There are weekends when everything just clicks, but what went down at Harold van de Kruijk’s lofts in Monster last Saturday is almost impossible to put into words. The entire Dutch pigeon racing community was still fast asleep when history was already being written in the Westland region. While the rest of the 3,473 pigeons were still battling the intense heat somewhere over France or Belgium, one exceptional racer from the now world-renowned De Kruijk Pigeons had only one thing on his mind: flying like his life depended on it. Leaving the national pack far behind, he clocked a devastating pace to secure the biggest triumph of Harold’s career.

A Race for the True Character Birds

Let’s be real, Pau 2026 was no walk in the park. The baskets were opened on Friday morning at 08:45 AM under a scorching sun. Thirty degrees Celsius along the flight line, a faint headwind blowing from the southeast, and a grueling distance of over 1026 kilometers ahead. These are the races that separate the boys from the men. These are exactly the conditions that the modern strain of De Kruijk Pigeons was built to conquer. Where other strains throw in the towel, these athletes shift into a higher gear.

Harold entered the battle with a select but razor-sharp squad of thirteen pigeons. Knowing his birds, he had plenty of confidence, but the official results that followed border on the absurd.

The absolute star of the loft, the 3-9257784M, pulled off the impossible. In the dead of night, while it was still pitch black outside, he never stopped flapping his wings. At exactly 04:54.31 AM in the early morning, the clock in Monster stopped. A staggering speed of 1231 meters per minute! The competition didn’t know what hit them. This wasn’t just a regular victory; this was a massive statement. The highly coveted 1st National Pau was officially locked in.