There is no doubt that one of the most difficult norms to achieve by our pigeons is Long distance ace, a category whose winners of the 2021 season we present in today’s article. Pigeons competing in this category, especially those who manage to win a national award, deserve all the appreciation, because their evolution must be without error. No pigeon fancier association in the country provides for more than five long distance races in the flight plan, and all five of this of them are required. Thus, these pigeons are not allowed to make any mistake. This is also the main reason why, out of the hundreds of thousands of pigeons that started the 2021 season, only 701 pigeons achieved this norm!

Being such a difficult category, the winners can come from any association, which organizes long distance stages with higher or lower numbers of pigeons, especially because the main quality of these pigeons is consistency. This fact also emerges from the way the national podium of the category looks after the 2021 season, where we find pigeon fanciers from rather small counties and who at the first stage of the season had about 8,000-9,000 engaged pigeons.

Team Țîrvuloiu and Popescu (Gorj county), first time on the 1st national place

The national champions of the 2021 season are the pigeon fanciers Florin Țîrvuloiu and Alexandru Popescu, who together form the team “Țîrvuloiu and Popescu”. It must be said that the team profile is, or rather was, formed in the short stages, but, starting with the last two seasons, they started to take a more serious approach to all the five long distance stages of the flight plan. The change brought with it the best result in the entire career of the two pigeon fanciers and one of the most important national awards won by fanciers in Gorj County: the 1st national place Long distance ace old birds. The champion is a hen, RO-19-0446277, whose main quality was the attachment to the nest. In the five races she ranked, the hen managed to obtain a total coefficient of 47.37 penalty points. “I want to tell you that we have never won too many trophies with the hen. The cocks are the ones who did the best in our country at county and provincial level, although the method of competition is natural. But this hen wanted to contradict us. I didn’t pay much attention to the first three long distance races. Only then, after seeing that she already has a good score, we started to focus on her and try to achieve a top norm at this category. Her partner also competed, but for most of the season she was paired with two other hens. This created jealousy between them. This hen was very attached to the nest. He didn’t really move from there. In the first four stages she competed on the eggs, resuming hatching after each arrival. It wasn’t until the last long distance race that I gave her a young chick for about a week. The food used was from Versele Laga, Champion Plus and Depure blends, and for preparation and recovery I used Avipharm, Dextrotonic and Omniform. During the week of basketing, the pigeons were taken to two training sessions of about 50 km. The champion is the daughter of a very good fighter of ours, winner of 10 county cups. Both the father and the mother of the hen come from the team Stănescu + Dobre “, Florin Țîrvuloiu detailed.

The young pigeon fancier Mihai-Marian Aftanase (NT) wins the second place

The national runner-up trophy in the Ling distance ace old birds 2021 category belongs to Mihai-Marian Aftanase, a young but very ambitious pigeon fancier from the Neamț Pigeon Association, supported by his pigeon fancier and his fathe. With the cock RO-19-0407192, competing in the natural method, Mihai-Marian Aftanase obtained a coefficient of 50.12 penalty points. The same cock is the pigeon with the highest number of km ranked among the three on the national podium, no less than four of the five ranked long distance competitions with over 700 km. The pigeon also won a first place, right at the first stage of the season, against 1,808 pigeons at a distance of 586 km. “This cock is reproduced from our pigeon that won the Birzai National stage in 2015, with Aarden and Nouwen-Paesen origins. On his mother’s side, he has Stichelbaut and Janssen origins. We cannot say that we have a specific program to compete. The pigeons are mated and, at each stage, are taken and hired regardless of the situation. For example, this cock did not have a pair or a breeding box in the last two stages. We do not motivate them, we do not prepare specific nesting positions or other such procedures. The pigeons stay outside all day and only between the long distance and marathon stages does it take them to one or two 50/70 km training sessions. The food we use is the result of a mixture of several dishes. First of all, we buy about 20 types of seeds, which we then combine with food produced by Ioan Feștilă and Versele Laga. The main supplement used is Tollyamin, which we administer both before and after the stages “, stated Mihai-Marian Aftanase.

Class A.L.B. (BC) ranks 3rd and 4th nationally

“Class A.L.B.” is the title under which pigeon fanciers Bogdan Geangalău, Vasile Stanciu and Alexandru Gosav, members of the Bacău Pigeon Association, compete. The three started collaborating in 2018, planning to compete in all categories of the national championship. The “calculation” went very well and, after the 3rd place national Long distance yearlings 2020, Class A.L.B. will also win a national cup in 2021, occupying the 3rd national place long distance ace with the cock RO-19-0770436 (51.47 penalty points). “He is a cock from Gaston van de Wouwer and Pieter Veenstra and competed in widowhood. He competed very well and as a young man, although he was late, he managed the norm of the Speed acecategory and a very good ranking in the provincial ranking. The widow’s method began two weeks before the first long distance race and continued throughout the season, with the pigeons meeting their pairs only on arrival. I used Vanrobaeys food, Gino Clique and Platteeuw mixes. Every week, the pigeons were taken to three or four training sessions, which were never longer than 60 km “, said Alexandru Gosav.