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Week 21 - news from Friesland:

For two weeks now we have experienced great racing weather with clear blue skies and a dry easternwind. For the first time this year we had a double weekend, meaning having two races on the same day. On the early Saturday morning at 06.45 we started with the long distance race from Pithiviers in France, and at 07.45 the start of the sprint race from Boxtel was given. The distances from Pithiviers vary from 550–620 km whereas Boxtel is some 120-190 km for shortest to longest provincial distance. As said the weather was great and the hard wind making it a harsh race for the distance racers. The old birds seem to deal better with it than the yearlings. The distance specialists were really looking forward to this first distance race of the season. For the Pithiviers race 6.714 racers were entered from 741 lofts, and for the Boxtel race brought 11.111 birds to the start from 941 lofts.

The battle for the Top-10 provincial positions on Pithiviers was won by old birds only with the first three all being 4yo. Jakob Draaisma from Dronrijp became the glorious winner with his first nominated hen. She arrived at 16.00 on 608 km and making the winning average speed of 1.094 mpm. The hen brought home the second NPO win for Jakob in 3 years. Johannes Pietersma from Balk was the runner up with his 1st nominated, multiple 1st prizewinning blue bar widower. Clocked at 15.35 on 576 km making 1.086 mpm. The Top-10 were spread all over the province.

On the race from Boxtel the win was fought over by two birds from Urk finishing 1 second from each other. Johannes Nentjes turned out to be the provincial winner with his 2nd nominated 2yo arriving at 09.16.06 on 119 km making 1.316 mpm. Willem Post being the runnerup with a yearling on 1.312 mpm.

J. F. Draaisma 1st 6.714 pigeons from Pithiviers

Fed. 1 (north west)
Pithiviers 498 birds from 55 lofts. With the provincial winner Jakob Draaisma of course also topping his fed. Jakob further took 7-9-11-13-14 - an outstanding result. Sj. van den Boom from Harlingen on 2nd with a yearling being his 1st nominated bird. Van Andel-Terluin from Hylaard again in top 3.
Boxtel 1.001 birds from 79 lofts. A. Zijlstra from Harlingen having a great race with 1st and 2nd with his 1st and 2nd nominated birds, a great double victory. Winning birds making 1.274 mpm on 173 km. Sj. van den Boom taking 3rd and a great result with 11 prizes from 13 entries.

Fed. 2 (south west)
Pithiviers 280 birds from 35 lofts. Provincial 2nd Johannes Pietersma topping his fed. R. Faber from Bolsward on 2nd and 6th with a yearling up front and 4 from 7 in the results. J. Bouma from Workum on 3rd.
Boxtel 806 birds from 56 lofts. J Bouma from Workum winning the Fed. with his 2nd nominated 2yo on 1.271 mpm on 152 km. 5 from his 7 entrees on the racesheet. Doeke Dam from Idzegahuizen with a great performance winning 2-3-5-9-10 with only 9 in the race taking 7 positions. R. Faber from Bolsward again on 4th.

Fed. 3 (Leeuwarden area/middle north)
Pithiviers 388 birds from 59 lofts. Piet Hiemstra from Stiens topping his Fed. with a 4yo on 1.024 mpm at 618 km. He had a great result with also taking 3. 5. and 6. Tjitte and Lesley de Vries are regular Top-3 winners, now taking 2nd with their 1st nominated racer.
Boxtel 803 birds from 76 lofts. The famous Gebr. Koehoorn from Goutum taking the fed. win with a yearling making 1.257 mpm on 178 km. Van der Zwaag partnership of Britsum taking 2nd also with a yearling.

Fed. 4 (middle-south)
Pithiviers 401 birds from 54 lofts. Best loft of the province so far are the Koelma partnership from Joure. Taking their 7th Fed. win of the season with a yearling making 1.061 mpm on 591 km. They also took 3rd. Former national champions Visser-Pijl from Lemmer making a 100% score with 5/5 starting with 2-6-15.
Boxtel 654 birds from 64 lofts - and the double win goes to Koelma partnership of course, with only 10 birds in the race making the sublime result with 1-2-7-10-13. Winning bird making 1.299 mpm on 155 km. D. van den Berg only one able to follow on 5-8-11.

