Longdistance Champions – Racing Team CN

Behind the Danish loft ‘Racing Team CN’ are two Danish friends, Niels Johansen and Carsten Petersen, who have a beautiful loft located in the small town of Dalby, just outside Haslev in Denmark. Haslev is situated at an island approx. 40 km. south of the Danish Capital Copenhagen.

In recent years, the team has further specialized in focusing on longdistance and marathon races: All breeding, planning, feeding, dispatching, and subsequent sorting are centered on performing well in the Nationals in these races. Especially in breeding and reinforcement for the breeding loft, there has been an emphasis on finding pigeons that can stay in the air all day, and if they do not return in the evening, at least make it home by the next morning. This has been quite a transformation of “old familiar virtues” within the sport, with many races and strict sorting of the pigeons based on results. Now, the focus is on fewer flights but with increased length, ensuring that the pigeons are physically fit upon their return after many hours in the air.

The loft can accommodate a total of 48 pairs of racing pigeons, of which about half must be one-year-olds each year. The pigeons are raced using the natural system and are often paired up so they can be sent together in the same races in a good nestposition. The team’s one-year-old pigeons are expected to prove their worth from a National longdistance race to ensure that their homing ability and endurance are sufficient to survive the winter. Pigeons that are two years old and older are prepared primarily for participation in marathon flights, which means they do not race many times during a season.

The pigeon stock has been refined through breeding and sorting for longdistance and Marathon. The breeding loft of the team is only focused on breeding for long distance and Marathon races, primarily working with pigeons from 1) the Belgian longdistance icon Etienne Meirlaen 2) descendants of International and National winning pigeons from Barcelona via Jo & Raf Herbots, and in recent years from 3) the Dutch Barcelona winning lofts PWA Walter van der Meulen and Jacky de Bruine. With these lines, both family and crossbreeding are done.

The team is constantly working to gain new inspiration and improve year after year. Nothing is perfect; everything can (and should) be continuously improved. Each year, the team embarks on an inspiration trip to Belgium/Holland lasting about a week. These trips have created connections and room for some really good friendships that otherwise might not have been possible. The strong friendships within the sport mean a lot to the team and allow them to stay in touch with developments in pigeon racing.

In recent years, the team has enjoyed impressive results in the heavy longdistances, among others several top 10 prices nationally in marathon races, but most notably winning 1st National Dresden in 2023. This fantastic result was done by a one-year-old hen, Dan 0192-22-3445, which was crowned National winner among 2.109 pigeons with a lead of 11 minutes before the next pigeon.

The national winner returned on a day when the team was already in high spirits. Late the evening before, the team had clocked a pigeon home from Rouen, 987 km away, at the day of liberation at 23:05, with the pigeon returning in darkness and heavy rain. Two fantastic performances in the same weekend, demonstrating the quality of the loft and their pigeons.

We are sure that this team will be “dangerous” on the longest races in Denmark!
Congratulations!!