Gerrit Lahuis Champion Flyer by John Vance
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First of all, this is not going to be a typical report of some top European racing loft. To tell the truth, when I read those kind of reports, I can hardly get through all the list of race results. Instead, this will be a report concerning what I find interesting about Gerrit Lahuis and my own experiences with his birds. When I first got into the sport, in the fall of 2000, I imported four late hatches from Gerrit. Unfortunately, one of the four died soon afterwards but I have had success breeding from two of the others. This year, a son off one of these imports was 3rd club Champion Old bird and a son off another was send to Larry Fouts in Ohio and this bird won 1st Champion Young bird of the Combine against 48 lofts. Isn’t that the way it goes, for three years you breed and wonder if there is anything worth keeping from a mating and then Wham Bam, lightning strikes twice. I blame myself most of all for it taking three years to show results from these birds as I made many rookie mistakes and lost a lot of my young birds in those first years I bred the birds. In 2003, I didn’t fly young birds as I was preparing for a move to California. The third Lahuis bird I imported has not been properly tested. For the last two years she has been mated to two different “old” Janssen cocks and I only got four youngsters off of those matings. I sold two and lost two. Like I said, I made some rookie mistakes. In the meantime, I have kept in contact with Gerrit and have shared in his excitement over the past few race seasons. 2003 turned out to be a banner year for Gerrit. Remember, I am not going to list column after column of race results because I do not want to bore you, but here are the highlights:
NL 03-5342842 ~ 4th best youngbird of the Netherlands
NL 03-5342842 called “Unique”, won as follows:
Her sire is from Ad Schaerlaeckens and the dam is from Gummarus Leysen. If you have heard of The "Kannibaal" ~ 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB middle distance 1996, then you might already know that Gummarus Leysen is the breeder of “Rambo” 3 X 1st Union and sire to the above mentioned "Kannibaal" and “Bourgesman” the 2nd National Bourges winner, of 1994. I first learned of Gummarus Leysen, when I purchased an import cock from Antoine Jacob’s loft that was bred off of his current #1 cock “Diamond As” mated to “Sister Kannibaal”. This year, a grandson of the Jacob’s cock won 3rd Champion Young Bird against 48 lofts for Larry Fouts. Yes, Larry won 1st and 3rd Champion Young Bird in the combine with my birds. Thank you Larry! By the way, Larry won 2nd Champion Young bird as well with one of his own birds. I did some research on "Kannibaal" and found that several top lofts have done very well when they brought in the "Kannibaal" blood. I noticed in Mike Ganus’ recent Catalog that he also has imported this bloodline. Koopman’s famous "Golden Lady" is a daughter of "Kannibaal". The children of "Golden Lady" bred back on Koopman’s own bloodlines helped him win the 3rd National Champion One-Day Long Distance races in 2002. The best-known youngster from “Golden Lady” is “Kleine Dirk”:
1st National Ace Cock “Vredesduif” 1999
Now, back to Gerrit Lahuis Gerrit has become a close friend of Dirk and Louis van Dyck from Belgium who are the breeder / flyers of "Kannibaal" and “Bourgesman”. In 2003, Gerrit made a bold move and arranged to breed his three best hens to the "Kannibaal". Now, Gerrit has six children of the "Kannibaal" in his loft and they are all ½ Gerrit’s own bloodline. I am sure that Gerrit has made a wise choice and will enjoy the same success that many flyers across Europe have enjoyed upon introduction of the "Kannibaal" bloodlines into their stock lofts. Of course, Gerrit has always gone out and obtained the best. In the late 1980’s he purchased stock birds from the Janssen Brothers, Louis Van Loon, and Koopman & Son. His recent additions include as mentioned above the "Kannibaal" children and several birds from Gummarus Leysen who bred “Rambo” the sire of the "Kannibaal". Gerrit’s birds are also obtaining international success. Important Results of Gerrit Lahuis Pigeons in 2001 and 2002 as raced by other flyers: 2nd National Youngbird Derby from Mexico 2001 of 15000 pigeons, H.Sanchez, San Luis Mexico. Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons (Excellent Pair x Jansen ). 