Frank Zwiers
Adres:
Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. The famous words spoken by probably the most famous ruler of the Roman age, Julius Caesar after his speedy victory against king Pharnaces of Pontus. Words that also describe the re-entry of Frank Zwiers in the world of marathon racing. In 2011 the first long distance pigeons were acquired, in 2012 a cautious start was made and in 2013 the first win was already recorded from Tarbes in the strong Federation Brabant 2000. Also from another three races that season his pigeons arrived early and the prize ratio won was exceptiona which lead to winning 2nd place in the national championships un-nominated. That was accomplished with a few two year olds and the rest were yearlings. Now at the end of season 2016 Frank again had a super racing season becoming 3rd national champion marathon races and winning 4x top 10 NPO on the 5 national races and a prize ratio of 73%.
The barony city is the home of the 34 year old Frank Zwiers. Along with his wife Suzan, daughter Vienna (6 years) and son Kian (3 year) he inhabits a terraced house in a typical new residential estate built in the eighties. Not exactly the place that you would imagine to find this young champion located. The gardens in these newer estates are normally not suitable for keeping pigeons and although it is big enough it is also surrounded by fairly large trees and a lot of shadow. The branches of the trees are stretching out above the loft. It is far from ideal of course but it doesn't seem to hinder Frank.
At the beginning of this new century a very young Frank got acquainted with our beautiful sport. Via his grandfather the interest grew for these birds with unknown characteristics. Within no time a loft was erected in the back garden of his parents house. Right from the very start Frank was a champion fancier. His main interest at the time was the sprint and middle distance races (up to 700 kilometre). That remained so until 2005 when he occupied his current address. The start was at the time as impressive as it is now from the long distance races because he won the first race he entered from his new address in the entire CC Breda. In the second race all hell broke out. The first eleven positions were won in the combine by Frank. That season he won five of the ten young bird races in the combine. It soon became very evident that we are speaking about a fanatic fancier with the feeling for pigeons.
But in 2009 a decision was made to say farewell to the sport. After the birth of his daughter and his busy work activities (Human Resources) Frank could not manage the pigeons in a manner that he felt necessary. A new home was found for all of the pigeons and a 'pigeon less' period began for Frank.
Frank always retained his interest in pigeons and for the sport. He followed everything on the internet, visited the club regularly and frequently watched the pigeons arrive home from the races of fanciers in the area. His wife Suzan (then his girlfriend) noticed that he really missed the pigeons. On several occasions she urged him to get back into the sport and finally she got the courage to order some long distance birds from a leading fancier from the town of IJsselmuiden, named Mark van den Berg. In his hectic lifestyle the relative short season of long distance racing would suit the most.
The contact with soul mate Mark was perfect and alongside the purchased pigeons a number of top pigeons were borrowed to breed from in Breda. In the meantime descendant of all of the leading pigeons of Van den Berg are now housed in the stock loft.
By means of a pigeon purchased on the website of PIPA (Golden Future) it was not difficult to get acquainted with the massive superstar from the province of Overijssel, Arjan Beens. When Frank went to pick up his new acquisition Arjan rewarded the young talent Frank with a unique pledge. Frank was promised several pairs of eggs from the racing pigeons. Free of charge! Meanwhile a close friendship has been formed with Arjan. Now descendants of almost every top pigeon of Beens are housed in Breda. One unique specimen is a child of the 'Olympic Miss Gijsje' x 'Snelle Jelle'.
Owning the bird named 'Golden Future' led to an interesting contact with another massive name in the marathon world. In the autumn of 2012 Frank came into contact with Jelle Jellema from Nijverdal. Jelle is well known for his Spartans manner of keeping pigeons and he was exceptionally interested in the Golden Future. This led to an agreement on joint breeding from the Golden Future during 2013. She moved there and was paired to all the toppers of the Jellema loft and the youngsters were split between them! Because of this Frank possesses a capital collection of Jellema pigeons.
Due to the arrival of the Jellema pigeons Frank Zwiers has obtained both indispensable characteristics that pigeons must have to be successful from the long distance in his loft. Endurance and Power via the Jellema pigeons and the talent to fly at night via the pigeons of Van den Berg and Beens.
Results since 2013 ( top 30)
2nd nat. champion marathon races 2013
3rd nat. champion marathon races 2015
2nd National competition Fondspiegel cat. 3 2015
1st national St. Vincent 2016 ("Le Bernard") 13.472p
1st national Dax 2016 ("Amber") 4.616p
1st NPO Tarbes 2013 ( "Kian"), 5th national 8.707p
3rd NPO Tarbes 2015 ( Miss Nijdeken), 10th national 5.413p
3rd NPO Bordeaux 2015 ("Bonte Lady"), 7th national 11.727p
5th NPO ST. Vincent 2015("Constance"), 17th national 7.830p
6th NPO Bergerac 2015 ( "Sacha"), 19th national
7th NPO Dax 2016 ("Minos"), 18th national 4.616p
7th NPO Cahors 2013 ("Daphnia") , fastest yearling
8th NPO Bordeaux 2014 ("Kronos"), 15th national 12.195p
8th NPO Agen 2016 ("Appollon"), 17th national 7.125p
11th NPO Dax 2016 ("Cleo"), 43rd national 4.616p
12th NPO St. Vincent 2015 ("Le Bernard"), 26th national 7.830p
12th NPO Tarbes 2015 (Balthazar), 53rd national 5.413p
13th NPO Bergerac 2013 ("Vienna"), daughter Poelstrakoppel
16th NPO Bergerac 2015 ("Amber"), 51st National
18th NPO Dax 2013 ("Karma"), son "Golden Future", brother "Constance"
20th NPO Bordeaux ("Karma"), 63rd national 11.727p
20th NPO Dax 2014 ("Miss Nijdeken") , winner 4x top 100 NPO
23rd NPO St. Vincent 2014 ("Miss Januari"), very hard race
26th NPO Bordeaux 2016 ("Bonte Lady"), 62nd national 9.691p
27th NPO St. Vincent 2015 ("Batlhazar"), 71st national 7.830p
These results are even more impressive when you take in to account that only 8 to 10 pigeons are entered in the races and the total length of the loft is 7.5 mtr!!
Small loft and superior results can mean only one thing……….. super quality pigeons!!
As the title of this article suggests Frank is seen as the biggest talent on marathon racing in the Netherlands. Winning the 2nd national championship in 2013, 3rd national championship in 2015 and 2 times first National winner in 2016 with a small loft and limited time. A performance never been seen before in the history of pigeon racing sports!!