Columba Loft

BY MAARTEN de boe

Loft

Did you know that Columba Pigeon Photography will also race with pigeons in the future? Maarten De Boe, is making his comeback in the active pigeon sport after 15 years. The focus will be on the extreme international long distance races. Therefore it is an undeniable advantage for fanciers who choose for Columba Pigeon Photography that they work with a firm that speaks the language of pigeon fanciers and has many years of experience in treating pigeons.

The story

Maarten already tasted the pigeon sport in his youth and was crowned provincial champion several times among the novices in East Flanders. The pigeon sport was put on the background when his studies (teacher), his work (school director of a school for special education) & his family were given priority. Maarten, however, always remained involved in the pigeon sport, including as a reporter for the Herbots family & photographer of the national winners for PIPA.

In 2021 the restart was a fact… In order to realize the necessary investments in infrastructure and pigeons, Maarten specialized in pigeon photography in 2020. In a short time Columba Pigeon Photography became a household name in the pigeon sport with a customer base in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England and even China…

Maarten approached two fanciers for the basis of his colony: Dirk Martens (Meigem) and Hendrik Mortier (St.-Kruis), whose pigeons proved year after year to be suitable for top prizes in the extreme long distance and from whom he always could turn to for good advice.
The icons on which Maarten’s colony will be built:

WALDO: Best Belgian pigeon 3-year-old classification on Pau 2015-2017 PIPA ranking with 22°nat., 27°nat. and 64°nat. (D.Martens)

BARRY: 3° nat. Pau 2018 / 52°nat. St. Vincent 2018 / 327°nat. Pau 2017 / 242°nat. St. Vincent 2017 / 614°nat. Perpignan 2017 / 133° nat. Limoges 2016 / 152°nat. Narbonne 2016 / 11°nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2018. (D.Martens)

SUPERSONJA: Best Belgian hen on 3 internat. flights 2019 PIPA ranking /149°nat. Agen 2018 / 79°nat. Narbonne 2018 / 72°nat. Pau 2019 / 152°nat. St. Vincent 2019 / 45°nat. Perpignan 2019 / 55°nat. Pau 2020 / flies 6 international flights without missing a beat ! (D.Martens)

KLENEN: Best Belgian pigeon on 3 international flights 2017 PIPA ranking / 3° Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2019 / 3° Prov. Ace pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2017 / 1° Prov. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2019 / 1°prov. Pau 2019 / 4°,28°,66°nat. Pau / 19°,39°,55°nat. St. Vincent / 81°nat. letter. (H. Mortier)

FRULLE: 1° Prov. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2017 / 8° Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2017 / 2° Prov. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2018 / 13° Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2018 / 1°prov. Pau 2017 / 30°,39°nat. Pau / 21°,26°,104°nat. St Vincent. (H. Mortier)

BARCA4BROERS: 4th Best Belgian pigeon 2-years classification on Barcelona 2018-2019 PIPA ranking with 19°nat. and 143° wet. Barcelona (H. Mortier).

WIMKO: 3 x TOP-100 National with 15. Nat. /1 Prov. Barcelona (H. Mortier).

It is worth mentioning that Maarten was also successful in his first season with a cock from Pierre Bourgeois from Izegem (father 1st + 2nd Narbonne pigeon). This cock is a descendant of “Mistral” (1. Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme Long Distance 2014) & “Choi” (3. Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme Long Distance 2018).In addition, there are still some early collaborations with a number of renowned extreme long distance lofts from which Maarten expects something in the future…

In 2022 Maarten made his debut in the International races and Agen and Narbonne were the big targets for his yearlings. From Agen he won regionally against 294 p.: 2 (1° nominated and 68° nat.), 43, 69, 86, 88, 95 (6 out of 20). The same yearlings went to Narbonne and he won regionally against 241 p.: 6 (189°nat.), 12, 15, 25, 29, 30, 51, 73 (8 out of 15). Immediately he finished 3rd in the championship extreme long distance yearlings in his club “Denderbond Ninove”.