Roose - Pyra (Bekegem) 1st National champion small middle distance old/yearling 1st National ace small middle distance yearling

When, as a player, you get to open the box containing the superforme, wonderful things can happen. Our winged friends are then able to transcend their own abilities and achieve things that almost literally make you as a player float with joy. They got the box with the superforme opened in the 2024 season in Bekegem (borough of Ichtegem in West Flanders) at the Roose-Pyra tandem. Where they live, their location is not always the most favourable nationally, it is usually on or off. The wind is all-important and if you live on the side then it is for or against and this at national level. But it was noticeable in recent seasons that this well-known tandem was scoring closer and closer in the results and rankings, and this despite their location. A logical conclusion is therefore that the quality of the pigeons and care are going crescendo in recent history.

The good neighbours
This well-oiled tandem is one of ‘the good neighbours’.  Their houses post to each other and their courts are neatly side by side. It is switching from one grassy square to another to be together. The two tandem members are Noël Roose (60 years old) and Roger Pyra (73 years old). Noël is still active as a top steelworker (...and eagerly awaiting a ‘soon-to-retire’ retirement), Roger has been retired for 17 years after a fine career at La Brugeoise as a metal worker.  What stands out is that both are guys of a fine stile, in other words an eye for detail and accuracy.  This then reflects in the way they look after their pigeons. In the past (and if necessary still), Marijke, Noël's wife, is on hand to help where necessary, especially when training the pigeons. The lofts are rather limited in volume but spick and span and everything is technically well-built and sophisticated. In the distant past (the gentlemen have been playing together in tandem for about 30 years now), the focus was on speed. It is also a striking observation that speed men master the sport of pigeon racing to perfection. The importance of the fancier in this branch of pigeon racing is even more decisive than on the further distances where it is already more the strength of the pigeon that is decisive.  From the top of the West Flemish sprint race, they advanced to the middle-distance and heavy middle-distance races. And as it turned out, the same pigeons, or roughly anyway made and made the nice weather.  A dash of “stronger” blood was added here and there but more kilometres were no problem. The old strain was successfully supplemented with pigeons from Marc Bogaert, the famous black of Eric Honoré, Marc & Geert Pollin, Paul Bellaert, Hans Bastiaansen, Ferdinand and Karel Denduyver, Paul Lannoo....  These pigeons were neatly woven together but above all well tested because it is the results that make the selection and breeding, playing and selecting is a rock-hard credo on lofts where there is not too much room for a large colony of pigeons.  The selection knife is set razor sharp here. At Noël, the alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m., at 5.45 he starts cleaning the lofts and changing drinking pots and feeding. During the day, Roger is then active to let out pigeons etc.  On Noël's return home after his day job, he then takes over the tasks again and consultations are held.  All the lofts are in Noël's garden.  A close tandem that still needs few words to understand and help each other.

Quality prevails over quantity

It is an irreversible trend in pigeon racing that more and more mega lofts and large colonies are being brought into play.  The days when pigeon sport was the sport of the small man with the small basket seem to be more and more a thing of the past. Does all this mean that the general quality of pigeons has increased ?  In my opinion, this proof has not yet been provided. In any case, many more pigeons are being used and the focus is more and more on numbers in the hope of playing several in the top against the shooter who has to do it with just a few arrows on his bow. Yet, and fortunately so, there are still players who continue to make good weather with a relatively small colony.  They know very well how to bring a team of pigeons to the starting line that can compete with the best. They polish until the diamond shines (read is in top form) and then deploy it and achieve strong results. So here too in Bekegem.  No mass of pigeons, on the contrary, but a lot of quality in a small space. The results and rankings are irrefutable proof of this. Their pigeon stock consists of 4 fixed breeding couples and about 15 other breeding couples that are coupled regularly, 40 cocks on widowhood (20 yearlings and 20 old birds) and 9 hens that, coupled with a cock, are played on double widowhood. Add some 150 youngsters and the Roose-Pyra tandem is described.  To support this approach, here is an overview of the top performances in rankings of the past years:

2024 Nationaal KBDB

1e laureaat nationaal kampioenschap KHF oude + jaarse
1e laureaat nationaal kampioenschap Asduif KHF jaarse
2e laureaat nationaal kampioenschap Asduif KHF oude 

 2024 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB

1e Asduif KHF oude + jaarse
2e Asduif KHF oude + jaarse
1e Asduif Allround oude + jaarse

 2023 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB
3e Algemeen kampioen
1e Asduif Allround oude + jaarse

 2022 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB
3e Algemeen kampioen
1e Asduif Allround oude + jaarse

 2020 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB
3e Algemeen kampioen KBDB West-Vlaanderen
1e Asduif KHF oude + jaarse
2e Asduif KHF jongen

2019 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB
3e Algemeen kampioen KBDB West-Vlaanderen
1e Asduif Allround oude + jaarse

