Constanța county organized, on June 12, the first marathon stage of this season, together with Ialomița and Călărași counties. At this stage, which had the Polish town of Chelm as its starting point, the 132 fanciers engaged a number of 3,078 pigeons, the stage being declared a success at the end. In the category of pigeons, all three positions of the podium were occupied by the pigeons of pigeon fanciers from Ialomița county.

Danube Loft team

The 1st place in the entire launch went to the Danube Loft team from Bărăganu town, Ialomița county, this team being managed by Mihai Jianu. The pigeon that managed to win this race is the yearling hen 0715449-2021. With her quick return from the stage, she brought great joy to the young Danube Loft team, which has been active, with small breaks, since 2016. The problem of this fancier is not the lack of valuable pigeons, but the fancier’s lack of free time during the competition season. To prevail in this stage, the young hen had to cover the 761 aerial kilometers with an impressive average speed of 1,676.90 m/minute. As for origins, this bird was received as a gift from Valentin Damian from Brăila, being a granddaughter of Damian’s bird that took the 2nd national place in the Marathon ace Yearlings category. Through us, the Danube Loft team would like to express their thanks to Valentin for the wonderful gift given to them.

Dream race for Eugen Silivestru’s pigeons

Eugen Silivestru

Next, the podium of this stage in the category of pigeons, i.e. the 2nd place, respectively the 3rd place, was occupied by the pigeons of Eugen Silivestru from the town of Șăndărei, Ialomița county. Behind Eugen Silivestru, there is a whole team that takes care of the necessary training of the pigeons in this loft, in an attempt to maximize the chances of occupying leading positions. This team is formed by Eugen Silivestru, Aurel Boboc and Vasile Nedelcu, all of whom are passionate about long distance and marathon stages. The three friends have strict rules in the aviary, the pigeons trained by them have a well-designed training, medication and recovery program. Being great patriots, they promote Romanian products, making sure to tell us that all the training of their pigeons is done only with Romvac products, products that they consider sufficient for a pigeon with good flying qualities to perform. The pigeon that occupies the 2nd place is the cock 0016796-2020. He developed an average speed of 1,656.83 m/minute during this flight and had to cover a distance of 761 aerial kilometers to the loft. The origin is a 100% Ion Predoi pigeon, with Aarden-Janssen blood. The pigeon that occupies the 3rd place is the hen 0016749-2020, she being the daughter of a representative pigeon from Eugen’s aviary, namely the cock 0033748-2019. This cock took, in 2020, the 3rd provincial place in the Long distance Yearlings category in the province of Muntenia, and in 2021 he achieved other very good results, namely the 5th provincial place in the Marathon ace Old birds category, the 2nd place in the provincial Marathon 2 years rankings in Muntenia province and the 9th national place Marathon 2 years raknings category. As origins, the pigeon is based on Gică Stanca pigeons, pigeons from Călin Davin from Hunedoara, pigeons from Ion Predoi and, last but not least, pigeons brought from Freialdenhofen’s loft.

Fierce battle in the fanciers’ ranking

The general ranking of the fanciers category of this stage was won by the pigeon fancier team Petcu + Marin from Călărași town, Călărași county, who engaged a number of 41 pigeons at this stage and ranked 26 of them. Their first pigeon to arrive from the team is the hen 0042904-2017, who came from the race at 14:21:17 and managed to take 17th place in the race. This hen is an important bird in their loft, who has a lot of experience in long distance flights, she was, last season, multiple county champion in the marathon categories. In 2021, he obtained the 1st place in the County Marathon old birds, the 1st place in the County Marathon old birds and the 1st place in the County Marathon old birds 2 years rankings, and his bloodline is 50% pigeons from Daniel Cobzaru, 50% pigeons from the late Petre Izdrea. The number two pigeon arrived in the team is the cock 0070745-2019, which was positioned by his good arrival in the 27th place on the release. And this bird ended the 2021 season with good rankings in the marathon stages, fulfilling the norm in the Ace Marathon Mature category. The father of this cock is a bird from Dinu Moise’s “Husul” line, and his mother is a hen brought from Robert Radu from Dâmbovița. The number 3 pigeon from the team is the hen series 0070738-2019, which ranks 29th in the ranking. By origin, she is a good sister to the 5th national Marathon ace Old birds category in 2017, a result obtained from the same loft. Petcu + Marin prepare their pigeons by the natural method, where their birds “play” very well, as evidenced by the good and constant arrivals in the rankings.

Petcu + Marin team

The 2nd place on the podium of the stage of the fanciers category is claimed by the pigeons from the team of pigeon fancier Laurentiu Vasile from the town of Șăndărei, Ialomița county. Laurentiu engaged 27 pigeons at this stage and placed 14. In the order of arrival, the three pigeons from the team are as follows: the cock series 3001421-2019, which occupies the 26th place on the stage, the hen 0175712-2019, the 39th place on the stage and the cock series 0740709-2019, he is on position 47 in the general ranking.
The third position on the podium of this stage, in the famciers category, is occupied by Eugen Silivestru from the town of Șăndărei, Ialomița county, who also won the 2nd and 3rd places on release in the pigeon category. The hen 0016749-2020, who also takes the 3rd place, is the first bird to arrive at the team in the loft she is helped to the team by the hen series 0016736-2020, who takes the 44th place on the stage. By origin, 0016736-2020 is the daughter of the 1st place provincial Maraton 3 years rankings old birds, Muntenia province, being a bird with Călin David blood. The experienced cock with the series 0033774-2019 is the third pigeon to arrive at the team and manages to occupy the 74th position in the general rankings of the stage. In the year 2021, this cock has completed the norm in the Marathon ace category, being a combination of Ion Predoi+ Gică Stanca+ Călin David blood. The pigeons are kept separate by sex during the competition season, and both partners fly at the stages, but they do not see each other until the arrivals from the races. Their breeding and training program is a “military” type, as the fanciers who take care of these pigeons believe that at these distance categories “you can’t obtain performance doing anything else”.

The ranking of this stage of the county of Constanța, the only county that met the minimum measures to achieve the county ranking for this flight, is completely taken over by the pigeon fans from the town of Cobadin and looks like this:
The 1st place is occupied by the hen of Tudorel Hulea from the town of Cobadin, who managed to defeat a number of 2,138 pigeons from Constanța county, engaged at this stage by the 78 fanciers. This hen 0168585-2020, arrived at the loft at 14:51:50 and managed to cover the distance of 859 air kilometers with an average speed of 1,586.33 m/minute. On the 2nd and 3rd place in the county are the pigeons of Neghină Dumitru, from the same locality, in 2nd place arriving the hen with the series 1195463-2020, and in the 3rd place the yearling hen 0406585-2021.