Michel VANLINT is back in the country
Winner
semi-national from Argenton
Zoutleeuw - During the
season Michel Vanlint is always at the top of the results
of the national heavy middle distance. It's like magic where
one stunt after another comes out of the magical hat. After
many top-scores rumors are spread around even after his negative
doping control. People wonder what Michel brought along out
of the land of the rising sun and here he answered that he
only brought his wife and daughter. We were the first to know
how and why he can keep up those wonderful results throughout
the season.
His first semi national victory was the best reason to break
the silence and in fact these results are the confirmation
of what insiders already knew for some time now. It's obvious
that Vanlint is back again. He is the first fancier that succeeded
to win the first prize on all four nationals in the Obrafo
union of Tienen. For more than once he succeeded to shock
his competitors with his beautiful results. With some pigeons
which he received of some friends like Willem De Bruyn
(Reewijk), Dewit Brothers (with their Janssen-pigeons), Steven
Van Bremen (races of Desmet-Matthijs and Schaerlakens) all
from Holland. In his own country he got some birds
of the Herbots Brothers and Oliviers-Devos,
with which he started the season of 2003. He will always remember
these people for having faith in him. Other lofts with big
names didn't believe in his success after an absence of 20
years but he already proved they were wrong. We surely want
to let you enjoy his results of 2003 after his youngsters
were released from Bourges, Toury, Argenton, Sens, La Souterraine
and Vichy on which he always won the first prize in the Obrafo
union. It would take a long time to mention all prizes but
with all the doubles (national, provincial, CFW, Brabant)
it gives us astonishing news namely; 16
first prizes, 8 times with first and second, 78 times within
the top 10 of the results. Who has them better?
At the beginning of this season, they all hoped that Michel
would let us down because the pigeons were played too many
times, too far and there by they would be disturbed in their
growing process. Don't they say that all things with 'too'
is bad. Well I can say that people talked 'too' much. During
the winter the birds in the Bogaerdenstraat 33 were properly
prepared to score on the national flights till and with 600
km. Here and there some little details were adjusted because
of experience Michel knows that everything depends on the
details in the modern pigeon-sport. The new season started
and it looked like time had stood still. Just like he ended
the season of 2003, he started the next season of 2004. Soon
enough all fanciers knew that also this was the season of
Michel Vanlint. It's best to show the numbers because they
say it all. The preparation flights on the heavier work from
Laon, Soissons, Pithiviers and Toury already gave him three
first prizes. It was for real on the flight from Vierzon against
231 others he didn’t only have the fastest pigeon but
also 4-5-8-9-14-16-17-23-14-16-27-31-40-50-56. Then from Bourges
with 1-2-3-5-8-12-27-29-31-35- etc…. From Blois he
played everything down in all three categories (old-yearling
and hens). We surely have to mention the most spectacular
scores but first you better sit down. Yearlings (254): 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-11-17-21-24-27-38-39-42-50-61-62-69-72-75-82-84-85.
With the old birds (255) he scored throughout the top ten,
while with the hens he won 1-2-3-4-5-7-12-17-18-23-39 and
40. From Chateauroux he had 9 prizes in the first ten. Only
the third race was left to the others (472 yearlings). Next
the successful flight from Bourges with among others in the
category of the hens ended up like this: 1-2-7-8-9-10-15-17-18-28-29-31-36.
Montluçon was best with the old birds with following
prizes: 1-4-7-9-13-14-16-17-20-23-26-32-34-39-44-47-51-55-64-65-72-76
(237 competitors).
La Souterraine didn't bring him a first prize but nevertheless
he scored with 18 prizes within the top 20. Then again from
Argenton with 1-4-5-6-8-9-13-21-25-30-34-42-68-69-75-79-114
with the hens and with the old birds it was good for 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-12-17-20-22-33-34-37-39.
As you will already know it was the first provincial and semi-national
prize. For four days on the loft and then up to Limoges and
again Michel scored very well with 4-6-7-15-37,etc.... To
be clear about it we only mentioned the local results but
those who took a look at the provincial results will soon
know that also there it was Vanlint everywhere.
All systems, also outside our sport, is the result of some
years work and some purposeful choices. His obsessive approach
runs throughout his life like a red wire. Take up the challenges
and bring them to a good end is what he can do best. That's
what he did in life and I'm sure that this man feels good
in his own body. Already as a boy he was brought up in "prison"
under the regime of a boarding school. At that time he spend
his holidays to the pigeons in company with his deceases father.
After his studies, he almost immediately started to work in
a bank, which was the crown jewel of the financial world at
that moment. The banking was in his blood from when he was
just a boy and he took risks as well in his professional life
as with the pigeons. When he got married, he managed to find
a combination between the pigeon-sport and football. But once
the time to hang your shoes on the hook will come for everyone.
From that time on all his energy was put into his pigeons.
The national top already learned to know this little man from
Tienen. In 1971 he became 7th national Champion Long Distance
KBDB, before some toppers like Delbar and Pol Bostijn.
But one day it was too much with only a little colony and
mostly a second day to wait for his feathered friends. For
the first time in his life he threw away the key and closed
the door and from that moment on he decided to turn over to
the middle distance. A beautiful loft in Bost that was build
by the team of Jos Deno but he designed it himself
together with his friend René Somers
(Oelegem), who was the pride owner of the legendary "Dokus".
