Barcelona
- The Marathon International
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Because
of obstacles like the Pyrenees mountain range
and the intense heat of the Spanish sun plus
extraordinary mileage the Barcelona International
race is the marathon of all marathon races.
Even a so called blow home from Barcelona
is a difficult encounter. For in addition
to all vagaries of the climate the pigeons
have to face feathered and other predators
as well as the uncertainty of nights out on
roof tops, trees, and wire lines, etc,.
The
initiators of the Barcelona marathon like
many initiatives in the history of the sport
were from the European country of Belgium.
In fact it is recorded that the sport itself
had its origin in the former principality
of Liege, in the east of Belgium, around 1780.
What our winged heroes had to endure in those
times of primitive transport, etc., we cannot
imagine for as early as 1811 there were races
from Lyon (375 miles) to Liege; and as the
sport developed a Liege club known as Le Saint-
Esprit organised a 850 miles race from Rome
in 1856. Another Liege club, Les Combattants,
organised the first national race from the
subject of our article Barcelona (650 miles)
in the early nineteen hundreds.
However,
it was in 1924 that racing from Barcelona
took a mighty step forward when the first
of many races from the race point was organised.
Until the 2nd World War most of the Barcelona
winners were to be found in Walloonia in the
south of Belgium. Research confirms that there
were no races from Barcelona during the war
years and beyond- 1939/1948. It began as an
official international race however in 1951
under the auspices of the Belgium based Cureghem
Centre although prior to this the Belgians
organised races
in 1949 and in 1950.
Following
the first Barcelona race in 1924 the land
of its origins provided the winners until
1957 (six years after it became an official
race) when it was won by G.Staud of Germany.
The latter nation has provided six winners
since to add to the Staud achievement and
Luxembourg is the only other nation aside
from the Dutch to win (except the originators)
when R. Christen was successful in 1977. The
Dutch took an early interest in the race but
participated for the first time in 1959. Thus
the first national winner into Holland was
a fancier called Beckers and he finished 18th
in the International in the wake of the Belgian
winner.
Eighteenth
position in their first participation was
an omen pointing to the impact that the Netherlands
would in due course make in the International
for Martin Krauth was the first of the latter
nation to win the world's greatest pigeon
prize in 1961. Since then the Dutch have won
the race on 12 occasions and of late it appears
that they are the favourites before the release.
Because of the distance from Barcelona to
the Netherlands the Dutch success is phenomenal
especially when we consider that in a very
hard race in 1980 Jo Hendriks beat 13,665
birds to win the race into the far north of
Holland. Many were of the opinion that in
such a hard fly weather wise it was impossible
to win at such a large distance. But the courageous
bird of Van Wanroy - Aarden bloodlines proved
that it could be done. In fact many of the
International winners and those to the fore
in this marathon carry the Jan Aarden bloodlines.
In
the earlier years we note the names of winners
of the race such as Vandvelde (1925), Delbar
(1937), and Hector Berlangee (1949); there
is also the success of Andre Vanbruaene who
won the race twice in 1966 and 1984. The most
outstanding performance however must be that
of the Belgium fancier Demaret whose 'The
Barcelona Miracle' beat 3,300 birds in 1962
and won again in 1963 beating 3,599 pigeons.
This fantastic representative of the Belgium
distance fraternity was of the Bricoux strain
and its performance may never be matched.
But having said that it was a record nearly
broken by the partnership of Deraedt van Grembergen
who won the race in 1964 and the same bird
was runner up in 1963 to Demaret's miracle.
There
have been some near misses in the race for
example Cees Boeters won the race into Holland
in 1985 but would have won the International
also but forgot to fill in necessary documents
therefore the lost out although his bird had
a higher velocity than the winner. The latter
fancier is one of the group Gardien who won
the race in 2002. But for his failure in 1985
he would have joined Demaret and Vanbruaene
as a third double winner of the International.
There is also the sad case of Albert Simons
in Holland who found a bird in his loft which
won the Dutch national and was 2nd International
beaten by a few seconds. Alas he was not at
his post to clock in a sure winner!
Apparently
the oldest winners so far are no more than
seven years and there have been a few
of the latter. The youngest have been two
year olds and then otherages in between. The
Dutch fancier, Torremen, won with a seven
year old which beat 28,094 birds in 1999.
Interestingly the winner was a hen as was
the winners for the years 2000, 2001, and
2002. Of interest was the 1992 race which
because of strong tail winds saw the velocities
shoot up to 1267 mpm for 1,011 kilometres
with two birds arriving in Belgium on the
day of release. This race also saw the first
so called 'night bird' which was timed in
Holland at 01.00am. The latter because of
distance beat the two earlier arrivals which
were timed at 21.19 and 21.27pm respectively
but even this could not ensure Brasse the
race for he in turn was beaten by his fellow
countryman Martin Biemans whose bird 'Invincible
Spirit' won from an even greater distance.
Of course the Massarella Stud in England now
owns this fabulous bird
at a reported cost of about 110,800 English
pounds.In fact the Barcelona winners are priceless!
The
largest number to participate in the race
was in 1993 when 33,145 were released and
the proud winner was J.Theelen of Holland
with a velocity of 1,101 by a three year old.
