When one gets involved in discussing the sport of pigeon racing the name of Jan Aarden is sure to appear, especially in relation to the long distances because the strain of racing pigeons created by this master has been immortalised by some due to the impact it has made throughout the world. But who was this Dutchman credited with being the creator of a great marathon strain - a man whose bloodlines run through many of the winners and others to the fore in the Barcelona International and indeed many national and international winners throughout the world of modern pigeon racing?

Jan Aarden was born in the city of Oosterhout on the Sixth of November 1893 to Martinus Aarden and Lucia Schoenmakers. There he attended school at the Abbey of St. Paulus. From his earliest days Jan had a great love for animals and birds and in particular racing pigeons. The love of the latter was kindled by a Fr. Paulus who kept some racing pigeons in the Abbey grounds and, needless to relate, the young Aarden in due course became the "boy manager" of the good Father's stock. There his passion for the thoroughbreds of the sky intensified and by the time he was 18 he was a member of a racing pigeon club in Oosterhout, where in a short period of time he owned a loft of good short and middle distance racers.

An early influence upon Aarden was the family of Oomens from Breda who were the long distance stars of the Netherlands prior to World War 2. Aarden developed a close friendship with the father of the family and in due course owned some of their birds.

After Jan's marriage to Janntje Akermans on the twentieth of July 1916, the Aardens moved to and lived in the village of Teteringen for almost four years. Aarden built a loft and moved his pigeons there but because of family commitments and the First World War there was a lack of success....

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