The old Romanian proverb “Every cloud has a silver lining” seems to fit extremely well with the story of Nicolae Stanciu from Deta, Timis County. After some less pleasant events, which unfortunately still persist in the columbofilia in Romania, Nicoale Stanciu has become the protagonist of one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season: RO 0487609-2019 flies and ranks Berlin National 2019 and National Stendal 2019.

Nicolae Stanciu had his debut in the pigeon sport in the 2016 season, a year when he competed only with yearlings. It was not an impediment at all, because in the same season Nicolae Stanciu was the winner of the 1st and 2nd places in the Yearlings Marathon category in Timiș county, and county champion in the Fanciers Marathon category. He was also the winner of 1st and 3rd places in the Western province at the Extreme long distance category. An even better 2017 season followed, at the end of which Nicolae Stanciu was the champion of the Western province in the category of Fanciers Marathon Palmares and the champion of his county in the Fanciers Marathon category and the Fanciers Marathon Palmares, and in pigeons competinion he won the 2nd place Ace Yearling Marathon and 2nd place Marathon Palmares in the West. However, December 15, 2018 was a day that Nicolae Stanciu will not forget too easily. Absolutely all his pigeons were stolen from the loft in Deta, except for five pairs from breeding pigeons that he managed to move to another location. A very difficult period followed, but with the help of his friends, Nicolae Stanciu managed to restore his family of pigeons. He received as a gift youngsters reproduced at the beginning of this year from many fanciers, such as Liviu Plăvițu, Nelu Șiclovan, Călin Ususan, Dinu Curea, Timoti Varga, Alin Zăria, Doru Sabău and Capoși Ludovic. In addition to these, a lot of 22 youngsters was purchased from Oliviu Râmneanțu, so he managed to gather a team of about 120 young birds. After a few trainings, some of the youngsters were engaged in competitions for old birds. Among the important rankings we can mention the 8th place in the Kecskemet stage 2, out of 8306 pigeons, but Nicolae Stanciu went much further, participating with his youngsters only a few months old, including the long distance and marathon stages.

RO 0487609/2019 ranks Berlin National and Stendal National marathons

Attracted by the marathon stages, Nicolae Stanciu did not resist the temptation to participate with his youngsters for these races. He did not accidentally choose the marathon competitions to participate in, competing for two traditional national stages: National Berlin and National Stendal. For National Stendal, Nicoale Stanciu engaged a team of 5 youngsters. The cock 0487609/2019, with only three moult feathers, managed to rank the race, occupying the 911th place out of 3419 pigeons at a distance of 1058 km, after it previously ranked the Kecskemet 1 race (207 km). The fancier wanted even more, because 0487609/2019 was among the three youngsters engaged for National Berlin. He was again the only one who managed to rank the race, even though he had to fly about the same distance as for Stendal National. Moreover, 0487609/2019, hereafter referred to as “Mihai”, ranked 426 out of 4135 pigeons, outpacing a lot of more experienced pigeons. Thus, RO 0487609/2019, although it is reproduced at the beginning of March, of only a few months old, managed to rank two national marathon stages and to accomplish the Marathon Grand Prix norm. It is most likely the only pigeon in the country with such a performance, setting a new national record.

Apart from the huge performance of 0487609/2019, also other youngsters managed to compete very well. RO 0487613/2019 flew and ranked 4 long distance stages, and his sister competed and ranked an Old distance stage, after which it was withdrawn for breeding loft.