For the pigeon fanciers from Oltenia, the first large-scale competition in the Marathon category was the National Tokmak, 2021 edition. The stage, which took place at the same time as the other national stages, in the second weekend of July, involved all the associations in the area, the number of pigeons and pigeon fanciers being one of the largest, the competition at Tokmak National being surpassed only by the numbers of Madonna National. The big winners of the stage, after finishing the ranking, are Daniel Moșoianu, from Argeș, in the pigeons ranking, and the Florin Cristuinea + Berky tandem, from Olt, winner in the fanciers ranking.

The 2021 season brought, for pigeon fanciers from the South of the country, the fourth edition of the National Tokmak competition, a race with distances between 800 and a little over 1,000 kilometers. 1,267 pigeon fanciers from seven associations participated (Argeș, Olt, Vâlcea, Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinți and Teleorman), who, together, basketed a total of 12,940 pigeons. They were launched immediately after sunrise, at 05:25, on July 10, most of the pigeons arrive home from day one. In fact, there was no participating association in which no entries were registered on the first day of the competition.

Daniel Moșoianu (AG), the new name among the winners of the National Tokmak race

Each edition of the National Tokmak competition highlighted a new pigeon fancier, which was repeated this year. Daniel Moșoianu from the Argeș Association is the last to enter the list of winners of this competition, winning the first place. The performance was made with the cock 0283010/2019, at the first important result in his flying career, after arriving at 16:35:53, from no less than 914 km of air. He flew over 11 hours, the average speed with which he traveled the entire distance of the competition being 1,362.45 meters per minute. Overall, his performance at this stage was enough to be the best pigeon in the competition, achieving, even if we are talking about a single competition, a remarkable performance. “It’s a pigeon that I can’t say has a specific pedigree. He also competed at the age of one at a marathon stage, but also at the first marathon stage of the season, where he ranked quite well. The flight method in which I compete my pigeons is widowhood, and I don’t let together the pairs before the race. I used food from Versele Laga, and they get supplements only for recovery. Before the stage, for training, I put all the pigeons in the short distance race before basketing and I took them to a 40 km training, from which I launched them in the evening. Considering that since 2010 I focus mainly on the marathon stages, I can say that it is one of my best results “, said Daniel Moșoianu (foto right). At Tokmak, the pigeon fancier from Argeș participated with 20 pigeons and, in addition to the first place on the pigeon launch, he also occupies the 39th place in fanciers, with 12 pigeons ranked.

Berky + Cristuinea Florin (OT), winners of the fanciers’ ranking

If the first place on the launch was won in the first participating association, in terms of distances, the first place in breeders was won at almost a thousand km. More precisely in Corabia, Olt County, where the pigeon fanciers Ion Iancu, or Berky, as everyone knows him, and Florin Cristuinea have their loft. The two have been competing as a team for several years, under the title Berky + Cristuinea Florin (foto left), and, at this race, they won the 1st place out of 1,267 fanciers after taking 10th and 54th places on the entire launch (990 km). The first two pigeons to arrive at their loft were two three-year-old cocks, who together accumulated 4.95 penalty points. Together with Ion Iancu, although we all know him better as “Berky”, I have had a collaboration for more than seven years. We focus more on the long distance and marathon stages, so we are very happy with this result. Experienced pigeons go to the team, of course. As you can see, the two cock are three years old, which means that they have already gone through several stages of the marathon. I competed with the pigeons for widowhood and to prepare this stage I used food from Versele Laga and took them to some training before basketing. In terms of origins, the first pigeon to arrive is a cross between the Kuijpers, Catrisse, Emiel Denys and Hebberecht lines, and the second, as well, is a combination of De Jong, Roger Lasoeur and Felix Ons “, explained Florin Cristuinea.

County rankings

The only association participating in this stage that did not have the necessary number of pigeons and fanciers to have a ranking was Teleorman. Otherwise, in all the other associations it was possible to draw up county rankings, and their winners are not inferior at all.

From Dolj, 2,514 pigeons and 211 fanciers participated in the National Tokmak. The first two county places were won by the Marica Brothers, in pigeons, and Daniel Tunaru, in fanciers competition. From Vâlcea, 948 pigeons participated 107 fanciers, and those who open the county ranking of this stage are Justinel Duțu (pigeons) and Ady Colniceanu (fanciers). The Mehedinți Association participated in the Tokmak National 2021 stage with 2,053 pigeons and 223 pigeon fanciers, the winners of the county ranking being the Epuran Family, for pigeons, and Mihai Burcheșin, for fanciers. Last but not least, 1,419 pigeons and 169 pigeon fanciers from Gorj took part in this competition. The first county place for pigeons was won by the team Bujorescu + Telescu, and for fanciers the first place was occupied by Cătălin Preoteasa. We also mention the team Alexe C. + Andrei I., the winner of the first place at fanciers in Argeș County (271 participants; 3rd place on the whole launch), but also Gabriel Nica, from Olt, the winner of the first place on Olt and 3 on the whole launch, for pigeons. Also from Argeș is the pigeon fancier Dan Matei, who occupies the second place on the pigeon launch, and in the fanciers the second place on the launch is occupied by the Stanca Brothers, from Olt.