The loft had double glass in the windows but his house didn't.
The so-called "pig-lamps" were used to guaranty
a constant temperature on the loft. Besides he was also at
the base of the commercialization of the heating elements
which he tested on his own loft and which are still used nowadays.
It was also the period of his Merckx (strain Van De
Velde Maurice from Scherpenheuvel) which shows up
sometimes because of his super results then. But then we come
to 1980 when the colony was stolen totally and the loft went
up in flames. This was the moment for Michel to stop definitely
but after some friends talked him into it, he decided to start
one more time. Some of his breeders stayed with his friend
Albert Heylen and these were fulfilled with pigeons of some
other friends. But once more he was there again. He created
another loft in Orsmaal and together with Willy Henot
he succeeded to play with a lot of success for some years.
In 1982 a client of his became ill and when Michel looked
back at the past years, he knew that this was the moment to
change his life. Taiwan became his second home-land where
he promoted the pigeon-sport for more than 20 years. Besides
he also was an active loft manager of a successful colony,
which he ended for some personal reasons. There he got to
know his present wife and nowadays they are parents of a beautiful
daughter. Nevertheless that little country by the North see
kept pulling his sleeve and again he accepted may be the biggest
challenge of his life and came back to Belgium to start again
as a fancier. Again everybody thought him to be a madman but
he managed to do very well and soon he already reached the
top of our sport. According to Michel he has no secrets only
success ends and starts with the pigeon-accommodation. Already
at the beginning in Bost he remembers that he went outside
with a compass in his hands to be sure that the loft was build
at a south south-western direction. So before he returned
to Belgium he already knew how to build his loft but it was
much harder to find the right place. He found his present
house by internet and when he first visited the house he immediately
was attracted by the structure behind the house. Without taking
too much notice of the house he immediately climbed on the
roof of the structure and he knew this was "the place
to be". Finally he found the place to build the L-formed
loft of the late Jef Vanriel. Here Michel could
build his dream. With some help of Philip Herbots
he started and soon the impressive accommodation was there.
Above the structure (which used to be a work-house) we now
find a beautiful loft created by the master himself. Even
an impressive bathroom is integrated in the building and here
the racing team is treated after each flight; they take a
warm bath and they remain here till they are dry. This to
prevent infections of the head and the respiration area.
Too much of temperature differences have a big influence
on the temperature of the body. Michel even gets up at night
with storm to close his aeration wholes. It’s also astonishing
that he doesn't want the help of one or more helpers with
such a big racing team. He prefers to do it all by himself
so when anything goes wrong he can only blame them. He's such
a perfectionist , he even gets up at night to check the moisture
of his birds. Sometimes he wonders what he's doing but the
success is a big repayment. The more you do the more you get
back. Every week again the pigeons get into the basket and
in between they will get some private training flights too.
To give him a little less work he also has an elevator, so
as you read, it's all perfect.
Because he participates weekly, he can show many super results.
I choose the "Blue White Feather", 2266281/03,
which can be called his best heavy middle distance racer of
the country. As a youngster she flew top from Toury (3rd and
10th) - Argenton (18th) - Sens (1st) and La Souterraine (828th
against 4.003 competitors). This season started with 29th
from Soissons and fulfilled with 5th from Pithiviers - 144th
from Toury - 2nd from Bourges - 6th from Blois 7th Bourges
- 4th Montluçon - 6th La Souterraine - 13th Argenton
and finally 4th from Limoges. She never missed a prize and
by a simple sum and with success a score of 6.767 kilometers
in two seasons. Before the basketing the partners get together
on regular times. The system can't be brought back to the
full or total widowhood. It's a question of the right mix
of changes. Exact times when it comes down to training, eating
is in fact a rule on this loft. When it comes down to the
feeding Michel follows the schedule of his vet Raf Herbots.
Michel would feel guilty when he would only give them clean
water and when he wouldn't follow the rules exactly. In fact
we can say that Michel is at the base of this successful schedule.
"When I was still in Taiwan, I had regular correspondence
with Raf and I told him all I knew by experience". Nevertheless
the pigeon is the one that has to do all the work. A good
pigeon is 90% orientation and 10% can be noticed like a good
wing, the muscles and the eye which is the mirror of the soul.
The most important is the feeling, which can't be learned
anywhere, you have it or you don't. Simple but tough!
On his way of finding the good pigeons, he ran into the
late
Jan Grondelaers. Already from the beginning
we felt good with each other. In fact Jan was always ten years
ahead and he was open to all kinds of new things and he wanted
to try them out. Where all the others turned to the right,
he turned left. But his results of the past surely showed
us that he often was right. When the train of the evaluation
stops, you have to get up. Don't wait till tomorrow because
there will be no other one. We could write down many pages
because Michel can continue for a long time now. In fact the
Belgian pigeon-sport has closed its Lost Son back in the arms.
We only want to wish him all the luck in our sport and to
say it in the words of the master: "Pigeons are grateful
creatures". They go into the basket and they hurry back
home, which is their way to thank their boss for his care
taking.
I'm sure that with his present energy and his long experience
of many years we did't reach the end of the street yet.
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