Article Published: 20 June 2008
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C. & G. Koopman from Ermerveen

It is the beginning of January in the New Year when I go to visit Gerard Koopman at his beautiful farm in Ermerveen in Drent. An appointment that has been standing for a long time because Gerard is a very busy man. After the racing season he travels between continents for a few months. Not only for commercial reasons, but also to visit his friends in the pigeon sport. The pigeon sport has made Gerard Koopman a real world citizen and he has taken to it like a fish to water. He is now in the Netherlands for a few days and I have the opportunity to talk with him. There is enough to talk about. In the first place I naturally want to ask about the superb performances of his pigeons in the 2007 season, but also about the terrible cowardly pigeon thefts, of which Gerard was a victim at the beginning of December last year. Despite the absence of André Leideman and Kjeld Spithoven, both co-workers of Gerard, there is plenty of time to talk about the events of 2007 and to put everything in order.

The pigeon thefts
'Anger, disappointment, rebelliousness and a feeling of powerlessness'. That's what you feel when your pigeons have been stolen. Now that the pigeons from Jacob Poortvliet have been stolen, it all comes back. The investigation is not making much progress and that is enormously frustrating. I hope that the thieves soon make a mistake, which will mean that the investigation is soon resolved. But it hasn't broken me. Of course, I would like to sleep peacefully at night. The whole property will soon be secured with a high fence with an electronic security system. It's a shame it has to be this way, but there is no other choice'.

Gerard Koopman with his latest acquisition 'De Witneus' from Harrie and Roger Wijnands. This 'Witneus' raced no less than four times in the National top ten in the Grand Long Distance. Gerard has coupled him with 'Antje', a super hen from Roelof Scholtens from Veendam, who won a 1st National Bergerac in sector 4 in 2006 and a 1st NPO Limoges in 2007.

In 2007 it was just SUPER
After winning all the championships for years, the rifle was placed on the other shoulder a few years ago. He doesn't race for championships anymore, the only thing that counts is glowing in the one day Long Distance NPO races. Starting in 2007, a few overnight Long Distance races have been added. This means that the preparations are fully dependant on these races. I will go into further detail by 'Overnight Long Distance'.

NL 05-5533117 'Doran', who's wins in 2007 included a 1st NPO Orleans against 9.670 pigeons and 13 minutes ahead of the rest! Her father is 'Mr Expensive', a full brother of 'Den Dromer' from De Rauw-Sablon.

The mother is 'Marijke' from Marijke Vink. She comes from 'Aladin', a son of 'Kleine Dirk' x 'Farahdiba', daughter of the top couple 'Tips' x 'Geschelpt Kannibaaltje'.

Highlights in 2007
1st & 8th National St.Vincent 25.807 pigeons (Total Dutch result)
1st & 9th NPO Orleans 9.670 pigeons
2nd - 5th - 6th & 8th NPO Chantilly 13.008 pigeons
2nd - 7th - 8th - 9th & 10th NPO Ofenburg 6.774 pigeons
1st National Ace pigeon middle distance One day Long Distance 2007 'Varella'
2nd National Ace pigeon One day Long Distance NPO 2007 'Zina'
1st Ace pigeon Long Distance club North Netherlands South 'Kaja'

1st National St. Vincent 2007 against 25.807 pigeons.
Her father is 'Milko', a son of 'Den Dromer' from De Rauw-Sablon x the legendary 'Miss Waalre'.
The mother of 'Miss Maniwan' is 'Miss Nellie' from Hermans-Hoekstra from Waalre. She comes out the 'Barcelona 85' (2nd Golden Barcelona pigeon 2001-2002-2004) x a hen out the Klamper line from Cor de Heide x line '10' Jan Theelen.

Formidable debut in the Extreme Distance
In 2004 Gerard Koopman surprised the Middle Distance world with the 'Miss Waalre' who won two big prizes from Ruffec and St.Vincent within three weeks. Gerard acquired a taste for these races and wanted to concentrate more on the Grand Distance. For this purpose he bought pigeons from Heremans-Hoekstra, Cor de Heide, Jan Theelen and Anton van Haaren (van Wanrooy). We mustn't of course forget the two children of 'Miss Waalre'. The wonder hen 'Miss Waalre' was sold to Japan. 'Maybe it would have been better if I had kept her longer' says Gerard now, but what's done is done. In 2006 the yearling Long Distance pigeons were trained and were only entered for a few one-day Long Distance races, wherein a number of them showed their worth. In 2007 these pigeons made their debut in the Extreme Distance. They sat in the same loft as the pigeons for the one-day Long Distance and received the same preparations, meaning that they were basketted every week starting with the first sprint race. They were also fed the same and they were raced in widowhood just like the one-day Long Distance pigeons. Seventeen two-year olds were given their first baptism in the NPO race from Limoges, which promptly resulted in a 9th place on Ceefax and 10 prizes. A very satisfactory debut.

