FRANS BUNGENEERS

of Ranst

1st Belgian National Barcelona 2005

Information supplied by Nikolaas Gyselbrecht of www.pipa.be in conjunction with Elimar Pigeon Services

Barcelona as always reported is the top race that the distance fanciers are after and we have to go back very many years to find a National winner of Barcelona who lives in the province of Antwerp. But this 2005 Barcelona edition has two fanciers from Antwerp taking the top of the National result. Frans Bungeneers from Ranst wins 1 st National and Van Gils Frans and Paul from Ravels win 2 nd National. Frans also wins the famous golden wing trophy, 3 rd International old pigeons and 2 international hens. This has been a great result for the area and one that will be remembered for years to come.

After many good results Frans Bungeneers is getting more and more famous in the Antwerp and more importantly throughout Belgium. This is by far from the first top result that he has achieved having already won 1 st Provincial Cahors in 1999 and he was really ambitious to win another provincial title. Now he doesn't only win the provincial title but also the ultimate National title of the most prestigious long distance race in the world.

The winner is now known as "Tonny" who was not sent to any training race's in the year of birth as she was a late youngster of 2002, she was left to just exercise around her loft. She did not moult all the way through and retained two nest flights, and then in 2003 she was trained together with the yearlings. 75% of the pedigree of "Tonny" is Cor De Heijde, and 90% of the total bloodline in the loft of Frans is from Cor De Heijde. This line has proven successful so Frans is sticking to it.

In 2004 " Tonny" competed in the following races, 22/04: Vilvoorde. 1/5: Quiévrain. 15/5: Noyon. 21/5 Dourdan. 9/6 Chateauroux. 2/7 Barcelona where she finished 684th National old pigeons and also 124th National Hens so she was showing promise for the longest race. After the long distance season (half of August) "Tonny" took a break a time when Frans gives his pigeons an oxygen-cure. The pigeons go out of the loft in the morning and they can only get back in during the evening. Also at the weekend his pigeons stay inside because his neighbour is racing sprint and middle distance. But starting from October, his pigeons are outside for about 10 hours a day. Because of the commitment to long distance racing these pigeons are paired up for the first time in March.

Frans is very meticulous and writes everything down, flights, position of each pigeon, number of nomination etc. by following this system Frans finds it easy to see when he can basket each pigeon and when the pigeon is ready to go on the next race. "Tonny" was basketed at the perfect time, because at the moment of basketing, "Tonny" was sitting a 4 day old youngsters. All pigeons are raced on the nest, both hens and cocks, this is a lot more difficult in comparison to the traditional widowhood system but Frans really believes in the system, that's why he always continued with the same system and is now successful with it.

According to Frans it is really important to observe your pigeons all the time if you are to be successful and compete at the highest level. This is the best way to get to know your pigeons well because sometimes it is better to leave a pigeon at home if the condition is not so good otherwise the self-confidence of the pigeon will go down immediately and the pigeon won't perform on the following races, that he is meant to be competing in.

Medical: Frans gives the birds a course of treatment against Tricho just before the season and also after the first round of youngsters are born. If the droppings are okay and the heads look good he does nothing because then they are healthy. He also doesn't give much in the way of food supplements, but as he is a top sportsman himself he knows that some electrolytes can't hurt, so he adds some electrolytes to the water just after each race.

Food: Different mixtures are mixed together and as an extra the pigeons get some candyseeds before basketing. The pigeons have food in front of them the whole day long. Frans is someone who knows a lot about pigeons, he wrote a whole book about in which he judges all the best pigeons of Belgium. Apparently this was a good help to get good results at his own racing and breeding lofts. Frans is also willing to help others and on one particular occasion he searched out a hen in an auction for a friend and a few years later this hen became the mother of the winner of the Golden Wing competition !

Sport at the highest level: Frans knows what is required to be a successful in any sport because he was once a professional sportsman himself. He was member of a handball team playing in the highest national division. His wife Karin was a participant of the Olympic games in Moscow 1980. A house full of professional sports fans over there in Ranst! Which has spilled over into a successful team of racing pigeons.