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Marcel Aelbrecht of Lebbeke Long Distance Specialist

 

MARCEL AELBRECHT of Lebbeke Long Distance Specialist

by Les J. Parkinson in conjunction with www.pipa.be

Our friends over at pipa.be in Belgium have their finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest National and International winners. So as was the case last year, I have been given permission by Nikolaas Gyselbrecht to bring you some of the latest information.

Mr & Mrs Aelbrecht with Frans Sablon (centre)

We start with Marcel Aelbrecht who has been at the forefront of pigeon fanciers’ imagination for many years. Marcel, who is a former building contractor, lives in Lebbeke and started racing pigeons in 1954, 53yrs ago. In the early stages he achieved excellent results in sprint races but then moved up to the long distance events about 18 years ago. When such change comes there is always a reason and in this case it was through his best friend and neighbour Frans Sablon of the world famous combination De Rauw-Sablon (1st national Champion Long Distance 2001 – 2nd national ace pigeon Long Distance 2001, and lots more!). In the beginning, Marcel only participated in sprint racing but there was not enough time to spend on pigeons because of Marcel’s working conditions and his pigeon loft also left a little to be desired. Once he decided to build a solid loft (with a wooden floor instead of one made out of concrete!) and when a heating burner was installed underneath the loft, the team finally started to build up an impressive list of prizes. After learning his lessons, Marcel became an excellent Quiévrain racer but things were improving all the time and no-one in the club dared to say that he had won the first prize before Marcel had brought in his clock.

The young bird loft

Marcel laid the foundations for a successful long distance career at the end of the eighties. ‘Successful’ is a bit of an understatement because, when looking back at those 15 years, Marcel has achieved many national and provincial victories! Marcel became well known to the general public towards the end of the nineties when he scored at national level in the young bird race from La Soutteraine against just under 10,000 young birds. The following year he went on to win the national Perpignan race so had arrived on the big scene where he finished just before Georges Carteus from Ronse!

By this time the name of Aelbrecht became a household word in pigeon sport, but not just on a national level. “Aelbrecht” is synonymous with super class far beyond the borders of Belgium because Marcel Aelbrecht was already a highly esteemed fancier by insiders before all these national victories. Men like Eric Limbourg went over to Marcel’s to get pigeons and became a friend of the family! Even both national winners moved to the Limbourg loft at a later date, however Marcel was wise enough to keep the entire family of these two winners for himself to avoid losing good breeding material and quality. On the contrary everything continued to improve at a very good rate. He also scooped the world famous Flanders Cup, as well as ace pigeons, many championships etc. Marcel has won pretty much everything there is to win. He became 3rd National champion long distance Young in 2002 and he obtained 2 provincial victories out of 4 young bird races in 14 days in the races from Argenton against 4385 young birds and in the race from La Soutteraine against 3848 pigeons. There was also a 1st and 2nd zone; the zone was won at Argenton against 5,803 young birds (4th national against more than 17000 young birds). Argenton against 4385 pigeons started with 1st 5th & 10th. La Soutteraine was a 2nd zone against 4694 pigeons and a 6th National against 13,708 pigeons. These are excellent results, especially because Marcel participates in races with a mere handful of pigeons.

Dam of 1st Nat Ace KBDB Long Distance

There are never more than 20 widowers in Marcel Aelbrecht’s lofts and a typical example is the Beziers race of 2003 when Marcel basketed one pigeon and obtained the first local prize at the Long Distance Club of Aalst! Or 24th National against over 6,000 pigeons! To finish off the season, Marcel finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc at the renowned Long Distance Club of Aalst in the La Soutteraine race. Let’s continue with the season of 2002 when Marcel also won the 1st prize Mariman/Cerafin Trophee Argenton, 1st prize FLANDERS CUP middle distance Old, the 2nd FLANDERS CUP Young, 2nd Provincial Champion Long Distance Young, 2nd Best Loft national BDS, 3rd national Champion Long Distance Young. Was the first time that Marcel won the prestigious Flanders Cup? of course not because he became General Champion Flanders CUP in 2000!

But still Marcel was not satisfied because he is a real fancier who is not easily pleased, one who always strives for more and better results. This can also be noticed in the way he talks because it is difficult for a pigeon to be considered good by Marcel! His friend, Frans Sablon knows him very well and makes fun out of the demanding nature of his friend and this keeps him going. But 2003 was a very difficult season for Marcel to surpass. He beat the competition with a handful of widowers and he clearly showed who he was! Will anyone be able to ever match it? 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance,  3rd National Ace Pigeon Long Distance racing with wonderboy Gaby Vandenabeele who managed to slip one in between with a 2nd National Ace Pigeon but Gaby is not just anyone. Eventually only the 1st Ace Pigeon qualified in 2003. But the incredible talent living in the Baardegemsestraat in Lebbeke totally stunned the entire Belgian long distance scene by obtaining gold and bronze in the most prestigious ace pigeon competition, the National Champion Long Distance and tens of other championships as well!

