The National Middle distance Old birds is a category appreciated at national level. The norm is achieved by ranking four races in the category of short distance – middle distance or middle distance – long distance in a competitive year, which means that the pigeons competing participate in races with distances between 285 and 630 km. In the 2020 season, 4,941 pigeons met the norm of the category, a figure that proves that this is a very disputed one. The national champion, a pigeon that competed best in 2020 in the Middle distance Old birds category, is a cock owned by George Tîlvîc, a member of the Vâlcea Association. In second place we find a name that is almost confused with this category in Romania, the Bucharest team Simion Emil & Stelian Dumitran. Marius Floștoiu, from Prahova, is on the third place, with a cock that we find six times on the national podium in different categories.

National vice-champion in the Short distance Old birds ​​category, George Tîlvîc, member of the Vâlcea Pigeon Association, manages with the same pigeon to be the national champion of the Middle distance Old birds category. The Simion Emil & Stelian Dumitran team, from Bucharest, after last year managing to win several national trophies at Demifond, in 2020 remains in the top of the national hierarchy of this category and occupies the 2nd National Middle distance Old birds. Being at the best season of his pigeon fancier career, Marius Floștoiu from Prahova, completes the national podium of this category.

The cock RO-18-050529 brings George Tîlvîc a new national trophy 

The cock RO-18-050529 is the pigeon which, with only 6.93 points accumulated in four races, ranks on the 1st National Middle distance Old birds. He is competed by George Tîlvîc, from Vâlcea County, and won in 2020, besides this trophy, the 2nd place National Short distance Old birds, mentioning here only the national cups. “The cock is a combination of Van de Pasch and Drapa and he did not compete as a young bird. Last year he competed, but with not even a norm achieved, and this year he managed to obtain these performances. Because I competed using widowhood method, at some races, I tried to motivate him. Either I locked his hen in the box and found her there when he arrived, or I locked another cock in his box before basketing him. Usually, I avoided such tricks, but after seeing that it has some good stages, I tried to keep it in top shape. The food and supplements I use are from Vanrobaeys. The pigeons train only once a day, and this year we did not train them by car between stages “, stated George Tîlvîc. It should be remembered that George Tîlvîc’s pigeon managed this performance in the Middle distanc Old birds category with “pure” races for this category. Thus, the pigeon ranked 9th out of 7,594 pigeons at 332 km, 16th out of 12,068 pigeons at 399 km, and will rank the same stage of 399 km twice more, 1st/635 pigeons and 8th / 2,817 pigeons.

The Simion Emil & Dumitran Stelian team, a new national trophy for Middle distance

Emil Simion and Stelian Dumitran (foto left) are among the most consistent fanciers in Romania in the Middle distnce category and well known for the fact that they participate in competitions only with hens. In recent years they have won many national trophies in this category, which we can say is their favorite. This year they are again on the national podium, both at Dmiddle distance Old birds, where they win the 2nd place, and at Middle distance Fanciers Palmares, category in which they are national champions. The trophy from this category is brought by the hen RO-18-4056625, whose coefficient is 11.63 penalty points, achieved from the following performances: 1/3,111 pigeons (352 km); 3/698 pigeons (354 km); 7/1,725 ​​pigeons (385 km) and 18/6,188 pigeons (308 km). Our vice-champion is the daughter of the best breeder, in her turn, son of the hen “Bălțata”, original Drapa. Her mother is half-sister to the Olympic hen. She competed in widowhood, as it is known, winning this trophy at Middle distance Old birds, 4th place National Short distance Old birds, 1 provincial Short distance ​​and Middle distance and several trophies at the level of Bucharest. Because we only compete with widowed hens, the food is almost always light, only in the last two days receiving a more consistent mixture. In the first two days after the race, the pigeons are not released outside the loft. We prefer to leave them inside the loft, so they can rest. During this period we focus on recovery, on liver detoxification, and in the last two days we are preparing the next race “, explained Stelian Dumitran.

Marius Floștoiu, in the national top 3 also for Middle distance Old birds

The 2020 season was the best in the pigeon fancier’s career so far of Marius Floștoiu from Prahova. The cock RO-18-2085284 competed extraordinarily this year, which is why Marius Floștoiu is six times in the national top 3 in different categories: 1 National H Old birds, 2 National Allround Old birds, 3 National Allround Palmares, 3 National Ace Speed ​​Old birds, 3 National Middle distance Old birds and 3 National Short distanceOld birds. The 3rd place of the National Middle distance Old birds, a result we are referring to today, was won with a score of 13.10, and the races in which this coefficient succeeded are the following: 1/547 pigeons (384 km); 1/474 pigeons (384 km); 28/8,690 pigeons (384 km) and 57/9,589 pigeons (384 km). “The cock is a cross of several lines of pigeons for short races, his father being a Louis van Loon pigeon. I competed with him in widowhood, and to motivate him I tried several options. His best performances came when I left him in the box, where he also had the nest, before the stage or when I put another cock and his hen in his box. I tried in two races to leave him with the hen before basketing, but he failed in those races and I gave up this method. Out of the 12 stages he competed in, he was the first to arrive home in eight of them. During the season, I used food from Versele Laga and Bayers and I trained them two or three times a week from about 90 km ”, said Marius Floștoiu.

This is how this category is presented in the 2020 season. As a peculiarity about how disputed it was, we mention the fact that the difference between the pigeons on the first 20 positions is sometimes a small difference, a few hundredths. For example, with a coefficient of 13+ there are no less than five pigeons, and the difference between 1st place and 20th place is 18.25 points.