The loft complex is situated in Krugersdorp, 30km west of Johannesburg in Gauteng. It was established in 2021 by partners Billy Kitchenbrand and Gerhard van Aswegen, both accomplished pigeon fanciers with more than 50 years’ experience between them.
The SAIPR 2026 Winter Season cash prize payouts were divided into approximately 100 different winning categories throughout the series, which avoided a winner-takes-all scenario.
One top score in the SAIPR 2026 Winter pre-finals recovered the entry fee and even showed a profit for a number of fortunate participants. That is in my view the best distribution of One Loft cash prize payouts.
The SAIPR One Loft Concept Pigeon fanciers are invited to enter a team of five pigeons (three main pigeons and two reserves) at an entry fee of R30 000 per team. After the homing phase, to get the pigeons accustomed to the loft’s surroundings, the flock was road-trained from as near as 1km away.
As the pigeons became fit and confident, the road training distances were gradually increased, escalating to the four Hot Spot Pre-final races (ranging from 288km to 505km) and culminating in the Grand Finale held at a distance of 580km.
Armchair pigeon pacing
One Loft manages the pigeons on the entrant’s behalf through a specialist training system building up towards the Grand Finale that carries the larger portion of cash winning stakes. Compared to the many hours of managing a race team at high cost from a home loft in your backyard, the fancier’s breeding skills are tested against a top field from One Loft’s location, which levels the playing field.
All of the work involved in training and racing the pigeons is done for the entrant, which is why it is called ‘armchair pigeon racing’. Participants can quick-view the progress of their pigeons online from a La-Z-Boy chair at home while sharing valuable family time.
The SAIPR 2026 Winter Season winning prizes
- A combined winning purse of R1,84 million allocated towards the final on Race 10 was paid on a sliding scale to the entrants of the first 30 positions.
- A combined total of R648 000 for the four Hot Spot pre-finals (R162 000 per Hot Spot) was paid out to the first 15 positions of each Hot Spot.
- A combined total of R85 000 was paid toward the top three Ace Pigeons across the four Hot Spots.
- A combined total of R150 000 was paid toward the top three Grand Average pigeons of the 2026 Winter Series.
- A combined sum of R110 000 was paid out to the Top 4 in the (optional) Challenge race.
SAIPR and Team Master Power / Loerie Kinderhuis giving back to the community
Participant Francois Beauzec bred five pigeons at no charge for entry into the SAIPR 2026 Winter Series, with the R30 000 entry fee fully sponsored by Menno Parsons of Master Power Technologies. All winning proceeds from these birds are to be donated to the Loerie Kinderhuis.
The Blue Bar Pigeon, ZA CRU 4282-25, placed 8th on Hot Spot 2, winning R5 000. Additionally, more fanciers joined the initiative by paying R1 000 per bird to nominate further entries. In the absence of a major winning score, the SAIPR owners generously decided to support the cause, signing a cheque of R40 000 in favour of Loerie Kinderhuis.
Final Race Money Winners ─ SAIPR 2026 Winter Season
The Final Race was held on 18 August 2026. The pigeons were released at 7:20am from Colesberg under clear skies and in comfortable weather conditions against a light headwind. Three pigeons arrived together, completing the 580km race distance in 7 hours and 8 minutes at an average speed of 81,3km/h.
The winning bird, ‘Ulltra’, of the South African-German syndicate Painter & Ullrich, entered the loft 1,59 seconds ahead of the second pigeon to scoop up the winner’s cheque of R750 000. Its bloodline is out of the top drawer, bred from the Stear Painters SANPO Gold Medal family, closely related to the 1st and 6th place winners in two different AfrikaPro One Loft finals.
Top 10 Final Race winners
1st: R750 000 to Painter and Ullrich. Stear Painter (SA) and Simon Ullrich (Germany). Pigeon named ‘Ulltra’ ZA NDK 1277-25 Blue Bar. Bred in South Africa by Stear Painter. Auctioned for R402 000.
2nd: R250 000 to Dinokeng Million Rand OLR (Banie Deetlefs). ZA CRU/D 3041-25 Blue Bar. Auctioned for R99 000.Offspring of ‘Turbo Kittel’, eight times SANPO Medal Winner.
3rd: R175 000 to JPH and S Posthumus. ZA 810-25 Blue Bar.
4th: R125 000 to Nico Muller. ZA TPA 9779-25 Blue Cheque.
5th: R90 000 to Out of Africa Lofts and Rudi van Vuuren. ZA VPU 4265-25 Mealy. Bred by Out of Africa Lofts, owned by Egbert O’Kelly.
6th: R80 000 to Protea / McDermott (Hennie van Rensburg and Sheldon McDermott). ZA TRPF 5693-25 Blue Bar.