Brother of 1st Nat Perpignan

But Marcel kept performing extremely well and even supassed 2003, which was really incredible and the results he has achieved appeal to one’s imagination! One would think even top racers can have a less good season but that’s certainly not the case with Marcel. It seems as if Marcel Aelbrecht came from another planet because year after year the results he achieves improve. How about 2005? No less than 3 top mentions in the National Championships! The most important one being the General National Champion of Belgium KBDB. Furthermore he was also 3rd in extreme long distance and 4th in long distance. Or what about 2006 where the achievements kept coming with 1st General National Champion of Belgium KBDB again as well as 1st National Long Distance Champion KBDB !!

Some additional information about the championships: 1st General champion KBDB: 8 national races with the first nominated pigeon considered for this championship among which 2 races for young  birds and 1 race for yearlings. Furthermore 5 races for old pigeons out of which 2 are extreme long distance races and the Aelbrecht loft was the winner in 2007 after achieving the following results. Barcelona 244th National, Carcassone 156th National, Limoges 50th zone, Cahors 18th zone, Souillac 12th zone, Limoges yearlings 45th zonal, Bourges youngsters 495th National and La Souterraine youngsters 248th National. This leads up to a coefficient of 13,7228. Since the second winner obtained a coefficient of no less than 27, Marcel’s result clearly shows that he is way ahead of the competition. 1st Champion long distance KBDB: this is an old pigeons championship with 1 + 2 nominated pigeons in 3 National races to be chosen from 7 possible races. The following results were achieved Limoges 50 and 42 zone, Cahors 18 and 71 zone and Souillac 12 and 15 zone. Coefficient 9,1072. Unlike the general championship, this race was a real sprint until the end. The title was obtained with a very small difference, the coefficient of the second winner was 9,1952. Interesting detail: the same loft (Houfflijn Patrick & Dimitri) ended in the Poulidor position in both cases. Marcel yet remains a modest fancier even if there are no more prizes left for him to win. Marcel is not at all a boaster and he never will be!

Marcel is not a commercial person so he does not bother too much about the breed and he barely has pictures of his pigeons. Some fanciers would have photographs of the entire pigeon family as soon as a prize is obtained. It is rather unfortunate that he has so few pictures considering all the  top class pigeons that are housed at these lofts in Lebbeke.

