In order to achieve the Marathon Fanciers norm, it is necessary for the team to be made (ranking at least two pigeons from the first five nominated on the basketing list) in three races in this category (+760 km), organized in specially nominated weekends. As only three or four marathon competitions are organized during the season in the vast majority of associations, pigeon fanciers who aim to achieve the norm of the Marathon Fanciers have no extra chance. However, at the end of the 2020 season, 999 fanciers managed to make this norm.

In a rather authoritarian manner, Marius Rudaru from Bucharest is the one who won the title of national champion Marathon fanciers last season. With three races in which he won the 1st place in fanciers side of competition and with few pigeons engaged for marathons,, Marius Rudaru achieved a coefficient of 35.73 penalty points. He is followed by Cristian Pughiuc, a famous pigeon fancier from Botoșani County, who obtained a coefficient of 53.96 penalty points, and Adrian Manta, from the Vrancea Association, completes the national podium, with 65.92 points.

Marius Rudaru is the national champion of the Marathon Fanciers category

At the first marathon of the 2020 season, Dnipro (844 km), Marius Rudaru engaged a team of 18 widowed cocks. Of these, 11 managed to rank it, and the first two to arrive on the farm were among the team pigeons. The two cocks ranked 7th and 14th out of 5,922 pigeons, bringing the pigeon fancier from the capital first place to fanciers category, against 602 participating. The second competition in which Marius Rudaru won the 1st place, against 587 participants, was Kharkov National (999 km). For this race he basketed also a small number of pigeons, 12, and 8 of them ranked the race. As in the previous competition, the first two to arrive on the loft were team pigeons, the same two cocks as in the first stage of the marathon, which ranked 22nd and 27th out of 4,955 pigeons. The third and last marathon stage was Izium Național (1,000 km), a competition in which Marius Rudaru engaged 10 pigeons. He managed to rank 7 of them, with the first two pigeons coming from the team, and ranked 7th in the overall standings, out of 1,351 participants, and 1st on Zone 2 (322 participating pigeon fanciers). One of the basic pigeons that helped Marius Rudaru win this trophy was the cock 0377100/2016, a pigeon that in two marathon competitions arrived twice first on the loft and in the third stage was the second arrived, occupying a well-deserved place 3 National Marathon Palmares and 4 National As Marathon Old birds. “Due to lack of time, I only compete with cocks, which I play as widows. At the first marathon competition we had 18 pigeons, of which 12 were old birds. Starting with the second marathon, we continued with only these 12. The basic pigeon for the team was 0377100/2016, the son of my 2015 national champion at Long distance Palmares 3 years and 3rd place National Long distance Palmares, reproduced with a hen from Verstraete, purchased by me directly from the famous Belgian team, inbreeded on Topstar, the famous pigeon . The cocks meet the pair when they arrive from the stages or from the 100 km training sessions that they do between the marathon stages. Last year, before boarding for Izium Național, they were, however, left together all night. I used food from Flornas and Vanrobaeys. I want to make it clear that at the provincial level, I won the 1st place in both the Palmares and in the 3-year Palmares Marathon fanciers category ”, mentioned Marius Rudaru.

Cristian Pughiuc, two more national trophies at the Marathon Fanciers

The second best score at national level was achieved by Cristian Pughiuc. He competes within the Botoșani Association, being one of the reference pigeon fanciers of this county, managing in the 2020 season to be national vice-champion in the categories of the Marathon Fanciers and Marathon Fanciers Palmares. The results with which he managed to win these trophies are the following: 1st place on Poznan 2 race, 2nd place on Birzai National and 2nd place of Poznan 1 marathon. At Poznan stage 2 (872 km), 163 fanciers participated. Cristian Pughiuc hired 11 pigeons, managing to rank 7. As expected, the first two arrivals were team pigeons and ranked 5th and 7th out of 1,592 pigeons. At Birzai Național (963 km), the pigeon fancier from Botosani won the 1st place in fanciers competition in the county, against 108 participants, after ranking 16 of the 29 engaged pigeons. With a team of only 5 pigeons basketed for the Poznan 1 competition (881 km), organized by the Suceava Association, Cristian Pughiuc won the 2nd county place, out of 66 participants. His first arrived pigeon took second place on the launch, out of 6,397 pigeons. “I compete with a group of about 70 pigeons. They are mated, raise a chick and after the first Long distance race, they are separated. Widows start and both cocks and hens compete in marathon stages. For feeding I use Versele Laga or Beyers food, but I am more interested in the type of seeds they contain. I buy a large amount of local cereals in advance, especially corn, which I believe is the basis of pigeons’ diet and I make a mixture of these seeds according to what the pigeons need. Instead, I do not use peas during the season. Every day, the pigeons receive a peanuts dessert. For recovery I use an electrolyte, and for preparation I do not use any supplement. Just one day before basketing, the pigeons receive electrolyte. For the team, I rely on experienced pigeons, which I know that have good arrivals, either in the pre-season stages or in those of the past seasons. I spend a lot of time in the loft and try to notice the pigeons that are in a good shape. A pigeon in full shape exudes vitality, moves a lot, tries to occupy spaces. There are signs that show that the pigeon is in this condition. In addition, over time there is an instinct of the fancier, who when holding a pigeon in his hand can figure out if it is worth choosing him for the team. For example, in my case, at one of the stages, I teamed up with a hen I’ve been competing with for 7 years. I liked the way it looked before basketing, and I wasn’t wrong “, said Cristian Pughiuc.

Adrian Manta wins the 3rd National place

With 65.92 points, Adrian Manta, from the Vrancea Association, ranks 3rd in the National Marathon Fanciers category. This result came after 10th place Birzai National (general ranking), 1st place at the Bialystok stage (general ranking) and 5th place at the Vilnius stage (inter-county ranking). At the National Birzai competition, Adrian Manta had one of the longest distances: 1,210 km. He approached this stage with a group of 10 pigeons, ranking 7 of them, with the first two arrived pigeons nominated for the team. In the first marathon of last season, Bialystok 1 (892 km), Adrian Manta won first place out of 165 fanciers, with 20 pigeons ranked out of 48 engaged. The norm ended with the Vilnius stage (1,044 km), in which Adrian Manta engaged 19 pigeons and ranked 11, occupying the 5th place in the inter-county ranking Vrancea + Galați (160 participants). All three marathon stages with which Adrian Manta won the 3rd National Marathon Fanciers had a common denominator. This was the hen 0506628/2016, who arrived twice first on the loft at these races and ranks 15th National As Marathon Old birds and 11th National Ace Marathon Palmares. “We had a batch of 50 pigeons for the 2020 season, which we competed in widowhood from the first stage. I used the food from Versele Laga, the Champion Plus and the basic mixtures. For recovery I used Probac 1000 and Tollyamin, and for preparation I used Probac Energy. One day a week, the pigeons received brewer’s yeast on food, and at least three days a week they received clean food and water. Twice a week I took them to an 80 km training by car, launching them in the evening, to arrive around 20:30 and even 21:00. At the first training, the pigeons do not meet. They can see each other only after the second training, which is done the night before basketing. For the team, I choose to bet on experienced pigeons, who have also shown that they can have top arrivals “, explained Adrian Manta.