The war in Ukraine not only shocked the whole world, but also left deep marks in the Romanian racing pigeons sport. The conflict near the borders of our country has determined the upheaval of one of the most important pigeon-loving provinces, Oltenia, in the conditions in which, until this year, the fanciers from Dolj, Mehedinţi, Gorj, Olt and Vâlcea had as east flight route, with stages of and marathon races launched on the territory of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, not finding a common solution, Oltenia Province was divided for the first time in a long time, Gorj, Mehedinţi, Vâlcea counties and a large part of Dolj choosing the western route, while Olt county and some Craiova pigeon fanciers from the Elite Club preferred the northern route, together with their colleagues from the province of Muntenia. This rupture of the province not only created tensions throughout the country, but greatly compromised the chances of Oltenian pigeon fanciers to gain access to the national podiums of the 2022 competition season. The main cause of the destruction of the province was that due to their geographical location, fanciers in Mehedinti and Gorj counties voted by a large majority to fly west, not north, to Poland. “It was clear to us that if we flew Poland, we would have no chance of getting decent results, at least at the provincial level. Never launched from eastern Poland, our pigeons did not cross the mountains, but went around Moldova and thus became the last station where they arrived. What chances did we have with Olt for example, or with Vâlcea. None! ”, a manager from the Mehedinţi Branch told us.

The pigeon fanciers from Gorj had the same point of view, who, in unison, chose the same, West, because “I have flown on the North before and I have not made any decent results”. In line with this trend, pigeon fanciers from Vâlcea also preferred the route chosen by their colleagues from Mehedinţi and Gorj, but, cautiously, some of them, mainly fanciers who prefer short or medium distance races, made a second flight plan to south, flying the eight speed stages, without limit of kilometers, in Bulgaria. In Dolj, the situation was largely similar to that in Vâlcea, the only difference being that for the second plan, launch stages were chosen from localities located in the east and north of Romania. “It simply came to our notice then. I flew from there and I had very high losses because in the first stages, in the mountains, in the Domaşnea-Caransebeş area, fog often forms in the morning, and the pigeons do not find the right direction home, reaching Transylvania or the former Yugoslav republics. “, Said one of the fanciers from Craiova who preferred the second flight plan.
After the first stage “over the mountains”, as the Oltenian pigeon fanciers say, the situation was far from so dramatic. In Dolj County, the losses were only 4.6%, and in Mehedinţi they were even lower, 3.3%. In Vâlcea, the situation was a bit problematic, meaning that after the first stage, 18.5% of the pigeons were lost while in Gorj we were dealing with a paradox: for the second stage they basketed with more than 200 pigeons more than in the first stage. The explanation would be that many pigeon fanciers from Gorj preferred not to fly the first stage, Lugoj, probably also for fear of possible problems with the weather conditions. For pigeon fanciers in Olt County, the route to the North was not as simple as announced, but not very complicated, the losses being 14.1% between the first and second stage.

Unfortunately, the second stage of Gorj and Mehedinti counties, a commune with a launch from Lovrin, proved to be much harder than what had happened on the first flight. Even if the situation was not centralized until the date of writing this analysis, according to our information, the losses recorded are significant, exceeding the threshold of 45-50 percent. “It was a disastrous stage from all points of view, with losses of over fifty percent! The situation from 2011-2012 was repeated, when, after the second stage on the West, the dust was chosen. Unfortunately, some of our pigeon fanciers have forgotten history and we went in alone with our necks in the net “, said Cosmin Frăţilescu (photo), member of the board of directors of the Mehedinţi Branch and one of the Mehedinţi pigeon fanciers with very good results at provincial and national level. For Dolj and Vâlcea counties, this week’s stage can prove to be a decisive one, following that after the two very successful stages Domaşnea will embark for Lugoj, with flight distances of over 200 kilometers. It is a first sign that a particularly difficult season is announced for the pigeon fanciers of Oltenia, and the hopes of obtaining important results at national level are, this year, very low.