European Racing Pigeon Links - Results

Every once in awhile I get an email from someone asking where is the best place to find the results in Europe.  Through searching and from some friends I have made in Europe I have found some pretty good links to the racing results in Belgium and The Netherlands.  I actually wrote an article for the Racing Pigeon Digest magazine talking about where to find results in The Netherlands and also how to understand the results.  You can read that article here!  I certainly am no authority on any of this stuff so if some of you have suggestions or new links please let me know and I will add them to the site!


Update 6/22/11 (with additional comments 9/8/11)

Here is a great article by Ad Schaerlackens on De Rauw Sablon pigeons.  I had to laugh as I feel the same way sometimes in that we all get wrapped up (me included) in a certain strain and common sense and performance are left behind in favor of that fancy pedigree with the specific strain showing up on it.  I truly think that most of the pigeon world is turning into "pigeon collectors" - unfortunately for us pigeons have an expiration date so collecting them doesn't make too much long term sense! 

--http://schaerlaeckens.mikehopman.nl/pages/leesartikel.php?id=577

[9/8/11 Update - I like to say where there is smoke there is fire and the De Rauw Sablon pigeons have certainly put up some impressive results so I am not here to say they haven't performed, but I do think their results have been taken WAY out of proportion to reality.  They are not dominating like many would like the pigeon community to believe.  They are so expensive because they are being heavily marketed by those who control the information in the pigeon sport, not because they are that much better than every other pigeon out there.  What will also happen soon (if not already) is that they will simply get results by sheer numbers...1/2 the pigeons being flown will soon be De Rauw Sablon and simply by the sheer numbers they will have winners.  My question is are they winning out of turn?  Are they showing genetic superiority to the others consistently by winning out of turn?  They may have in the past, but I am not so sure right now.  To answer the question I am getting asked recently - "Why don't you have some De Rauw Sablon pigeons?"  I don't because I don't think you are getting what you are paying for - I would rather buy 10 pigeons from some top Europeans fanciers than buy 1 De Rauw Sablon pigeon for the same price.  Simple as that for me.  I am about winning with my pigeons...not marketing my pigeons for sale.]


Also, I had a friend in Holland (Thanks Frans!!) send me a link to what I have found is the very best site EVER to find out the results happening in The Netherlands.  You can put in any fancier, band number, city, etc. and pull up all the results for the past few years in every race they flew in!  Amazing stuff...one warning...be careful or you can find yourself spending hours digging into the results of certain fanciers (i.e. Koopman, Poortvliet, Hendriks, Verkerk, Veenstra, etc.).

--http://www.pigeonvillage.nl/


Belgium

National Champions & Ace Pigeons (National Organizations Site):  http://www.kbdb.be/index.php?page=877
-NOTE: The links sometimes change, but you just have to go to www.kbdb.be - then find the word "Kampioenschappen"


PITTS.be:  http://www.pitts.be
-Go to Resultaten and you will find national down to regional results


PIPA:  http://www.pipa.be/en/races/international/2010
-This is a great site for lots of different information on the results in Europe


The Netherlands

National Champions & Ace Pigeons (National Organizations Site):  http://www.npo.nl/vluchten/nationale-kampioenschappen
-NOTE:  The 2010 Champions don't appear to have been named yet.

Results:  http://www.npo.nl/afdelingen
-I haven't found a really good site that aggregates all the NPO or Afdeling results so I just go to the individual Afdelings sites and look for the fanciers I am interested in following.  Look at my article above to find what Afdeling many famous pigeon flyers fly in.

WHZB National Championships:  http://www.fond-krant.nl/whzb_eindstanden.php
-We often read of the WHZB Champions as well as the NPO Champions.  I guess in the United States we compare that to the Racing Pigeon Digest Champions versus the AU Champions.  The WHZB "Wie Heeft Ze Beter" (Who Does It Better) Championship is comparable to the Racing Pigeon Digest Champions.  They use different formulas to compute their champions and you have to send in your results.  The 2010 Champions also haven't been named yet, but you can look at the 2008 & 2009 Champions.