Of the marathon categories, the Palmares one is the only Olympic also. Pigeons that achieve this norm, manage four rankings at the marathon races (+760 km) in two consecutive years and occupy a place on the national podium, can participate in the two international pigeon competitions, the Pigeon Olympics and the European Cup. After last season, the three Olympic positions of the Marathon category are occupied by the Ivanciu brothers(1st place), Iulian Mălinche (second place) and Marius Rudaru (third place). In total, in the 2020 season, more than 5,000 norms were achieved in the Marathon Palmares category.

Brothers Ioan-Emanuel and Narcis Ivanciu, members of the Vrancea Pigeon Association, had a perfect 2020 season. The cock “Zian”, which I mentioned on another occasion, brought them two of the most coveted trophies in the country, after winning the 1st place National Marathon ace and the 1st place National Marathon Palmares. The Ivanciu brothers’ champion is followed by a hen competed by Iulian Mălinche, from Brăila, a pigeon fancier who manages for the second consecutive year to occupy an important place in the national championship of the Palmares Marathon category. The podium is completed by another cock, competed by the national champion of the Fanciers category, Marathon (norm), Marius Rudaru, from Bucharest. Thus, at the Palmares Marathon we have a national podium occupied by pigeon fanciers and pigeons accustomed to performance.

“Zian”, double national champion in 2020

After the rankings in the 2020 season, “Zian”, the cock of the Ivanciu brothers loft, managed to become national champion in the Marathon Palmares, with 10 penalty points, after he also won the supreme title in the Marathon Ace Old birds. This norm was achieved after the three rankings were centralized this year, the places 3 / 1,311 pigeons (1,050 km; zonal ranking), 7 / 3,036 pigeons (1,031 km; county ranking) and 44 / 13,443 pigeons (1,197 km; general rankings), plus a race from the 2019 season, in which he was the fifth out of 2,351 pigeons. In this way, with four marathon races ranked in the last two years (4,232 km total), the pigeon of Ivanciu brothers will participate in the Pigeon Olympics on the first position is the national podium. “In the first two stages of the marathon, this cock was the only one who was a widower. Each one of the other pigeons had a pair, but I knew about him in the past that he is much better as a widow. At the end of April, the pigeons were mated, laid eggs, hatched for a few days and then separated again. After a month, they were paired again and competed naturally, except for Zian. In fact, at each training session he was launched separately from the others, and his hen was waiting for him at home in the breeding box, so that he could see her, but not mate. Only for the Birzai National race he did compete in the natural. His mother is a hen from Gică Stanca, and his father is a pigeon competed by Iulian Pricop, reproduced from a Pole with a hen from Moise Dinu. During the season I used Beyers food, a diet mix and Koopman mix. We used Probac 1000 as a recuperator, and we don’t give any products before the race. Only after the trichomoniasis and respiratory problems treatments i used Tollyamin “, stated Emanuel Ivanciu.

Iulian Mălinche (BR), national vice-champion with hen 0009408/2017

The second place belongs to Iulian Mălinche, from the Brăila Association, won with the help of the hen 0009408/2017. This is not the first experience on the national podium at the Marathon, because in the 2019 season it also occupied a 2nd place National Marathon Old birds category, with 1.72 penalty points. In fact, the two very good rankings in 2019, the 1st place / 346 pigeons (899 km) and the 1/773 place pigeons (838 km), to which were added two other very good rankings from last year, the 6th place / 1,213 pigeons (839 km) and the place 10 / 1,874 pigeons (928 km), took her again on the national podium. This time, the trophy was won at the Palmares Marathon, with a coefficient of 12.01 penalty points. “The mother of the Olympics is a very good flyer of my loft, with a norm at Marathon 4 years Palmares, and the father is the grandson of two national champions at the Marathon, the King of Bogdan Ciobanu and Hermesa of Călin Habaci. In 2019 she competed in widowhood, but last season she did it on natural method. At both races it had eggs of 10-11 days. I used food from Versele Laga, Champion Plus and Energy mixes, food from Vanrobaeys and Lotowa Turbo. From these, I make a mixture that the pigeons receive all season, and in the last three days before basketing I add Energy. For training and recovery I use Rohnfried supplements, and before basketing, the pigeons are taken to trainings from a distance of 50 km ”, explained Iulian Mălinche.

Marius Rudaru (BB) wins the third place

Bucharest’s Marius Rudaru is the national champion of the Marathon Fanciers category in the 2020 season, and one of his basic pigeons, which helped him to make the team at each stage of the marathon, was the cock 0377100/2016. Because he competed very well, Marius Rudaru’s pigeon occupies an honorable 3rd place National Marathon Palmares, with a coefficient of 17.35 penalty points, but also the 4th place Marathon Ace Old birds. At two of the marathon races in which he was engaged, Dnipro (844 km) and Izium National (1,000 km), the cock 0377100/2016 arrived first in the loft, and at the third marathon stage last season, Kharkov National (999 km), came second. At the Dnipro stage it ranked 7 / 5,922 pigeons, at Kharkov National it ranked 27 / 4,955 pigeons and at Izium National it ranked 22 / 2,332 pigeons. To these rankings was added the place 2 / 1,553 pigeons obtained at the Izium National stage in 2019 (999 km), resulting in the third coefficient in the national ranking of the Marathon Palmares category. “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 the 12 old pigeons. The basic pigeon for the team was 0377100/2016, the son of my 2015 national champion at Long distance 3 years Palmares and 3rd place National Long distance Palmares, reproduced with a hen from Verstraete, purchased by me directly from the famous Belgian team, on Topstar . The cocks meet the pair when they arrive from the races or from the 100 km training sessions that they do between the marathon stages. Last year, before basketing for Izium Național, they were, however, allowed to stay 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 the 3-year Marathon Fanciers category ”, mentioned Marius Rudaru.