 2018 PE West-Vlaanderen KBDB
3de Algemeen kampioen KBDB W

A selection from the pigeon bible according to Roose-Pyra

• Results determine the selection and few other items
• Breeding pigeons are paired in mid-December, racing pigeons two weeks later to spread out the intensity of grooming. The racers come together for another 3 days at the start of the season
• Hens that race get to see their cock for a long time before basketing
• On Wednesday (before basketing on Thursday) all cocks come together with their hen for an hour and a half and on Thursday the cock then gets its dish as motivation
• By necessity some darkening has to be done because the nearby street lights give too much light in the evening
• Youngsters are also darkened, they are played together until some couples have formed and are then played on the sliding door
• The pigeons train once a day
• The speed and middle-distance pigeons go into the basket weekly (up to 13 races in a season)
• Ruben Lanckriet is the counsellor with the white smock. The pigeons are vaccinated against paramyxo and paratyphus
• The feed is a combination of Versele-Laga, Bonduelle, Casaert mixture and also a lot of maize as a bonus
• After a few training flights, the old pigeons go to Arras with their own transport, while Marijke, Noël's wife, will train the youngsters some 15 times with her own transport.
• Trying to sense whether the pigeons feel good in their loft. Their lofts are cleverly designed, there are possibilities to close them well, to ventilate them with windbreak netting, to make sure there are no draughts, all this can be easily and conveniently (usually from outside) adjusted and adjusted. The eye of the fine fancier is omnipresent here.
• Here it is still pigeon sport of fine technique and good observation. Once something has been established, we react very quickly. No large system lofts with teams being prepared. On the contrary.

Two stunning titles !

National champion small middle distance old and yearlings

With a coefficient half the size of the 2nd laureate, they finish in first place with a bike length lead.  A great result in a heavily competitive environment. A title that will long be talked about and mused upon in Bekegem.

1st National ace pigeon small middle distance yearlings with Remco

It is the super yearling Remco who provides an exceptional performance here and, with a coefficient of 0.6329, also leaves the second far behind (1.66). He flies 1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th and 9th (with to 9th out of more than 10,000 pigeons).  An exceptional record of an exceptional pigeon.
Remco is therefore no ordinary pigeon. As a young pigeon he already flew three times very early on the result and even then we already knew that, without any setbacks, this could be a very good one.  And so it happened...
Although he needed a special motivation...but this one had not escaped the players (pigeon observation remember...).   The first flight was a windy one and the pigeon from the top nest box stayed away. Remco's hen (the nest box below it) died of an injury..and all this led to Remco being ‘tapped’ to capture the top box with contents and all.  By Noel and Roger, this game was played nicely and he was occasionally allowed to possess the top nest bench.
He was basketed from the top nest box with the known result, a textbook example of territorial drive from a top pigeon.  The quality is present in this pigeon (also his pedigree may be seen with on the father's side their own race, Marc Bogaert, Vandepoele, and on the mother's side their own strain coupled with the strain of Bellaert), but by keen observation the alertness was put on edge and the motivation boosted. 

With the Witkop another real topper in the lofts 

 It did not end with Remco alone.  With this super pigeon, even though the others would be overshadowed, the title of national champion was also achieved by top pigeons.  One of them is the white head which performed as follows:

o 1st provincial ace pigeon all-round west vlaanderen 2024

o 2nd national ace pigeon small middle distance

o 3rd world best pigeon 2024

o 2nd provincial ace pigeon all-round west vlaanderen 2022

A super pigeon with a palmares to dazzle with. A real topper with a real top pedigree. The father comes from Paul Lannoo from Tielt and is a crossing between a son of the world famous Rudy from Gaby Vandenabeele and a super hen from Luc Delaere from Anzegem. The mother, in turn, is one of our own old type (Roose-Pyra, Honoré, Bogaert...). 

It doesn't stop with these two toppers ! Clappers such as De Marc Pollin, De Fontenay, De 255/22 have proven in the past that there is a lot of quality here in Bekegem. They form the further basis of the breeding loft and ensure the future.

And quality...and mastery !

On the drive back home, we pondered what, in summary, is now the success factor of these champions. First and foremost, a very good neighbourhood and friendship that has existed for 30 years.  They understand each other with a look and a wink, that much is clear.  The tasks are well divided and both are complementary to each other.
In the past, they chose quality within the flights they liked to play (speed and middle distance). They grew into the heavy middle distance with a colony that did not necessarily grow much bigger.  They do not shoot at everything that moves but neatly wait their time to go to the races with top pigeons in top condition.
Through hard selection, they have rock-solid pigeons and get everything out of them through fine care and observation.  In the vernacular we would say ‘they are fine fanciers’ and with that everyone knows what this means.
They are anything but at the end of their tether, rest assured. Soon, Noël will also hang his hammer and saw on the hook and they will be able to groom and play in a more relaxed atmosphere and that could provide sparks.
Meanwhile, the cracks are flaunting their pictures in the living room and enjoying a wonderful season that will normally see its renewal in 2025.

Congratulations from the Herbots team !

Geert Dhaenens