The national marathon stages are by far the most attractive competitions of the national championship. The large number of pigeons, fanciers, and the extensive geographical are just some of the details that make these competitions special. As a result, the Marathon Grand Prix category, which is achieved by ranking two such stages, has slowly but surely become a very challenging and interesting one, for which several thousand fanciers compete annually. However, there is room for only three winners on the podium, and in today’s article we will present the three “lucky ones” of the Marathon Grand Prix old birds category, 2021 season.

Last season, almost 5,000 norms of the Marathon Grand Prix Mature category were achieved, but the competition for the first places has never been closer. Beyond the “tiny” score obtained by the national champion, the difference between 1st and 3rd place is very small, only 0,33 points.

Vasile Bratu from Buzau is the national champion

Birzai Național and Madona Național are the two national stages in which some of the pigeon enthusiasts passionate about the marathon in Buzău participated in the 2021 season. Being far behind in the direction of flight, the distances became very large. For example, Vasile Bratu (photo), the one who would become the national champion of the category, had the following distances: 1,233 km, respectively 1,330 km. However, this did not stop him from playing his chances until the end, and the cock RO-18-1070859 would prove to him that nothing is lost from the beginning. First, the cock was hired at the Madonna National stage (1,330 km), where he took 1st place in the area (608 pigeons; 79th place, out of 15,868 pigeons), and then he was basketed for Birzai National (1,233 km), a competition from which he arrived just as well, occupying the 1st place in the county (1,369 pigeons). Of the two rankings, Vasile Bratu’s pigeon accumulated only 2.37 penalty points and became the national champion of the category. But this is not the only national trophy for Vasile Bratu. The same pigeon, because it accumulated the best score in two stages of marathon with very long distances, also won the Extreme Marathon Trophy 2021. Because such a fancier deserves to be known nationally, on our site was also made a video, which you can find at https://racingpigeons.ro/2021/11/10/vasile-bratu-campionul-categoriilor-maraton-grand-prix-si-maraton-extrem-2021 /. Here you will find out all the details about how Vasile Bratu managed these performances and you will know, of course, the best pigeon of his loft.

Flavius Crainiceanu (Caraș Severin) wins a new national trophy

Flavius Crainiceanu (photo) is a pigeon fancier from Bocșa, Caraș Severin County, and over time he has become a very good competitor in the long distance and marathon stages. He reconfirmed his position in the 2021 season, when he won the first two places at the launch and the first place for fanciers at the Prague National stage, a competition organized by the Bistrița Năsăud Pigeon Association, with the participation of 2,130 pigeons and 505 pigeon fanciers. This first “alarm signal” was reconfirmed at the Berlin National stage (1,081 km), when the same pigeon that had won the National Prague, the cock with the series RO-18-0511102, ranked second in the area out of 1,107 pigeons. Thus, the two very good rankings and the penalty coefficient achieved (2.47 points) brought the pigeon fancier from Caraş a new national trophy, the second place in the Marathon Grand Prix Mature category. “Since the beginning of the season, my pigeons have been competing as widows. I used the food from Versele Laga, the three classic mixes for the flight, and I can’t say that I did anything special about the preparation. I didn’t take them to training either, they only flew home, instead I hired them at all stages of the season. The national vice-champion is part of the family with which we have made the most important results so far. His grandfather is the father of the 2017 champion in the Fond Pui category, and he ranked 10th nationally in the same category. He is a very good fighter, who ranked almost all the stages at which he was hired, having, for example, the 2nd county place in the National Ace”, said Flavius Crainiceanu.

Bizu & Bizu Jr. (Suceava), the first national podium of his career

The two national marathon stages ranked by the national champion of the category in the 2021 season also “produced” a national podium pigeon in the same category. It is about the hen RO-19-0520781 of the Suceava tandem Bizu & Bizu Jr., formed by the pigeon fancier Mihai Bizubac (photo) and his son, who occupies the third national place with 2.70 penalty points. At the Madonna National, where she had a distance of 1,049 km, the hen of the team took the 14th place out of 10,625 pigeons, ranking made for the first distance zone. At Birzai Național (949 km), the same pigeon ranked 13th out of 9,426 pigeons, in the ranking of Suceava County. Thus, the constancy of this hen made the team Bizu & Bizu Jr., first-hand competitors of Suceava County, to access for the first time on the national podium and not anyway, but in one of the favorite categories. Also, to get to know the two fanciers better, we invite you to watch the video interview made by our publication team in their loft, accessing the link https://racingpigeons.ro/2021/11/18/bizubizu- jr-selection-hard-results-to-measure/.