From the first year of life, as young birds or yearlings, some pigeons are able to compete very well in each distance category. This is demonstrated by the category of National Ace Yearlings, which includes stages of Short distance, Middle distance, Long distance and Marathon and which, last season, was met, nationally, by 52 pigeons. The national top is opened by Teodor Dumitriu, from the Neamț Pigeon Association, the podium being completed by Liviu Plăvițu, from Mehedinți, and Liviu Vieru, from Olt County.

The three national trophies in the category of National Ace yearlings, 2020 season, were won by three pigeon fanciers who put a strong emphasis on exactly this type of competition. Their main requirement from the flyers is to rank very well regardless of the distance of the stage in which they participate, a criterion that perfectly defines the category of National Ace. Undoubtedly, we can say that they also have to be so “pretentious”, because the National Ace pigeons are a special category of racing pigeons.

Teodor Dumitriu (NT), on the national podium for the first time

Not at the beginning of his career as pigeon fancier, but not with many seasons in his record, Teodor Dumitriu “met” with the national podium in the 2020 season. Thanks to the hen 0407627/2019, the pigeon fancier from Piatra-Neamț is Romania’s champion in the National ace Yearlings, with a coefficient of 255.28 penalty points. But, this is not the only achievement of the hen. The champion of Teodor Dumitriu ranks 1st provincial and, implicitly, county and in the categories Short distance Yearlings ​​and Allround yearlings, results that place her among the best young pigeons in Moldova in the 2020 season. „That’s why these results appeared in the National Ace category, because I engage the pigeons at all stages of the flight plan, week after week. For the 2020 season we had a batch of 70 pigeons. I played them using widowhood method, being separated after they raised a row of cubs and laid the second set of eggs. For feeding we used four types of food from Beyers, ie a mixture for widowhood and the mixtures Energy, Brilliant and Koopman, which we mixed depending on the situation. As a main supplement I used Speecial from Dr. Peeters. The hen’s father is from my godfather, Florin Petrache. It brings together all the Olympic pigeons of Florin Petrache. The hen’s mother is Nouwen-Paesen and Vanbruaene, directly from Patrick Delrue “, said Teodor Dumitriu.

Liviu Plăvițu (Mehedinti), a new national trophy in the favorite category

In the same category, the 2nd National place is occupied by the well-known pigeon fancier from Mehedinţi, Liviu Plăvițu, with the help of the hen 0309121/2019. She obtained 508.08 penalty points in the category of National ace yearlings, ranking a total of 10 stages. Apart from the performance in the National Ace category, Liviu Plăvițu’s hen is a double county champion, in the Grand Prix Marathon yearlings and Marathon yearlings categories, she is the pigeon of the year in Mehedinți County, 2nd place in the Long distance yearlings, Marathon yearlings and Allround yearlings categories, but also provincial vice-champion in the category Marathon ace yearlings. Also spectacular is the origin of the hen, not only her performance. Because he is a fan of this type of categories, Liviu Plăvițu matched the national champion of the National Ace old birds category in 2018 with the national vice-champion of the same category, but since 2014 and the pigeon of 2014, competed by him, a pair of which the 2020 national runner-up was reproduced. In short, a national champion and a national runner-up in the National Ace category, paired, resulted in a new national top pigeon in the same category. “For me, the pigeons that win in the National Ace category are complete pigeons. They are pigeons that I work with in a special way and I am attracted because every time you basket them, no matter what stage it is, you know that you have real chances to win that race. This hen also demonstrated that pairing good pigeong together method is a sure way to achieve performance. In the last four weeks of the season, the hen was engaged in two marathon competitions, one long distance and one speed, all obtaining very good scores. Moreover, in the last weekend of the season with the old birds we had engaged, even in the team, two other sisters of his, one at the long distance stage and another at the marathon, all three performing very well. The vice-champion was withdrawn for breeding and will be paired with the 3rd place National Short distance youngsters in 2019, reproduced in turn from two national champions, so that all four grandparents of the chicks that will result from this pairing are national champions, and the parents are, again, national podium pigeons “, Liviu Plăvițu detailed.

Liviu Vieru (Olt), on the national podium and at National ace yearlings

The national podium is completed by Liviu Vieru, from the Olt Pigeon Association. National vice-champion at National Ace old birds, Liviu Vieru wins in 2020 and the 3rd place National Ace yearlings. The performance was made with the hen 0198315/2019, who obtained 547.74 penalty points, ranking a total of 11 races throughout the season. As in the case of the pigeon fanciers mentioned above, Liviu Vieru’s pigeons are sent to the stages weekly, their mission being to compete as well as possible. At the same time, the pigeon fancier from Olt had a very consistent season in the National Ace category. Apart from the two national trophies, Liviu Vieru also occupies the 4th place National ace Palmares, 6th National ace yearlings and 10th National Ace old birds. So, we are talking about five appearances in the national top 10 in this category. “The pigeons compete as widows all season, and as it was last year, when we were late with the start of the competition, they also reproduced before the season, but it is not a rule. For feeding I use the mixtures Gerry, Superstar and Energy from Versele Laga. I focus on feeding pigeons, because food is the main source of recovery. I can say that I use very few supplements, including an electrolyte produced by Pantex. Pigeons have a fixed schedule all season. At 05:30 they are released for the morning training, and at 19:00, they are released for the evening training. Once a week they were taken to a 70 km training session. They compete week by week, at all stages, both young and old. This hen is reproduced from a cock from Reybroeck, a pigeon that also reproduced the 2nd place National ace Palmares in 2015. Her mother is a hen from Van der Horst and Hendriks “, explained Liviu Vieru.

So, going beyond the fact that in the National ace yearlings, as well as in the National Ace yearlings, in 2020 we have three hens on the national podium, we can see, among other things, that the pigeons that performed last season in this category come from pigeons that themselves won several national titles or bred national podium pigeons.