The highest velocity recorded so far is that
of the 2004 winner who covered the course
at 1358 for Vrosch-Meyers of Holland. In contrast
the lowest velocity since the race became
official is 896 by a two year old in 1997
for V. Vanheusden.The longest distance of
a winner must be that of the 750 miles of
Smaragd 2 in 1988 for Wim Van Leeuwen.
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Barcelona
International Winners (1951- )
(As
An Official International Race)
Year-Birds-Owner-Home/Country-Velocity-Age
1951
2.397 J. Boels Stene-Oostende B-Wvl 1.075
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1952 1.949 O. De Vriendt Moere B-Wvl 1.075
3 years
1953 - R. Vanden Berghe Michelbeke B-Ovl -
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1954 1.910 Leyssens-Lepreux Jette B-Bt 1.070
7
1955 1.480 Denis Adonis Baileux B-Nam 978
4
1956 895 O. Van Biervliet Soignies B-Hen 1.035
5
1957 3.350 G. Staudt - D 1.051 2
1958 3.756 G. Vande Weghe Olsene B-Ovl 1.068
4
1959 4.181 M Desmet Waregem B-Wvl 1.063 4
1960 4.441 A. Monin Cul-des-Sarts B-Nam 969
4
1961 3.578 M. Krauth Meerssen NL 1.095 7
1962 3.300 Ad Demaret Ottignies B-Bt 1.051
4
1963 3.599 Ad Demaret Ottignies B-Bt - 5
1964 3.845 De raedt-Vangrembergen Gent B-Ovl
1.081 6
1965 4.036 D. Van Dommel Rotterdam NL 1.191
6
1966 4.343 A. Vanbruaene Lauwe B-Wvl 1.044
5
1967 4.876 Mevr L. Blancquaert Gent B-Ovl
1.087 4
1968 5.348 J. Ross Sulzbach Main D 1.094 5
1969 8.217 M+J Opsomer Maarkedaal-Kerkem B-Ovl
1.057 3
1970 6.781 Desmet-Lippens Westkapelle B-Wvl
1.111 3
1971 7.384 M. Huls Maastricht NL 1.093 4
1972 7.293 D. Roelandt Lede B-Ovl 1.077 5
1973 8.515 J. Carlens Zepperen B-Lim 1.078
4
1974 10.273 E. Sutor Bad Homburg D 1.098 3
1975 8.301 A. Callebert Zarren B-Wvl 1.068
2
1976 11.016 R. Florizoone Nieuwpoort B-Wvl
1.080 6
1977 10.502 R. Christen Roeser G-d Luxemburg
954 4
1978 11.131 J. Gryspeerd St-Eloois-Winkel
B-Wvl 1.052 4
1979 12.201 R. Gyselinck Merelbeke B-Ovl 1.073
4
1980 13.636 J. Hendriks Twello NL 1.240 4
1981 13.202 C. Willegers en Zoon Steenbergen
NL 1.140 6
1982 15.605 Gebr Peersman Oppuurs B-Ovl 1.082
3
1983 12.146 P. Gilmont Houdeng B-Hen 1.018
2
1984 13.033 A. Vanbruaene Lauwe B-Wvl 1.044
5
1985 17.060 J+P Vervisch Kortrijk B-Wvl 1.050
4
1986 18.076 J+R Schlömer Mönchengladbach
D 1.129 6
1987 21.736 Ch Vanoppen Hoeselt B-Lim 1.076
2
1988 21.194 W. Van Leeuwen Hedel NL 1.171
3
1989 25.502 K+D Böhm Da-Arheilgen D 1.068
4
1990 28.128 U. Hermes Hamm-Sieg D 1.121 2
1991 27.187 J-L Van Roy Ronse B-Ovl 1.045
3
1992 27.158 M. Biemans Teteringen NL 1.152
1993 33.145 J. Theelen Buggenum NL 1.101 3
1994 21.807 R. Verborg Marke B-Wvl 962 4
1995 20.925 Gyselbrecht Knesselare B-Ovl 1.084
3
1996 20.129 Willems-Thoné Eisden B-Lim
966 2
1997 24.908 V. Vanheusden Diepenbeek B-Lim
896 2
1998 24.139 Kipp+Sohne Althornbach D 955 3
1999 28.095 J. Torreman Rockanje NL 1.171
7
2000 26.597 Comb Houtekamer Oud-Sabblinge
NL 1.139 2
2001 25.760 S. Heymann Beesel NL 1.141 3
2002 26.928 Gardien Loek RBB N-Maasdijk NL
1.241 4
2003 20.204 Fauche Frères Waret-L'Evêque
B 1.048 4
2004 24.914 Vrosch-Meyers Heerlen NL 1358
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Of
course like all human enterprises things do
not always go as planned and there have been
occasions when entries have arrived home prior
to the release of the convoy which is usually
on a Friday morning.
There are other stories of pigeons being found
dead in the baskets and of other birds dropping
dead shortly after the convoy's release and
of course entrants obviously sick that should
not have been let out of the loft let alone
participating in such a massive task of endurance.
But inspite of obvious human failings and
perhaps fate the dream of winning the Barcelona
International does not deter the European
pigeon racing fraternity from sending year
after year in pursuit of olympic glory. And
just as one is likely to focus on the marathon
event of 26 miles 385 yards in the Olympic
Games the Barcelona Marathon is in the thoughts
of every pigeon man and woman worth his or
her salt and that is why as Europeans we
are the envy of the world's pigeon racing
community. Viva Le Barcelona!