Henk Douna Dominates Rethel: Iris Leads a Brilliant 1st and 2nd Against 4,780 Pigeons

Henk Douna holding a racing pigeon in front of his loft in Donkerbroek

Two pigeons broke from a high flying group of around fifty and attacked the loft together. Nine seconds separated their registrations.

That spectacular arrival delivered Henk Douna 1st and 2nd from Rethel against 4,780 pigeons in Afdeling Noord, Group West. It was another masterclass from the small but deadly loft in Donkerbroek.

Henk entered 20 young pigeons and won 12 prizes. That produced an excellent prize percentage of 60%.

A Lightning Fast Double Victory

The Rethel race was released on 29 August 2026 at 08:30. The 246 participating fanciers faced half cloudy conditions, a moderate southwesterly wind and a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

The distance to Henk’s loft was 412.303 kilometres.

Henk spotted a large group of pigeons racing extremely high. He whistled and five pigeons left the group. Two immediately responded and dropped onto the landing board. The other three were visitors that continued their journey after drinking from a neighbouring roof.

The first pigeon was NL26-8475284, now named Iris. She was clocked at 12:23:24 and won at 1,766.512 metres per minute.

Nine seconds later, NL26-8475526 was registered at 12:23:33. He claimed 2nd prize at 1,765.377 metres per minute.

The difference in speed was only 1.135 metres per minute.

The source archive also records that these were the two fastest pigeons in Afdeling Noord, Group West. They achieved 4th and 5th in the complete Afdeling Noord result, formerly known as Sector IV.

The Choice of Champions

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All 12 Prizes Won by Henk Douna

Henk’s complete Rethel result was:

1st prize with NL26-8475284, “Iris”
2nd prize with NL26-8475526
444th prize with NL26-8319424
447th prize with NL26-8475527
582nd prize with NL26-8319416
803rd prize with NL26-8319429
820th prize with NL26-8319430
938th prize with NL26-8319411
965th prize with NL26-8475259
967th prize with NL26-8319433
1049th prize with NL26-8319420
1079th prize with NL26-8475268

Twelve prizes from twenty entries means a prize percentage of exactly 60%.

The Statistics Behind the Victory

The numbers underline the quality of this performance.

Both leading pigeons finished inside the first 0.05% of the entire Group West field. Four pigeons finished among the first 447 positions, putting 20% of Henk’s complete team inside the leading 9.36% of the race.

Five pigeons finished among the first 582, while ten were classified among the first 967 positions. All twelve prize winners finished within the leading 22.57% of the 4,780 competing pigeons.

The complete prize series was recorded within 59 minutes and 43 seconds of Iris.

There was also strength in the arrivals. NL26-8319424 and NL26-8475527 were clocked three seconds apart. NL26-8475259 and NL26-8319433 followed each other with only one second between them.

Despite the rain and a slower continuation after the opening double, 18 of Henk’s 20 Rethel pigeons were home within fifteen minutes.

Golden Eijerkamp Genetics

Iris is a direct Hans and Evert Jan Eijerkamp pigeon. She had been sitting on eggs for several weeks and had even missed a race because she was preparing to lay.

Her victory proves that careful management and absolute quality can turn an interrupted programme into elite performance.

The second prize winner, NL26-8475526, is the result of a joint breeding with the Eijerkamp family. He is a grandson of the famous Geeloger.

His father is Frisian Geeloger, bred from Geeloger paired with Henk’s champion Ireen. Frisian Geeloger was later paired to Stacey, a Willem de Bruijn hen that had already proven her breeding value.

NL26-8475526 had already recorded two second prizes in the complete section. According to Henk, he also lost a possible third prize after remaining on the roof instead of entering immediately.

This is no one race wonder. This is a young pigeon with serious potential.

From Partnership Racing to a Powerful Solo Loft

Henk’s history in pigeon racing reaches back to 1973, when he started racing together with his father.

In 1987 he formed the successful partnership Van der Stouwe Douna with his neighbour Dolf van der Stouwe. They competed together for 34 years, building an impressive reputation and a powerful family of performance pigeons.

Henk started racing independently in November 2020. His philosophy was clear from the beginning: compete on a small scale with a maximum of twelve racing pairs and concentrate primarily on speed and middle distance racing.

The results have turned that philosophy into a winning formula.

Five Outstanding Previous Performances

The Rethel victory joins a powerful list of achievements from Henk’s solo career.

  1. In 2024, Boreen, NL23-9099931, won the Grand Prix from Chalons en Champagne. She defeated 29,197 pigeons across Afdelingen 9, 10 and 11 and finished more than three minutes ahead of the next competitor.
  1. In 2025, Demi, NL23-8207735, won Rethel against 11,293 pigeons. Henk entered 17 pigeons and won 15 prizes, producing an exceptional prize percentage of 88.2%.
  1. In 2022, Dizy, NL20-1054740, won the Grand Prix from Dizy le Gros against 5,591 pigeons. Her nest sister Miss Pipa completed the dominance by taking 2nd prize.
  1. Durkje won the Grand Prix from Etroeungt against 4,645 pigeons and also finished 3rd in Sector IV against 7,567 pigeons.
  1. Ireen, NL20-1054798, was crowned 1st National Ace Pigeon Vitesse in the PIPA Ranking for 2022. She was also classified as 2nd National Ace Pigeon Vitesse by the NPO.

The Chalons victory was Henk’s third Grand Prix triumph within four seasons and his seventh section victory since restarting in 2021.

Douna Blood Performs on Other Lofts

The breeding value behind the Donkerbroek performances has also been demonstrated by several references.

Gerard and Linda Heinhuis won 1st in the section from Bierges against 18,006 pigeons in 2026 with a pigeon carrying Van der Stouwe Douna blood on both sides of its pedigree.

Comb. Kroesen raced NL23-4704289, bred from Super Douna paired with Miss Nationaal. This hen won 8th in Sector IV from Arlon against 12,483 pigeons as a youngster. In 2025 she struck again by winning 1st in Afdeling 10 from Kerkrade against 9,157 pigeons.

The joint breeding between Henk and Team Eijerkamp also produced Ireen’s Unbeatable. This daughter of Herby paired with Ireen won 1st in the southeastern race area of Afdeling 8 from Chimay against 2,849 pigeons.

These references confirm what the racing results already suggest. The Douna families do not only perform in Donkerbroek. They can transfer their quality to other top lofts.

Small Team, Championship Impact

Winning 1st and 2nd against 4,780 pigeons is exceptional. Doing it with two young pigeons carrying elite Eijerkamp genetics makes the future even more exciting.

Iris delivered the victory. NL26-8475526 confirmed the depth. Ten more prize winners completed a 60% score.

Small numbers. Golden bloodlines. Relentless results.

This is modern pigeon racing at championship level, and Henk Douna has once again shown how fascinating our international sport can be.

Jan de Wijs
The Pigeon Boss

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