1st, 2nd, 3rd ~ 14th Division Hannover, Creil 625 km., 20-06-2002 of 5,980 pigeons, Felix Kuntz, Hannover, Germany, Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Excellent Pair x Janssen). 4th National N.P.O. Division 10th, Chimay, 18-08-2001 of 5,836 pigeons, J.Oost, Elp, The Netherlands Coming direct out my breeding loft ( Excellent Pair x Janssen ). 1st National N.P.O. Division 10, Houdeng, 04-08-2002 of 7,416 pigeons, B.van Dijk, Klazienaveen, the Netherlands, Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis Pigeon ( Janssen Line ). 1st National N.P.O. Division 10, Chimay, 17-08-2002 of 6,835 pigeons, S.R. Lazaroms, Coevorden, the Netherlands, Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeon ( Excellent Pair ). 5th National N.P.O. Division 7, Chateauroux, 29-07-2002 of 6,900 pigeons, R. Motshagen, Nijkerk, the Netherlands, Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Excellent Pair x Janssen ). 1st. place (1849 mpm.7 min. ahead of the 2nd bird in C.C.G.) and 4th. C.C.G., 5th Division 7, Houdeng, 07-09-2002 of 2,062 pigeons, R.Motshagen, Nijkerk, Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Excellent Pair x Janssen ). 1st. C.C.G. 3rd Division.11, St.Ghislain Hornu 08-06-2002 of 2,484 pigeons, T. Fraterman, St. Nikolaasga, the Netherlands 2nd Division.11 ~ 4,317 pigeons. Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Koopman bloodline ). 1st,4th, 9th, 24th, 25th Division.10 , Hannut, 27-07-2002 of 3,441 pigeons, Gerrit Lahuis, Sleen, Coming out the breeding couple ( Excellent Pair x Janssen ). 2nd Division.5, Area Hoekse Waard, Hensies 20-07-2002 of 6,441 pigeons, G. Koster, Strijen. Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Excellent Pair x Janssen ). 2nd Division.5, Area Hoekse Waard, Niergnies 27-07-2002 of 5,927 pigeons, G. Koster, Strijen. Coming direct out Gerrit Lahuis pigeons ( Janssen ). Geert Munnik, Noordbroek, From the Netherlands, Emperor General 2002 of Division 10, North East I hope to be able to update the 2003 results of those flying Gerritt’s birds in the near future. About the Kiezer General Awards: The Keiser General is the flyer that has the best racers at all distances over 20 races in old birds and young birds combined. In the season 2003 the following races were calculated for this award;
4 Vitesse (Short) races
Onaangewezen: 1 in 10. If you send 40 birds to a race you are awarded the points average of the first four birds you clock. In the following example to make the calculations easy we will assume 4000 birds entered in the race and 40 birds were entered by the flyer for which we are calculating their points. NOTE: Since the prize system only awards the top 25% of the birds (1000 prizes for a 4000 bird entry) the points will decrease by 1 per position. Had there been 2000 birds entered then the points would have decreased by 2 per prize position, as only 500 birds would have been in the prizes. If this flyer placed their first four birds as follows: 1st, 5th, 25th and 80th, then the points awarded would be 1st = 1000 points, 5th = 995 points, 25th = 975 points and 80th = 920 points. Total points earned are 3890 and the average for four entries would be 3890 divided by four = 972 points. A flyer entering only 10 birds would have the same average if they placed their first bird 28th in the race. This point system allows small teams to compete with large teams on a equal footing and is much like the AU Winspeed Team Score competition. Aangewezen: In this competiton you receive points for your first of two nominated birds sent to the race. Instead of starting at 1000 points the Aangewezen starts at 500 points, so placing 10th would give 480 points. The combined points of the Onaangewezen and Aangewezen completion together over all the 20 races decides the Keiser General Champion. As you can see, winning Keiser General is winning the top overall performance for the year. Gerrit Lahuis, was ~ 1st KeizerGeneral North East Region ~ 2400 lofts, in 2003 and that is quite an accomplishment! I am planning an importation from Gerrit in the Spring or early summer. If you are interested in picking up a bird or two, I can certainly recomment his birds as they are performing for me and for flyers in Europe and Mexico as well. Contact me if you have an interest. I have arranged the importation of 75 birds over the past three years and know the pitfalls and the best import services available. |