Fed. 5 (Noord-oostpolder/south)
Pithiviers 750 birds from 75 lofts. Riekelt Brands from Espel taking the Fed. win with his 1st nominated bird on 1.065 mpm at 561 km. Jan Bos from Urk on 2nd and Paul Romkes on 3-10-17-20 with another great result.
Boxtel 1.088 birds from 86 lofts. The no. 1 and 2 of the province coming from this Fed being Johannes Nentjes and Willem Post from Urk.

Fed. 6 (north east/Zwaagwesteinde area)
Pithiviers 1.689 birds from 183 lofts. Provincial ace Djoerd van der Veen from Zwaagwestheinde winning his Fed. with a 2yo, making 1.064 mpm on 625 km. Klaas de Jong and his son having a great result, starting on 2nd and 12 from 14 entries on the sheet. Tjipke and Auke Bosma on 3rd.
Boxtel 2.220 birds from 205 lofts. With only 9 birds in the race a great victory for P. Jansen-Hendriks from Zwaagwesteinde with 1st nominated taking the win. Winning with 1.293 mpm on 190 km. H. Postma from Zwaagwesteinde having a great result with 2-5-10-12 and 14 from 27 in the prizes.

Fed. 7 (east/middle/Drachten area)
Pithiviers 777 birds from 75 lofts. No. 3 provincial it was H. van der Bei from Opeinde topping his Fed with 1.074 mpm on 614 km. W & S. Elzinga from Harkema on 2nd and 12th followed shortly by Wopke Spinker also from Harkema on 3rd.
Boxtel 1.169 birds from 92 lofts and again H. van der Bei from Opeinde making a double win this day, winning with a yearling doing 1.278 mpm on 177 km. Douwe Soepboer from Burgum taking 2nd and 3rd and a great result from R. Henstra winning 4-7-8-10-12.

Fed. 8 (south east/east )
Pithiviers 633 birds from 77 lofts. Willy de Jong from Wolvega topping the fed with 1st nominated 4yo on 1.070 mpm racing 587 km. Bianca Wagteveld on 2nd and Wijtsma-Visser from Terwispel on 3rd.
Boxtel 1.101 birds from 102 lofts. Bianca Wagteveld from Tjallebert taking the Fed. win with a 5yo 1st nominated. Winning birds making 1.233 mpm on 160 km. R. Hofstra from Oudehorne on 2nd and Van der Wal partnership from Rottum on 3rd and 5th.

Fed. 9 (south/middle)
Pithiviers 816 birds from 69 lofts. Henri van der Linde having a great result with two Top-10 provincial birds and winning 1st, 2nd in the Fed. with two 2yo hens. Winning bird making 1.072 mpm on 568 km. Gerrit and Jan Bos from Vollenhove on 3rd just before Limburg bros from Zuidveen on 4th.
Boxtel 1.291 birds from 99 lofts and Gerrit and Jan Bos taking the Fed win in this race with their favorite 3yo hen. She made 1.212 mpm on 127 racing kms. Ten Veen and Pijlman from Steenwijk on 2nd with a yearling just before A. Timmerman also from Steenwijk on 3rd.

Fed. 10 (east)
Pithiviers 482 birds from 55 lofts. The famed De Wit partnership from Surhuisterveen taking the win with 1st nominated 2yo hen, winning with 1.052 mpm on 623 km. Menco Bruining on top again on 2nd and Pieter and Gea Veenstra from Drachtercompanie on 3rd.
Boxtel 978 birds from 82 lofts. Sjaak van der Wal from Opende taking the Fed. win with a yearling, making 1.236 mpm on 184 km. M. Taekema from Friesche Palen taking 2nd and 3rd.

The hard east wind blowing making the races tough, with the sprintrace from Boxtel having a racetime of 20 minutes in which the 25% prizes where divided (1:4). From Pithiviers is took 2 hours 30 minutes before 25% prizes were all done for. (© Buwalda)