With Valence, the first race from the Rhône Valley was on the programme. After a one-day postponement, the transporters opened the baskets at 6:45 a.m., allowing the 4,925 old birds to begin their journey home. The forecasted westerly wind suggested that the loft of the national winner would likely be situated in the far east of Belgium, and that prediction proved correct.

At 2:07 p.m., the local club “Le Rapide d’Arlon” reported that fanciers Hellinx-Chapelle had clocked a Valence racer at 2:04:02 p.m., achieving a velocity of 1,281.34 m/min. Since this partnership competes at one of the shortest distances in Belgium (the distance from Valence to Bastogne is 562 km), the rest of the country immediately started calculating, while Roger Hellinx and his wife Nathalie Chapelle endured several tense minutes of waiting. One can only imagine Roger repeatedly refreshing the Royal Belgian Pigeon Federation (KBDB/RFCB) results page, but none of the remaining 4,924 pigeons from Valence managed to surpass the average speed of “B24-1119919.”

Second place went to Gerard Rens (Herselt – 682 km – 1,279.80 m/min), while the podium was completed by Jos Timmermans (Keerbergen – 677 km – 1,279.18 m/min).

Simple but Effective

If you live in Bastogne and dream of winning a national race one day, you must focus entirely on the Rhône Valley races and then hope for a westerly wind on race day. Those conditions were perfectly in place last weekend, and Team Hellinx-Chapelle took full advantage of them. Valence is clearly one of their favourite races, as they already won 2nd National there two seasons ago!

Roger, a retired Bpost employee, practices pigeon racing purely as a hobby. His loft houses five breeding pairs, 20 cocks and hens raced on total widowhood, and 40 youngsters.

“The management is pretty much the same as everyone else’s,” Roger explains. “We use Beyers feed and gradually switch from lighter to heavier mixtures as basketing day approaches. After the race, we give electrolytes in the drinking water, and three days before basketing we provide a vitamin complex. Apart from that, everything is kept very simple.”

“We live here in the middle of nowhere,” Roger says with a laugh, “and in places like this, there’s no need to go looking for anything special.”

Team Hellinx-Chapelle are living proof that when a fancier enters top-class pigeons in peak condition, they should never feel defeated before the race has even begun. They can compete with the most renowned lofts in the country and claim national glory. That is exactly what makes pigeon racing such a wonderful sport.

BE24-1119919
1st National Valence 4,925 old birds

Distance: 562km
Velocity: 1,281 m/m

PEDIGREE OF THE FATHER

THE MOTHER IS FROM FANCIER MARC PALM AND IS FROM ORIGINE DELFOSSE GUY (Mazée)

Stefan Mertens