The first of the categories to be achieved with marathon stages is the National Marathon category, the norm being met by ranking two competitions with a distance of more than 760 km. The National Marathon category can be obtained by old birds, yearlings and even young birds, but in today’s material we will only approach the section dedicated to old birds. Here, the first three national places are occupied by Florian Cernitu (Olt), Constantin Stoian (BB) and Alexandru Sorescu (BZ).

This category is one of the most contested by pigeon fanciers participating in such competitions, and in recent seasons, the scale of the marathon competitions is considerable. More and more associations are opting for marathon competitions organized together, even outside the national stages, protocols that extend to the provinces, and the result can be seen in the National Catalog of the category. Thus, on the first 20 national places we find pigeon fanciers from four of the five provinces of Romania.

Florian Cernitu (OT), national champion National Marathon 2020

In the 2020 season, the national champion of the National Marathon category is Florian Cernitu, a member of the Olt Pigeon Association. This result was achieved by the hen 0542324/2017, who in the two marathon competitions she participated (912 and 934 km), accumulated a score of 0.84 penalty points, the third best score recorded in Romania, so far, in this category. Thus, we have the third consecutive season in which the national champion of this category achieves a score of less than one penalty point. The stages with which Florian Cernitu’s hen occupies the 1st national place were Tokmak (912 km) and Tokmak National (934 km), where she ranked 1st out of 9,757 pigeons and 4 out of 5,401 pigeons. “The hen’s father is a cock from Paul Woolliss, a relative of Palona, ​​a pigeon that won 1st place in the Palamos competition, 1312 km. The mother is a hen from Alexandru Cazacu and has as ancestors Euro Diamond, Rivaldo and Nirvana. The hen was competed using natural method, for both marathon races having in fact a quite bad position. At the first Tokmak she laid both eggs in the transport truck, and at the second marathon the first egg was layed at home, and the second one after she was basketed, again in the truck. I used the Galaxy Sport Light and Koopman mixes from Beyers, and because the pigeons compete using natural method and don’t train too much, they stay outside all day. Between marathon competitions they are taken to two trainings, at a distance of 50 and 80 km. I prefer them to be launched at noon, when it’s hot outside, but it’s not a rule. As it is known, I left the country, and my parents and a very good friend, Marius Mărtescu, take care of the pigeons. After this very good result, I hope for a very good ranking in the World Best Pigeon Championship, where the chances are very high “, said Florian Cernitu.

Constantin Stoian (Bucuresti) is the national vice-champion

Constantin Stoian is the national vice-champion of this category, due to the hen 4061444/2018. It ranked 2nd out of 5,922 pigeons in the Dnipro competition (832 km) and 4th out of 4,955 pigeons in the Kharkov National competition (987 km). Following these very good arrivals, he accumulated 1.15 penalty points, a coefficient with which he occupies the second step of the national podium. “In the past I competed in the short distance and middle distance races, categories in which I obtained very good results at the club, county association and even national level. Starting with 2016, for various reasons, I started to focus on marathon, having last year the 27th place in the Marathon on the Bucharest Association. This season, and due to the pandemic, I didn’t want to compete anymore, but at my son’s insistence I participated. We had a batch of 40 pigeons, which we competed using widowhood, being mated in the first week of April and separated after raising a chick. I used food from Versele Laga, the Champion Plus mixture, to which I added rice, white sorghum and other seeds. For recovery and preparation I used Avipharm and Tollyamin. Twice a week the pigeons were taken to a 60 km training session, on their return they were allowed to stay together. As origins, this cock is the son of a cock from George Vochin, a relative of Tevez and Miss Gijsje, and the cosk’s mother is reproduced from Batemburg pigeons “, mentioned Constantin Stoian.

Alexandru Sorescu (BZ) ranks 3rd National

The last and the third national prize of the Marathon category was claimed this season by Alexandru Sorescu, from the Buzău Association. This is the son of the well-known pigeon fancier Paul Sorescu, who competes in the same association as part of the Oancea + Sorescu tandem and who also took care of winning this national trophy. The title was won with the cock 9005391/2018, who ranked the races Bielsk 2 (874 km), on the 1st place out of 2,693 pigeons, and Terespol (784 km), on the 3rd place out of 2,862 pigeons, achieving a score of 1.42 penalty points. “I had a very difficult competition in the other loft, where I compete in a team formula, I lost a good part of the pigeons and so I made time for the marathon pigeons, which I kept more for my son. The pigeons competed in the natural method, but because I started late, I did not participate in either the first race or the first marathon. Normally, this cock had to go to the Kharkov National stage, but I forgot him at home. I had to engage him at the race of the association, Bielsk, where he won 1st place at the launch. When I embarked him, it had a 6-7 day old chick. His hen did not return from the stage, but he continued to raise the chick, alone, a position from which I basketed him in the third marathon, where he took 3rd place on the launch. We used a mixture of food produced in Târgoviște and a mixture of Polish, quality vitamins and electrolytes, but also treatments after each marathon. Because of the neighbors, I can’t train the pigeons at home. I can say that they rest a lot and are only taken to two trainings a week, distances of 30 and 60 km. As an origin, this cock is a combination of Carteus with Schreurs-Hauben and Van Der Wegen, on the line of Barcelona 223 ”, explained Paul Sorescu.

Analyzing the scores achieved by the first three pigeons from the National Catalog, we have a new season where the competition for the National Marathon category was a fierce one.