Looking at the National Catalog of 2019 we will see that it was a difficult year for the fans of this category. Fewer norms have been achieved comparing to last year, but the competition managed to highlight the best pigeons, even in the conditions of a more demanding season. National trophies were won by fanciers from different areas of the country: 1st place for Yearlings National Ace Long distance category was won by Isac Rusu from Suceava, 1st place for Old birds National Ace was won by David-Marian Antofie from Ilfov, and at the Palmares category, team Preduna & Purcărea from Olt was the winner.

About Ace Long distance category we can say that it is a special category, since it appeals to all the resources of the pigeons. As we know, the norm of this category is achieved by ranking five stages over 475 km, which means that pigeons that are competing for this category must be in maximum shape for a fairly long period of time. At the end of the 2019 competitional season, 565 yearlings across the country managed to complete the National Ace Long distance category; 1015 norms have been fulfilled in the old birds area, and Palmares category has been fulfilled by 302 pigeons.

Isac Rusu from Suceava is the 2019 national champion for Yearlings National Ace Long distance category
The title in the 2019 season was won by Isac Rusu, fancier for which this category represents an objective every single year. In 2012 he won another national title in this category, and now he manages to repeat the performance with a young cock, descendent of the national champion of that season. His bird, RO-18-9010222, ranked 9 stages last year, excelling at long distance stages. It also participated and ranked four stages in Bialystok (Poland, 635-647 km) and a Janow stage (Poland, 552 km), totaling 61.61 penalty points, enough to become the national champion.

David-Marian Antofie, winner of the 1st place for Old birds National Ace Long distance category
Moving on, In the ranking of old birds, the 1st place for this category was won by David-Marian Antofie from Ilfov. The performance was possible thanks to the pigeon RO-15-0474448, one of the oldest cocks from his flying team. Even if it didn’t show up early in the season, the cock RO-15-0474448 proved that it is capable of performance. It ranked four Kirovograd stages (643 km), in three of them winning the 1st place. The fifth stage of the competition was the Uman race (582 km), where it ranked 155th out of 12,371 pigeons. Thus, it managed to achieve the norm for Old birds National Ace Long distance category with 26.35 penalty points and to win the 1st National place.

After 2018’s 1st place for Old birds National Ace Long distance category, team Predună&Purcărea wins the title for National Ace Palmares with the same pigeon!
For two consecutive seasons, team Predună&Purcărea from Olt manages to compete with outstanding results in the Ace Long distance category. In 2018, these 2 fanciers managed to win the 1st National place for Old birds, Ace Long distance category, with the cock RO-15-0050975. In 2019, same cock competed again at the same level, repeating its performance and winning the 1st place National Ace Long distance Palmares. More than that, the cock is also the 2019 National champion of the Long distance Palmares category and will participate in the European Cup, accumulating an incredible track record.