In international pigeon racing, there are victories you accept with a polite nod, and then there are results that redefine the hierarchy for years to come. What Jeroen van Heumen displayed last Monday at Narbonne ZLU falls into the latter category. While the competition in the Fondclub Brabant Zeeland was still waking up, Van Heumen had already reshuffled the deck.
July 28, 2025. Narbonne is tough. The release was delayed, and conditions were selective. These are the races where the big names usually dictate the pace with their experienced three year old widowers. But in Oss, the logic of the sport was rewritten.
A class of his own
At 06:29:41 AM, the hammer dropped. Jeroen van Heumen clocked his first pigeon, the NL24-2425876V. At that moment, it was silent in the rest of the province. Dead silent.
It took 69 minutes before the competition, Van Schijndel & Sons, certainly no small fry, clocked the second pigeon at 07:38 AM. A gap of over an hour on a ZLU classic is not just a victory; it is a humiliation. With a speed of 990 m/m, the winning hen was in a league of her own in a field that struggled to break the 900 m/m barrier.
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The Narbonne Winner: Built on Proven Bloodlines
The winner of Narbonne 2025, NL24-2425876 “Pauline”, is a compact, modern long-distance hen that perfectly reflects the current philosophy of the Van Heumen loft. She descends from the proven Mitchell line, with her sire NL23-9416264 “Mitchell”, himself a top performer and a son of “Mitchell II”, PIPA Best European Old Bird Extreme Long Distance and winner of ZLU Narbonne and ZLU Agen. On the dam’s side, Pauline is firmly anchored in extreme distance blood through “Perpignan 236”, a multiple national ace pigeon on Perpignan and Barcelona, paired with “Freule 670”, a hen that proved her class on Barcelona and Rieux-Minervois. This pedigree combines the speed and decisiveness of modern ZLU racing with the toughness of classic Barcelona and Perpignan lines. Not a coincidence, but carefully built foundation work – exactly the genetic base needed to dominate Narbonne as a yearling.
The architect: from fantails to marathon specialist
This dominance did not happen by accident. To understand the Narbonne performance, we must go back to the foundation. Jeroen van Heumen is not your standard fancier. His route to the top was unconventional; it started as a child with Fantails in his grandfather Janssen’s garden. Through ornamental pigeons and the influence of the late Teun Kremers, he rolled into the racing sport.
The turning point came in 2015. After moving to his current location in Oss, Jeroen made a rigorous decision: abandon the afternoon releases and focus entirely on the International Morning Releases. A choice typical of his mindset: no compromises, just specialization at the highest level.
The secret weapon: the yearling coup
What makes the Narbonne 2025 result truly terrifying for the competition are the ring numbers. Anyone analyzing the result sheet sees something statistically bizarre for a morning release of 966 kilometers:
1st FBZ: NL24-2425876V (Yearling)
3rd FBZ: NL24-2433252V (Yearling)
4th FBZ: NL24-2433208 (Yearling)
Van Heumen takes Gold, Bronze, and Fourth place exclusively with yearlings. Pigeons born in 2024. These are not experienced veterans, but a new generation possessing navigational skills and character we rarely witness.
The strategy
This is no fluke. Analysis of the ace pigeon standings confirms that the winning hen, The 876, had not scored any ZLU points earlier this season. She was specifically spared, or quietly prepared in silence, for this single moment. It is the hallmark of a specialist: do not gamble on everything, but peak when it counts. The fact that a yearling arrives at 06:29 AM implies she flew through the night or departed at the very first crack of dawn. This betrays the bloodlines of the modern marathon pigeon: birds that do not wait, but race.
The golden vein: foundation, refinement and focus
Where does he get the horsepower to let yearlings race nearly 1000 kilometers as if it were a sprint race? The answer lies not in one miracle pigeon, but in a carefully built and brutally selected genetic structure.
The foundation of the loft was laid with pigeons from Ad van Heijst, Pieter Guelen and A. Driessen & Sons, all from Wijchen. Hard pigeons, proven pigeons, pigeons selected for survival and return.
Later came an important reinforcement with pigeons from the late Jan van Haaren, adding extra toughness and ZLU character. The decisive modern impulse followed with the introduction of the pigeon from Super Barca 621 via Jacobs. That blood brought speed under pressure and the ability to keep racing when others hesitate.
A key chapter in the loft history was a top pigeon from Lei Martens, obtained via John Smits. From this line came Michell and Triomphe, with Triomphe later stamping his authority as 1st National Marseille 2022. That influence is still clearly visible in the current generation.
For the third consecutive year, Van Heumen is also co-breeding with J. van Schijndel & Sons from Geffen. A cooperation based on trust, performance and mutual respect, not marketing talk. The Narbonne result proves that this combination is not just logical on paper, but lethal in competition.
The result is a pigeon that combines the toughness of the old extreme long distance with the speed and mentality of the modern Marathon racer.
Conclusion
With this Narbonne result, Jeroen van Heumen has sent a signal that will resonate far beyond Oss. He basketed 31 pigeons and clocked 18 in the prizes, with the top birds all being yearlings.
While established names were still fighting in the rear guard, Van Heumen was already at the bank cashing the prize money. Prizes 1, 3 and 4 on a race like this speak only one language.
Oss remains the University of Pigeon Racing, and Jeroen van Heumen has graduated cum laude with this masterclass. The competition is warned: the yearlings of 2024 are not the future. They are already here.
Jan de Wijs
The Pigeon Boss
