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Welcome.
My name is Anne Bruinsma. I life together with my wife Betty
and my son and daughter in a small Frisian village Berlikum. The village
is in the North of the Netherlands. My most important hobby is to race
with pigeons and then only the long distance.
With this website I want to let you know about my
passion. The long distance races better known as the ZLU-races. That this
are really long distances can you see from the distances that my pigeons
have to overcome to get home. For example: Perpignan is 1192 km,
St.Vincent 1185 km and Barcelona 1343 km. 25 years ago almost nobody
would believe that pigeons could get home from such a distances but i was
sure that it must be possible and so I've tried to do anything that was in
my possibilities to make my dream came true. A dream that you can really
call it and finally I can say I got success. Not only on my loft but also
by other fanciers in the Northern part of Holland there are regularly
pigeons in the top of the international result lists. That it took a lot
of pioneering, has been mostly forgotten.
How it started.
The pigeon sport I learned from my father at the same time as when I
grew. My father was well known as 'The bridge-keeper and pigeon inspector' Cornelis
Bruinsma. My father was a real pioneer because he was in the sixties one
of the first who travelled with his 8mm camera to many famous Dutch and
especially famous Belgium pigeon fanciers. Besides that he was one of the
first in Friesland (a province in the North of the Netherlands) who dared
to take part in the long distance races and the ZLU races. He was a real
lover of the unsurpassed Aarden strain. Very soon he owned some real
Aarden pigeons from D.
v/d Veen en Lajos Obendorfer. He also bought direct from Marijn van
Geel a daughter of the world-famous "Dolle". Not only teached my
father me about the pigeonsport, but he also gave me the passion for the
long distance races and the Aarden pigeons. Later when I started on my
own, I also bought pigeons from the same fanciers as my father did.
Jan Aarden pigeons.
Because I want to have success on the races with the
longest distances, I kept looking for pigeons who can deal with it and
give me success. I found out that in most successful long-distance racing
lofts they had Jan Aarden pigeons at the basis. So I decided very soon
that I wanted to try to get a loft of Aarden pigeons to keep the Jan
Aarden strain pure.
During the 1950´s Jan Aarden sold many pigeons, but
practically everybody crossbred them with another strain. The result of
all this is that, after 20 years, only a very limited fanciers kept the
Aarden strain pure. Throughout the years the small number of fanciers with
pure Aarden pigeons decreased and the number of pure Aarden pigeons became
increasingly rare. Finally Marijn van Geel from Nieuw Vossemeer was one of
the only persons left with pure Aarden pigeons on his lofts. Pigeons such
as the ones that could be seen on the Aarden lofts during the fifties.
Pigeons with the most beautiful eyes one can possibly wish, perfectly
built, with feathers soft as silk and superb muscles and bones. Marijn van
Geel kept the Aarden strain as it was by inbreeding in far advanced blood relationships.
He was a real master in that technique. Even after the death of Jan Aarden
he succeeded in breeding the same excellent types of pigeons with the same
fantastic strain characteristics. Only now it becomes increasingly evident
that the exceedingly strong Aarden strain is very suitable for inbreeding
and van Geel became a specialist who was second to none.
The worldwide fame started with the legendary:
NL-67-2052951 the: "Dolle" The most famous Jan Aarden
pigeon of all times. Thanks to its outstanding performance and particular
stock value the "Dolle" had become the best long-distance pigeon
of the world. It may no doubt be looked upon as the bird that stood at the
basis of the Jan Aarden strain. It was a typical Jan Aarden pigeon with beautiful
chestnut-eyes and silk soft feathers; characteristics which were passed on
by the bird to its offspring. The ´Dolle` was basketed 17 times and
consequently won 17 prizes in long-distance racing.
The most important of these are:
- 3rd National St. Vincent 6844 pigeons (and won a car)
- 3rd National Dax 3649 pigeons
- 9th ZNB Limoges 1610 pigeons
- 12th National St. Vincent 6917 pigeons
- 66th National Dax 3561 pigeons etc.
The "Dolle" was bred out of two pure Jan
Aarden pigeons from Ligtenberg and Van Agtmaal, both from Steenbergen. A
better long-distance pigeon as the "Dolle" never existed. On
many champion lofts this magic bird was at the basis and it still
guarantees major performances in international pigeon sport
There can be no doubt that after the
"Dolle" : NL 81-8152434 "Vlekje" is the most prominent
of the van Geel strain and a pearl in international pigeon sport. "Vlekje"
was a dream and a prototype of the modern Jan Aarden pigeon. It was a very
versatile bird with all the good characteristics of the Jan Aarden strain.
As a racing bird and a stockbird it is a phenomenal and valuable pigeon.
This was evident from his winning the car in 1984 and 2nd national Dax.
Later, as a stockbird, he became famous as the father and grandfather of
many superior pigeons which excelled in the marathons of the skies.
Moreover, "Vlekje" looks very much like his grandfather the "Dolle".
Primarily concerning colour, but also as far as character concerned.
Self-willed, energetic and dominant on the loft as the
"Dolle" used to be. A pigeon with personality and character. At
the moment (januari 2008) I still have two sons of "Vlekje" and
about 50 grandchildren.
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