It took many years of work and very tough selection to create this solid breed that are known as the Aelbrecht breed. The same main pigeons can be found in nearly all pedigrees, for example: STAMVADER 584/91, who is the father of nearly all the best pigeons in the Aelbrecht loft and who descends from the world famous DREAM COUPLE of De Rauw Sablon and from which pretty much all ace pigeons descend both at their lofts as well as others. De Rauw Sablon has already had quite a lot of ace pigeons! Pigeon 548/91 is the grandfather of the 1st National Ace Pigeon at Marcel Aelbrecht’s and is also the grandfather of the 3rd National Ace Pigeon Long Distance. Pigeon 548/91 is the grandfather of the 1st zone Argenton 2002 against 5803 young birds as well as the 5th zone Argenton and he is also the grandfather of Super Crack 308 and many other good pigeons. Here are some of the pigeons that have made this fancier into one of the best modern day continental fanciers. Super breeder 548 / 91 is the grandfather of 1st National Argenton (ZONE) 2002 against 5,803 birds. 311 / 02: 5th National (ZONE) Argenton 2002 against 5, 803 birds. 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance 2003: 4500907/99. 3rd National Ace Pigeon Long Distance 2003 (not qualified in the end). Supercrack 308/02; who won 34th National Argenton 2002 17,010 birds. 144th  National La Soutteraine 2002 13,708 birds. 5th Argenton 2003 884 pigeons. 19th Chatearoux 2003 895 pigeons. 351st Limoges National. 2003 (ZONE) 7,573 birds. 1st prov Limoges 2004 3,494 birds. 98th National against 13,502 birds. 62nd National Brive 2004 7.446 birds. 31st National Brive 2004 20,310 birds. 1st National Cahors (ZONE) 2004 2,863 birds. 16th National against 9,275 birds. 4333309/02 who won 54th  National Argenton 17,010 birds. 77th National La Souterraine (ZONE) 4,694 birds. 198th National against 13,708 birds. Supercrack 049/01 won 33rd National Beziers 2002 3,539 birds. 21st National Marseille 2004 5,864 birds. 44th International 19,605 birds. 382nd National Barcelona 2005 12,998 birds. 68th  National Perpignan 2005 7,611 birds. Supercrack 077/03 winner of 141st National La Soutteraine 2003 13,988 birds. 9th Chatearoux 2004 743 birds. 91st National Montélimar 2005 10,195 birds. 51st National Orange 2005 6,751 birds. 998th National Souillac 2005 5,985 birds. De Stielman 021/01, 108th National La Souterraine 17,315 birds. 56th National Limoges 24,479 birds. 1767th  National Bourges 42,763 birds. 7th Dourdan 451 birds. 191st National Souillac 8,327 birds and is the great-grandfather of : Supercrack 942/04 winner of 48th National Bourges 2004 48,553 Birds. 1246 National Argenton 2004 23, 078 birds. 81st National La Soutteraine 2004 16,297 birds. 2nd Chatearoux 2005 213 birds. 33rd Argenton 2005 559 birds. 15th National Limoges 2005 17,456 birds. His nest brother "943/02" also finished within the first National 100 in the same La Souterraine race AND THERE ARE MANY MORE DESCENDANTS WHO FLEW SUPERBLY! Super breeder 362/93 Marseille is the father of 015/00 24th National Béziers 2003. Supercrack 308/02 that won 34th National Argenton 2002 17.010 pigeons. 144th National La Soutteraine 2002 13,708 pigeons. 5th Argenton 2003 884 birds. 19th Chatearoux 2003 895 birds. 4333309/02 who won 54th National Argenton 17,010 birds. 77th National La Souterraine (ZONE) 4,694 birds. 198th National against 13,708 birds. Supercrack 087/03 won 30th National Brive 2005 20,310 birds. 86th National Cahors 2005 9,275 birds. 323rd National Souillac 2005 5,985 birds and is the grandfather of 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance 2003. 4500907/99 1st National Argenton (ZONE) 2002 against 5,803 birds. Supercrack 049/01 winner of 33rd National Beziers 2002 3,539  birds. 21st National Marseille 2004 5,864 birds. 44th International 19,605 birds. 382nd National Barcelona 2005 12,998 birds. 68th National Perpignan 2005 7,611 birds. Supercrack 077/03 which won 141st National La Soutteraine 2003 13,988 birds. 9th Chatearoux 2004 743 birds. 91st National Montélimar 2005 10,195 birds. 51st National Orange 2005 6,751 birds. 998th National Souillac 2005 5,985 birds and there are many more descendants who flew superbly.

Marcel at work

Young birds

Marcel has 24 breeding pairs and he likes to participate in young bird races. It is common knowledge that Marcel achieves excellent results in long distance racing with a very limited number of widowers, a total of 19 pigeons including yearlings. But as always we would like to know a little more about the way the young pigeons are handled. Marcel weans about 60 young pigeons that are 1st and 2nd round every year, that can grow in 2 lofts. In the first days following the weaning period the birds merely receive a sifted breeding mixture and it is now their task to learn how to eat large grains. As soon as they eat well, Marcel brings in some bales of bean straw. According to Marcel, the change of atmosphere among the young pigeons is truly unbelievable when he puts this straw in the lofts. The loft feels a lot more congenial right away. When the young pigeons have been weaned for 14 days to 3 weeks, they receive a first 3-day-cure against tricho. Marcel uses a product based on ronidazole. The birds also have the opportunity to explore the surroundings. “Healthy youngsters like to train and they learn fast. I see it happen every year”. If the birds fly well, the training basket is brought out and he very carefully subjects the pigeons to their first teaching commitment. Marcel went on to say: “Before I train them, they receive a cure of three days against bowel diseases”. The birds are taken to Quiévrain in about 10 steps and they cover this distance twice. Then, they go twice to Noyon, followed by Dourdan after which they can finish off the national programme! After Dourdan, there are about 40 pigeons left. It depends on the national races whether Marcel decides to leave a team at home. The birds are not basketed in between the National races but Marcel takes them to Deux-Acren for single up tosses, which is about 40km. Nothing is left to chance as far as the medical aspect is concerned. The pigeons receive a cure against tricho and ornithosis each time they return from a race.

In spite of the fact that Marcel is not really a big fan, he darkens the pigeons from mid February until mid June. The curtains are closed from 6:00 PM until 8:00 AM. And nothing special happens as far as motivation is concerned. The open door method is a daily routine and Marcel has created several dark corners in the loft to create some ambience, and that is what we all aim for.

8/10/07