GEERT SCHEPERS

of Heusden-Zolder

1st National Bourges Yearlings 2005

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

Geert and some friends, enjoying the victory

No matter where in the world you live the weather can make a difference because in this case the wind was coming out of the west to south west, it was almost predicted in which region the national winners of Bourges II would live: Limburg and Brabant. With Michel Van Lint (Brabant), winner of the young pigeons race, Geert Schepers (Limburg), winner of the yearlings race and Karlo Van Rompay (Limburg), winner of the old pigeons race, this prediction was 100% correct. The 5061402/2004, cock, of Geert not only wins against 12.766 yearlings, but he also wins the total race against 55.386 pigeons with the highest speed of 1588.39m/m. In 2004 there were about 17.000 pigeons more in the Bourges race, but that doesn't mean this victory is with less value! No matter where the wind is and how many birds are in the competition, National racing is hard and the pigeon on the day gets the top spot.

Geert is 36 years old now and is working full time for the Swedish IKEA Company, that is the reason why he regularly requires a helping hand to take care of his pigeons. This helping hand is his father André Schepers, with whom he raced in partnership until 1999. That was the year that father André decided to take his life a little bit quieter so he partly moved away from the pigeons. Off course it is very hard for him or in fact any other fancier to completely move away from pigeon racing, that's why he is happy to help his son where and when it is deemed necessary.
For the last three years both father and son Schepers have made regular visits their friends Guisson-Vanbrabant to order one round of youngsters and one round of eggs each year. The partnership of Guisson-Vanbrabant are well know for their excellent racing in the middle distance events. These youngsters are trained together with a team that Geert has bred himself out of the stock from Guisson-Vanbrabant. That's why the current racing and breeding loft is mostly housed with direct Guisson - Vanbrabant pigeons. With that in mind it is no surprise that the winning pigeon is also a direct Guisson - Vanbrabant pigeon. Both Geert Schepers and the Guisson - Vanbrabant partnership have mainly Pros Roosen pigeons as their base. Also the national winner is a descendant of the world famous "Computer I" line of Pros Roosen.
This season Geert has already won several top prizes on the provincial races such as 2 nd Prov. Vierzon. Also the previous week he won 11 th Prov. La Ferte with a full brother of the national winner. One day later he won 1 st prize in the club on the Blois race, with a full sister of the national winner, this highlights just how good this line are and the strength of this family that are producing line after line of winners at the top of their sport. This isn't the first victory on Bourges for Geert because in 1994 he also won 1 st Provincial Bourges Yearlings that was when he was still racing in partnership with his father. The system that Geert uses is very simple, he races his cocks with the widowhood system. After the arrival of the pigeons, they get electrolytes in their water. On Monday they get tea and later in the week they get some vitamins, that's all, simplicity with racing pigeons.

Geert Schepers with his National winner