This weekend is the one in which the first national stages of the 2021 competition season will take place. The pigeons have already been basketed, and the figures look very good for the difficulty that this season entailed. For almost all national competitions this weekend, the launch is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, but weather data may delay the release of the pigeons. What is certain is that this weekend, Romania is a fancier pigeon.

Each of the five provinces of our country “hosts” this weekend a national marathon competition. As is well known, these are stages in which all associations in a province participate, which makes them very special. Apart from the cash prizes awarded to the winners, there are also special prizes organized for pigeon fanciers who are on the podium of these competitions. In other words, the two national teams in each province are the highlight of each season for lofansvers of distances stages.

From Moldova, all roads lead to Madonna

For the province of Moldova, the first national marathon competition is the well-known National Madona, a stage organized by the Suceava Pigeon Association. In the past seasons, Madona Național was the competition with the highest number of pigeons employed of all national competitions, a fact that is repeated this year. Thus, 15,898 pigeons were engaged and 1,109 pigeon fanciers participate, from the counties of Suceava, Botoșani, Neamț, Iași, Bacău, Prahova, Vaslui, Galați, Buzău, Tulcea, Ialomița, Călărași, Brăila and Vrancea. Also, Madonna National is the only national competition in this series in which all participating pigeon fanciers have over 1,000 km.

Tokmak, the national race of Oltenia

On the other hand, in Oltenia, the first national marathon competition is Tokmak. At its fourth edition, the competition is organized by the Dolj Pigeon Association, being a stage with various distances, starting from over 800 km for the first pigeon fanciers and exceeding 900 km for pigeon fanciers from Gorj and Mehedinți. Each time, more than 10,000 pigeons were engaged at Tokmak National, and this year, although the organizers feared that the number would not be very high, 12,931 pigeons were basketed and 1,266 fanciers will participate. The participating counties are Mehedinți, Gorj, Dolj, Vâlcea, Olt, Argeș and Teleorman.

Kharkov National, organized for the second year by the Prahova Association

In the 2020 season, the Prahova Pigeon Association organized for the first time the National Kharkov stage, Muntenia province, with the participation of 587 pigeon fanciers, from 11 associations, and 4,955 pigeons. For this year’s edition, 6,152 pigeons were basketed. Also, a number of 767 pigeon fanciers from the associations Ilfov, Giurgiu, Dâmbovița, Argeș, Prahova, Buzău, Brăila, Bucharest and Teleorman participate. The participation of four pigeon fanciers from Olt is unique, which makes the Kharkov National have distances starting with 800 km and which will reach about 1,200 km.

The Brăila Association organizes, for the first time, the National Terespol race

This season is the first in which the National Terespol stage takes place, a competition organized by the Brăila Pigeon Association. Pigeon fanciers from Constanța, Buzău, Prahova, Ialomița, Călărași and Tulcea will take part in this race. 340 pigeon fanciers from the mentioned associations engaged at the National Terespol stage 5,523 pigeons, which will have to cover considerable distances, between 800 and over 1,000 km.

National Stendal: 2,369 pigeons and 306 pigeon lovers

For the western province, the Satu-Mare Pigeon Association organizes the Stendal national race. The massive losses of pigeons from the first marathon competition of this year seriously affect the participation in this competition, but, even in these conditions, 2,369 pigeons and 306 fanciers from the associations Arad, Bihor, Satu-Mare, participate in the National Stand 2021. Sălaj, Maramureș, Timiș and Caraș-Severin. The pigeons have already been basketed on Tuesday, and the launch was scheduled for Friday morning. However, it is possible that the weather will postpone the release of the pigeons for Saturday. In terms of distances, the pigeons will have to fly between 900 and over 1,000 km.

The first National Prague competition, organized by the Bistrița-Năsăud Association

Traditional competition in Transylvania, Prague National is organized this year by the Bistrita-Nasaud Pigeon Association. 505 pigeon fanciers from the associations Cluj, Maramureș, Bistrița Năsăud, Alba, Sălaj, Harghita, Brașov, Sibiu, Caraș-Severin and Covasna will take part in the stage, and the 2,130 pigeons engaged by them will have to cover distances between 800 and 1,000 km.

Also this weekend, the Poznan National competition will take place, organized by the Pigeon Association fom Alba county, a stage for which the pigeons were basketed on Thursday. So, the most intense weekend of the 2021. The seven marathon stages are waiting for us, making this weekend a truly incendiary one, both figuratively and literally, because very high temperatures are announced. Until then, we send congratulations to all those who organized these competitions, but also good luck to the participating fanciers.