What a magnificent sport we have. There is truly nothing more beautiful than those early morning hours, the healthy tension racing through your body, and the goosebumps on your arms when the athletes of the sky drop down like falcons. Some fanciers dream a whole lifetime of an early bird or a single victory. But in the beautiful South Limburg town of Vijlen, success is not dreamed, it is simply dictated.

Piet Lindelauf proved last weekend that his absolute elite class knows no bounds and that pure dominance is a tradition in his lofts. The competition looked hopefully to the blue sky, but Lindelauf Pigeons ruled once again as absolute kings over the flight line. With two fabulous races in a single weekend, the reigning National Champion delivered a masterclass in pigeon racing that made the sparks fly.

The Law of the Fittest at Lorris: 6,460 Pigeons Beaten on Speed

Let us start with the middle-distance race from Lorris. The conditions were perfect for the true powerhouses: a cloudless sky, a weak wind from the south, and a warm temperature of 24 degrees Celsius. These are the races where there is no room for luck. Only pigeons with an ironclad orientation and an unwavering winning mentality fly at the front here.

Against no less than 6,460 pigeons in the entire Section 4, Piet put together a breathtaking series. His first two flyers, NL24-8598658M and NL24-8598602M, stormed home side by side over a distance of more than 409 kilometers. They clocked at 12:33:13 and 12:33:14 respectively, resulting in astronomical speeds of 1585.052 and 1584.950 meters per minute. With that, they snatched 22nd and 23rd provincial, immediately followed by a barrage of other top birds finishing at 52nd, 58th, and 59th. With this unrivaled team performance, Piet Lindelauf crowned himself the absolute Grandmaster of the Section with a monster score of 706 points!

Magic with the Young Generation from Marche: An Unprecedented Show of Power

Did you think that was all? Then you do not know the drive of The Master from Vijlen yet! A day later, on the young bird race from Marche over 80 kilometers, Piet showed that the future of Lindelauf Pigeons is more than secure. Under a partly cloudy sky and with a fairly moderate wind, 1,339 young birds were released in Flying Area 4 of Eastern South Limburg.

What happened next above the Limburg hills was pure science fiction. Piet basketed 61 pigeons and took a staggering 55 prizes. That is an out-of-this-world prize percentage of over 90 percent! But it is the way the prizes were claimed that left the competition dizzy. The young Lindelauf athletes dropped onto the landing board like a hailstorm. Piet won prizes 21 through 44 in a row, and as if that were not enough, the train thundered on with prizes 47 through 58. That means that within a matter of moments, 36 pigeons were on the official result sheet up to prize 58! The logical outcome of this unheard-of demonstration? A second consecutive Grandmaster title in the exact same weekend, this time with a fabulous score of 719 points!