Arvid Myreng

My name is Arvid Myreng. I am seventy one years old, married to Ingebjørg, and I have two daughters. I live in Tønsberg, which is a town situated about 100 kilometers south from Oslo, by the western side of the Oslo Fiord, and it has 42 000 inhabitants. Our club is named “Tønsberg Brevdueklubb”. It was founded in 1934. The number of members has varied over the years, from 30 “in the good years” to 11 in 2018.

I became a pigeon fancier when I was thirteen years old, so, – in 2019 I can celebrate having been a fancier for 60 years! Up to 1977 I raced together with my brother(s), but then I bought a house of my own, built a loft, and started racing as soon as possible!

During my long life as a fancier,  various, good strains of pigeons have been introduced at my loft. Many years ago the Fabry pigeons gave me many good results. These pigeons were followed by a different strain of Fabry pigeons,  and Janssen (Friedrichshof) pigeons. My Janssen pigeons come from the same strain of Janssens as the “Stein Turbo”.

In the third “main strain” Kruk pigeons were important.

During the later years Floor Engels pigeons have added high quality to my loft.

My pigeons have got many good results over the years, both on a local level and nationally.

Several times I have become “Overall Champion” in the club, and in the district as well. I also have been “top three” three times and “top ten” several times in the ”Overall National Championship”!  But I never have been no 1, and am sorry for that, – so I am still trying……………….

However I have won the national championships on Short distances, Middle and Long distances, and also the prices for the best cook and hen on national level.

More about me

I am educated to be a teacher, and started my career teaching primary school pupils for twelve years. From the beginning of the eighties and till I retired five years ago, I worked with the management of schools and kindergartens. I always have liked my work, – and I think that investing in good schools and kindergartens is the best investment which our community can make!

In the sport, I have often been elected to be a leader. That is on the club level as well as on national level, – by being a member of  the board of the “Norwegian Racing Pigeon Association” for more than twenty years. For many years I was President of our Assotiation.

Then I was responsible for the contact with our friends in Denmark and Sweden through working together in “Skandinavisk Brevdueunion”.

During these years I also enjoyed meeting fanciers from all over the world, by attending eleven following FCI Olympics, – starting in 1985 in Porto.

Deciding upon arranging the “FCI World Championships” in my opinion was a very wise FCI decition! These competitions have brought the member nations closer together, and proved that all member nations, and every single fancier can be winners!

I also think than these World Championships have given inspiration to the great increase in the number of One Loft Races which have taken place during the latest 10 – 20 years.

Myself I have participated in OLR in Denmark, Norway, South Africa and Portugal, and youngsters of mine have several times joined the Noewegian team in the FCI World Championships.

Unfortunately, in several countries it is becoming harder every year to keep our sport going, – mainly because the numbers of hawks and falcons are rapidly increasing. The pigeons are attacked when they fly around the loft, during training races and in races as well.

I think, in the circumstances, OLR will for many fanciers be an alternative to ordinary races, and also an additional challenge to the ordinary competitions.

“Norwegian Turbo” is an inspiring challenge to me, and is giving us lots of extra excitement and the possibility to participate in pigeon racing for a much longer period each year than we can with the very short Norwegian season!

Now some more about my pigeons!

I earlier mentioned my Fabry pigeons. They were very popular way back in the sixties and seventies. Most imports were made from Denmark. Thus a cook from Martin Sørensen, Aalborg in Denmark and a female from E.J. Seaby, Cambridge, England became my first really god breeding couple. On distances from 100 to 700 km their children raced very well.

From my good friend Viggo Elofsson, Kristianstad, Sweden, I first imported some Fabry pigeons, and later on Janssen pigeons (Friedrichhof). The Fabrys were successfully mixed whith the old Fabrys, and they did well as “Fabry Elofssons” too.  And the Janssens did well both mixed with Fabry Elofsson and Jansen x Janssen. Still the Janssens are in my loft and contribute successfully!

The Kruk pigeons came from Dan Kristiansen, Køge, Denmark. One hen was an excellent breeder. I mixed her with five different cooks, and she gave me winners with each and every one!

In the later years I have bought some pigeons from Herlof G. Herlofsen, Kristiansand, Norway. He has imported Floor Engels pigeons from H. Beverdam, Holland, and also some (from different strains) from Eckhardt Schröder, Lübeck, Germany. These pigeons are still breeding well.

During the winter I keep about 100 pigeons. 28 of them are breeding pigeons, which will give birth to the majority of my 75 youngsters. Some youngsters will be bred from my best flyers. About 65 pigeons will be raced as much as possible. This year I will use the old fashioned “nest system”.