Châteauroux, 5140 old birds duiven national: 32-183 (2/3, two first nominated)
Issoudun, 9777 old birds duiven national: 70-180-303 (3/4, two first nominated)

JAN AND TOM SELECTED A UNIQUE GROUP OF TOP PIGEONS ESPECIALLY FOR INTERNET AUCTION PIGEON BIDS
WHOEVER WANTS TO INVEST IN PIGEONS FROM A COLONY IN FULL EXPANSION SHOULD NOT HESITATE HERE

Some of the top pigeons for sale are: