| German
Imbrecht
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 From
Bornival, Belgium, Germain Imbrecht was
an ex-farmer who made his mark upon the
European and the world pigeon racing communities.
He moulded a family which other fanciers
knew was hard to place second and if they
wanted the laurels so to speak they knew
that Imbrecht was the loft to beat. In
fact it got to the stage that in its hey
day others were reluctant to compete against
it.
But
when did it all begin? In 1935 Germain
Imbrecht became part of the human race
as he was born into a farming family and
in due course Germain would also become
a part of the farming profession. As a
lover of farm animals the young farmer
slowly but surely reached perfection as
much as humanly possible in animal husbandry.
This was to be an important factor when
Imbrecht caught the bug of the sport of
pigeon racing. Apparently this was in
the 1960s of the previous century and
from the start of his pigeon racing life
he was experiencing success. His base
was a pigeon of the Desmet-Matthijs bloodlines
which was known as 'Espoir' which was
one of those unique birds that excelled
at all distances. There was also the Stichelbaut/
Catrysse based bird known as the “Oude
Roste Naessens”, whose greatest
quality was his power of endurance and
vitality. Another important pigeon of
the Imbrecht family was that known by
the letters 'O.R.N.' The latter was a
son of “De Geschelpte Naessens'
of the Catrysse strain whereas the dam
was 'De Rode Duivin' a Stichelbaut granddaughter
of the famous racer 'Bilbao' from the
loft of Naessens. Thus the latter bloodlines
coupled with an equally important building
block by the name of 'Rouge de Villegas'
which had Vandervelde, Sion, Van Der Espt
and Bricoux antecedents were to be the
basis of the Imbrecht strain.
 During
70s and the 80s plus of the 20th century
and into the new millennium the pigeons
of Imbrecht registered brilliant performances
nationally and internationally not alone
for their producer but for fanciers throughout
the world. The lofts normally would house
about 20 breeding couples and 40 widowers
of 2 years upwards alongside approximately
35 yearlings who were not over raced.
And although the lofts are successful
at the shorter distances the owner always
preferred the longer races
believing that the career of a long distance
pigeon started when it was two years old
plus. An interesting belief of Imbrecht
which appears contrary to the opinion
that there are horses for courses is that
a long distance breed of racer does not
exist. He believes it’s all about
the ''shapes and the muscles of the pigeon
and the food that is adjusted according
to the distance''. His great 'Fou' which
Imbrecht offers as an example won 1sts
at Angoulème, St.Vincent and Barcelona
but also had great results at sprint racing.
A contention or belief which I cannot
subscribe too but to paraphrase (Voltaire,
I think) I may not believe what you are
saying but I will defend your right to
express it.
 In
a certain sense this is a strain which
has an image of being in the shadows of
the sport but its record speaks for itself
and many fanciers throughout the world
owes that farming boy who caught the pigeon
bug and known as Germain Imbrecht loads
of gratitude for many moments of sheer
joy. Its bloodlines are at the base of
quite a number of modern families and
it is one of the important strains whose
origins lie in the latter part of the
20th Century.
by: Liam O Comain
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