Gerard continues: 'I didn't know the quality of these pigeons and I decided to basket 9 for St. Vincent. The outcome is common knowledge. It was a really fast race and we clocked in the morning at 4.51am and 5.49am. That resulted in a 1st and 8th National in the result against no less than 25.807 pigeons and seven of the nine pigeons landed in the prizes. I hadn't expected such a good result. I think I became too overconfident when I basketted 3 of these pigeons for Barcelona. Only one returned to the loft'. The yearling Long Distance pigeons were trained in the same way as in 2006, keeping in mind that they all had to race a National München as their closing race. A very slow race whereby Gerard had three pigeons home in the evening. For 2008 a team of 40 pigeons is ready for the Long Distance (3-year olds, 2-year olds and yearlings). They will be raced this year from the racing loft which is also used for the one-day Long Distance, where they will once again receive the same treatment. ' For the next few years I have to ascertain which are the best combinations, where the good Long Distance pigeons come from. These are process years. In the meantime 'Miss Maniwan' has been sold to Japan. I have bought new pigeons for the Long Distance, the most important being 'De Witneus' from Harrie en Roger Wijnands. I'm going to concentrate seriously on the Grand Distance for the next few years, but of course it has to remain managable. The Middle Distance remains my first choice!'

Introduction Ace pigeons one-day Long Distance
The big strength in the Koopman loft still lies of course in the one-day Long Distance pigeons. They crossbreed easily with other good pigeons and these pigeons are raced formidably over the whole world. Gerard adds: 'I'm fully aware of the strength of my own old basis pigeons and try to keep hold of them as long as possible. In my experience, good racing pigeons also turn out to be good breeders. Most of the good racing pigeons go into the breeding loft after two years. In addition I am still looking for other first-rate pigeons to cross with my old stock. I remain critical about the pigeons that are then produced. It is still very difficult to breed real supers. In 2007 I had an enormous setback when my top breeding hen, 'Annelies', died. She was a full sister of 'Kleine Dirk'. Luckily, in 2007, we also discovered the qualities of 'Marijke', a hen that I bought from Marijke Vink and who descends from my own 'Aladin' x 'Farah Diba' from Marijke Vink (in her turn a daughter of the top couple 'Tips' x 'Geschelpt Kannibaaltje'. From 'Marijke' I bred 'Varella' and 'Doran', resp. 1st National Ace pigeon Middle Distance, Eendaagse Fondspiegel 2007 and 1st NPO Orleans 2007 against 9.670 pigeons. Hopefully I have bought a new goldmine.'

1st National Ace pigeon Middle Distance Eendaagse Fondspiegel 200 with the following performances: 68th Chantilly against 13.008 p. - 138th Orleans against 9.670 p. - 142nd Blois against 5.277 p. and 31st Offenburg against 6.774 pigeons. In 2007 'Varella' achieved 10 prizes from the 12 times that she was basketted. As a youngster she was not trained with the container and was only entered for the "taartvluchten" from the North Veluwe and trained by Gerard himself!

Her father is 'Jason', a half-brother of 'Branco' and 'Miss Wonderfull'. 'Jason' is in turn a son of 'Ons Louis' and 'Queen of the Netherlands'.

The mother of 'Varella' is 'Marijke'. She was bought from Marijke Vink. The father of 'Marijke' is 'Aladin', a direct son of the legendary 'Kleine Dirk' from C. & G. Koopman.

The mother is 'Farah Diba', 1st National Ace pigeon One-day Long Distance NPO 2003. She comes out the top couple 'Tips' x 'Geschelpt Kannibaaltje'. NB. Here the photo of 'Zina', 2nd National Ace pigeon One-day Long Distance NPO 2007 with the following performances: 2nd Chantilly against 13.008 p. - 9th Orleans against 9.670 p. and 21st Blois against 5.277 pigeons. Her father is 'Deng Lin's Favourit', who has already won a 1st NPO Ablis against 10.609 pigeons and an 8th NPO Sourdun against 13.426 pigeons. He comes out the 'Kleine Engels' from J. & J. Engels and 'Miss Putte' from van Hove-Uytterhoeven.

The mother of 'Zina' is 'Annelies' who unfortunately died in 2007, a full sister of 'Kleine Dirk' and top racer in the Koopman loft. She comes out the world-couple 'Gentil' x 'Golden Lady'.

Conclusion
Despite the setback of the theft of his pigeons, Gerard Koopman sees the year 2008 rosily. Following a period where he was not very motivated, he is once again looking forward to the future. He's feeling good. A large part of this is down to the fine teamwork with the other team members Kjeld Spithoven and André Leideman. The beautiful new loft is finished and will be used for the youngsters this year. There is no doubt about it, we will be hearing a lot about the Koopman team in 2008. And the first sensational news came with a marvellous second place for the Koopman team in the prestigious One Million Dollar Race which has just been held in South Africa.
Their pigeon, 'J.D. Action' won there no less than 120.000 dollars!