7th: R70 000 to Sandgawies (Louis Pereira and son Michael). ZA GPU 3847-25 Blue Bar White Flight.
8th: R60 000 to JJJ vd Linde and Ben van Rooyen. ZA BPF 751-25 Blue Bar.
9th: R50 000 to Charlie Kerekes ZA ODRA 2736-25 Blue White Flight.
10th: R40 000 to 3 R’s Syndicate (Rona Grundeling, Rob Lambie and Rob van Veen). ZA OERF 15459-25 Blue Bar. Bred by R & R Lofts, owned by Rona Grundeling and Rob Lambie.
Results – 4 Hot Spots Winners SAIPR 2026 Winter Season
Despite a 67km difference between the first two Hot Spots, a helping wind during Hot Spot 2 allowed the winning pigeons to finish both events in 3 hours and 19 minutes. Hot Spot 3 was completed in 5 hours and 15 minutes, and Hot Spot 4 took 6 hours and 46 minutes.
Hot Spot (1) Bultfontein, 288km, 17 July 2026
Winning velocity 1 443,3896m/min, 86,6km/h
1st: R50 000 to Jerry Wright (UK). Bred in SA by Ferdie Lubbe, owner of Mountain Lofts
ZA MOUN 184-25 Blue Cheque.
Hot Spot (2) Glen, 355km, 24 July 2026
Winning velocity 1 775,8213 m/min, 106,5km/h
1st: R50 000 to Johan Smallberger
ZA TWUK 1011-25 Blue Cheque
Hot Spot (3) Edenburg 444km, 31 July 2026
Winning velocity 1 265,9184 m/min, 76,9km/h
1st: R50 000 to JPH & S Posthumus
ZA 810-25 Blue Bar
Hot Spot (4) Springfontein, 505km, 7 August 2026
Winning velocity 1 242,2528 m/min, 74,5km/h
1st: R50 000 to Exclusive Pigeon Paradise (Justin Lambie)
ZA JKL 79-25 Blue Bar
Top 5 Results – Hot Spot Averages Champion Pigeons
SAIPR 2026 Winter Season
1st: R50 000 to Leohan Lofts. ZA VSD-234-25 Blue Bar White Flight.
2nd: R25 000 to Kalahari Loots / KLD (Bernard Loots & Leon Meyer). ZA LEON 1646-25 Blue Pied.
3rd: R10 000 to Ninja Lofts ZA VPU 2705 2025. Grizzle.
4th: Webster Lofts. ZA DIAZ 300-25 Blue Bar Auctioned for R68 000. (Full sister of ‘Blue Moon’. Final Race winner and Champion pigeon Dinokeng Million Rand OLR that auctioned for R400 000.)
5th: Protea / McDermott (Hennie Van Rensburg / Sheldon McDermott). ZA TRPF 5681-25 Blue Bar.
Top 5 Results – Grand Averages Champion Pigeons
SAIPR 2026 Winter Season
1st: R100 000 to Willie Munnik. ZA GPU 0729-25 Blue Bar.
2nd: R30 000 to Pigeon Palace (Kings & Gys Louw). ZA TPA 7178-25 Blue Cheque Pied.
3rd: R20 000 to Painter and Ullrich. ‘Ulltra’ ZA NDK 1277-25 Blue Bar. Auctioned for R402 000.
4th: Passion Lofts (Rod & Denise Chisholm). ZA OERF 6687-25 Blue Bar.
5th: Kalahari Loots / KLD (Bernard Loots and Leon Meyer). ZA LEON 1646-25 Blue Bar.
Top 5 Results Challenge Race
SAIPR 2026 Winter Season
The SAIPR Challenge Race is held concurrently with the Final Race. If an entrant’s reserve pigeons are not needed to replace any of the three Main entries during the pre-final phase, the participant has the first option to enter their reserve pigeons into the Challenge Race at a cost of R5 000 per pigeon. If an entrant declines, punters may enter those reserve pigeons.
1st: R50 000 to R & R & J Thone (Syndicate Rona Grundeling, Rob Lambie & Belgium Partner Jos
Thone). ZA 34946-26 Blue Bar. Bred by R & R Lofts (SA) Gaby Vandenabeele / Tom Lock strain).
2nd: R30 000 to Van Schoor Lofts. ZA KPUD 1687-25 Blue Bar.
3rd: R20 000 to DRK Klub Klerksdorp. ZA LEON 1631-25 Blue Bar.
4th: R10 000 to Passion Lofts (Rod & Denise Chisholm). ZA GRPF 0679-25 Blue Bar.
5th: Bertus Nel. ZA NOK/CAS 592-25 Blue Bar.
On behalf of Farmer’s Weekly, congratulations to all the winners. our website for the upcoming loft reports, which will include an update on the winning birds from the recent AfrikaPro Final Race.
