The most expected event for romanian fanciers, National Exhibition of the National Federation of Pigeon Fanciers in Romania (FNCPR), took place, this year, in the wonderful city that lies near Tâmpa mountain, Braşov. The high-class event had a record number of visitors, over 2500 people, which proves, once again, the fact that this event represents the most important racing pigeon festivity in Romania.

Saturday night, the Champions Gala, with the „Fairy of Romanian Columbophilia“, Andreea Marin, as the host, was the prestigious event meant to pay tribute to the performances of Romanian fanciers, after an extremely difficult 2018 season, but with extraordinary results in all flying categories. At the end of an exhausting year, but full of surprises, romanian fanciers, members of FNCPR, met in Braşov, for the National Exhibition and the Champions Gala, organized by the federation leadership in honor of the winners of the 2018 racing season. Beyond any other details, one thing has to be highlighted from the beginning of this article: over 2500 fanciers visited the exposition, a fact that shows both the magnitude of the Romanian racing pigeons phenomenon, as well as the appreciation enjoyed by the true champions of Romania. It was „a pilgrimage“ without precedent in the cozy exposition hall, the number of visitors being an absolute record of the last years. „For many, the influx of the public was a surprise, but I must say that I expected to see so many fanciers who want to see and analyze the best pigeons in Romania. The thousands of people that came to see the exhibition shows us that we are on the right track regarding the organization of pigeon competitions, and the safety measures that we used fot the past years offered high credibility for the results obtained by the Romanian fanciers”, said FNCPR president, Marius Tunduc.
Saturday night was a truly memorable one. Under the magic wand of the „Fairy of Romanian Columbophilia“, Andreea Marin, Champions Gala turned out to be, one more time, a class event, a superb festivity whose only purpose was to properly celebrate the romanian champions. One by one, tens of fanciers with exceptional results received their reward, nicely designed cups and plates, after a long and tiring season.
Also, on this occasion, for the ten winners of the most important competition with financial prizes organised by FNCPR, Gold Club, checks in the amount of 10,000 lei each were handed.

The Eurobalcanic Cup, Romania’s proposal for the pigeons from south-east Europe

On the opening day of the gala weekend from Brasov, National Federation of Pigeon Fanciers in Romania (F.N.C.P.R.) hosted the first edition of the Balkan Conference of Federation Colombophile International (F.C.I.). This being the most important event for fanciers from this part of Europe, representatives of the federations from Hungary, Ukraine, Germany, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro participated. During this conference, the following leaders had a speech: Istvan Bardos – president of F.C.I., Marius Tunduc – president of F.N.C.P.R., Geronimo Brănescu – minister state secretary for sanitary-veterinary problems from Romanian Government, Claudiu Sorin Roşu – state secretary within the Agriculture Ministry, Mihai Ţurcanu – romanian member of the European Parliament, Florin Gătejescu – prime vice-president of F.N.C.P.R., and Viorel Dragomir – the mayor of Braila and vice-president of FNCPR. They talked about current issues regarding racing pigeons sport in our country, but also in the other balkanic federations, also members of F.C.I. On this occasion, Marius Tunduc, president of FNCPR, proposed the establishment of the Eurobalcan Cup every two years, between the Olympics, following the olympic rules of course, to generate a strong championship in this part of Europe, a brilliant idea embraced in unison by all participants

High-class attendance at Federation seminars

On Saturday, next to the room where the champions of Romania were presented, FNCPR organized an exceptional seminary, in which famous fanciers from abroad, like Rik Cools (Belgium), Ko van Dommelen (Netherlands), A. P. Overwater (Netherlands), Wolfgang Berensfreise (Netherlands), Andre Paulssen (Netherlands), Hugo Kipp (Germany) but also from Romania, Liviu Plăvițu and Matei Romulus, presented their preparation and competititon systems, and they answered the questions coming from the auditorium. Over one hundred fanciers participated in this event, having some very interesting debates.
At the end of the seminar, the awarding of the national races organized by our federation took place (Berlin National, Izium National, Lohy National, Nachod National), where the pigeons and breeders ranked on the first three places received cups and platelets reflecting the results obtained. In the second part of the day, another racing pigeons seminar was organized, but on sanitary-veterinary issues, and two topics of major importance for fanciers were discussed: young pigeons disease (Adeno-Coli syndrome) and treating respiratory problems during the competition season. In this meeting, the following veterinarians spoke: Geronimo Brănescu, Mihai Țurcanu, Gabor Schindler, Domien van Acker and Oros Bogdan.