Halle-Booienhoven - The pigeon racers who make the front page of our newspaper every week are certainly not the least. Sometimes they are small fanciers with great performances, other times it is a big fancier or a professional who brilliantly outclasses his competitors. The loyal readers of our newspaper know that a nice and original story is attached to all these champions every week.

At least, this is the least one can expect from it. Because admittedly, this is not always easy, especially if it concerns someone or a loft about which everything has already been written. The chances are quite high that the reader, even before he has read the title, decides not to read any further because he thinks he already knows what will be written. Today's report belongs to that category, but hopefully the opposite is true and the reader will still fancy some interesting facts.

A good reason
The reason for our visit is that Herbots has a phenomenally talented pigeon. By this we mean 'De Flup', who in the month of July last year achieved an unprecedented series of performances. On four flights from Limoges to Libourne, he flew in the top 9 of the country on each occasion. A good reason to take a closer look at this superb bird. Hence this report, bearing in mind our intention not to delve into the history of the Herbots family. We will confine ourselves to the past season, we will not go into detail about the commercial business they have built up, nor will we write anything about what they have achieved during their career. From this point of view, here is the summary of the best results of 2023 and the main elements that contributed to them. After all, the results of the past year deserve to be put in the spotlight, and in particular the achievements of some important top birds, which we would like to highlight here.

Geoffrey
Before we introduce some of the established top pigeons, let's start with one of the key figures in the current success story. It must have been in late 2013 that Jo and Raf were looking for a new loft manager. Actually a not so simple task, a full-time job as a loft manager, everyone is not cut out for it. Jo and Raf had already spoken to many acquaintances about this, until some of the befriended fanciers at the Kassel fair referred them to Geoffrey Janssens from Baal (Tremelo). According to insiders, Geoffrey was the right man they were looking for. After all, having been 1st Nat. champion KBDB youth himself in 2009 at the age of 17, he had already shown that he had a talent for the pigeon business. After a short conversation with the Herbots brothers, he did not have to think long about it and became 'THE' loft manager from then on. It turned out to be a hit for the Herbots family, which was only confirmed in the following years. Geoffrey of course had his personal approach and his own ideas about certain things, but it clicked and his insights were well received by Jo and Raf. During the first years, he still commuted between Baal and Halle-Booienhoven, but in the meantime he has settled down completely and Geoffrey has lived in his own home within walking distance of the lofts for several years now.

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