| Machiel
Buijk And The van Geel - Ardens
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 Machiel
Buijk from the Steenbergen area of Holland
started in the sport in 1970 and from
the start was interested in long distance
racing, so much so that he was extremely
determined to have the best pigeons. He
was influenced by the legend of Jan Aarden
and was determined to have similar pigeons
or to possess the best of the latter strain
as it was possible to find and procure.
Parallel with this Machiel began writing
for pigeon racing publications in Holland
and Belgium. During the course of his
life as a scribe he visited many famous
and not so famous lofts during which he
purchased the best. The latter included
pigeons from Anton Aarden, and Aarden
enthusiasts like Lazeroms, Sprenkels,
Vroegindeweij, Van der Wegen, and especially
Marijn van Geel from Nieuw Vossemeer.
Through
studying whatever he could find about
the Aarden dynasty Machiel learned to
know the strain concluding that the pigeons
of Marijn van Geel were the best and purest
Aarden's. For racing Buijk concluded there
were no better pigeons and decided that
in order to keep the strain pure he had
to form a loft of pigeons direct from
Van Geel. Buijk not alone purchased pigeons
but also was taken under the wing of van
Geel and taught all about the strain and
the art of long distance racing.
 In
due course after van Geel's death fanciers
from all over the globe came seeking pigeons
but his wife Martha decided to race and
breed her husband's birds. Knowing that
Buijk had been given the knowledge by
her husband about his colony she ensured
that Machiel would become her loft manager.
His reward was not finance but pigeons
from the best of the lofts. Then in 1989
Martha van Geel decided to sell all her
pigeons. Well not all apparently as some
believe! Machiel Buijk was the auctioneer
and the sale of 168 pigeons realized a
world record price of 770.000 Dutch Guilders.
At the time of the sale there were approximately
150 original Van Geel pigeons at Buijk's
loft. Inspite of being in ownership of
the best of the van Geel's Buijk was a
tough culler for he was known to have
disposed of pigeons which did not come
up to his expected standards. The latter
were from the best of the strain's well
known names and bloodlines.
Since
his appearance in the sport as a van Geel
enthusiast Machiel Buijk has won many
races such as Limoges, Tours, and St.
Vincent, etc., and the latter distances
are between 600 to 1,000 km. He was crowned
1st champion of the famous 'Zuidwesthoek'
but after other fanciers started to succeed
at important national and international
races with pigeons obtained from his colony
Buijk conceived and developed the idea
of a stud. Therefore in company with another
Barcelona specialist, Bram Walpot, the
partners started in 1980 the ' International
Barcelona Loft ' (which is approximately
five thousand square meters) in Steenbergen.
Walport was the Dutch Marathon Champion
in 1994 and is a past winner of the Barcelona
National into Holland (1996). It will
only compete at Marathon type races after
they have built up a team. It is said
that the loft contains approximately five
hundred pigeons bred in 1999 off the highest
bred long distance bloodlines and that
the expected success of the colony should
be seen in the coming years of this millennium.
An adventure I am sure many will find
interesting and which arose from the passion
of one man's love of Jan Aarden racing
pigeons.
by: Liam O Comain
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