The National Birzai story continues today with the presentation of the fanciers and pigeons that managed to get a place on the podium of Neamț counties, the organizer of this flight, Iași, Vaslui and Bacău, the associations that met the requirements to be able to draw up county rankings at this important race of the province of Moldova. As we said in the previous article dedicated to the winners of the Birzai National stage, this wonderful competition brought out pigeons with special skills, but also a strong desire to return to the loft as quickly as possible, very few of them managing to develop higher average speeds of 1,000 m/minute.

Neamt rankings

The champion of the Neamț county is the hen with the series 0685012-2019, which belongs to the pigeon fancier Sebastian Bumbea, from the town of Târgu Neamț. Although he took a break for 10 years, Sebastian was not able to stay away from this sport and in 2019 he returned to racing pigeons. Hearing this, his good friend Sebastian Andron gives him 5 young birds as a gift, including the wonderful hen 0685012-2019. She was flown in the marathon stages as a youngster, but reached her peak this season, ranking the first marathon stage Kedainiai, with the aerial distance of 915 aerial kilometers, in 41st place out of 3,356 pigeons. The second stage comes, the famous Madona National race, where the pigeon has 1,112 aerial kilometers to cover, and where it manages to take 26th place out of 3,614 competitors, while her brother’s daughter arrives in the loft in the dark, at 03:00: 35 minutes. After these two stages with very good rankings, the fanciers’ emotions and expectations increase and he hardly manages to keep his composure to prepare the National Birzai stage, where his birds have to travel a distance of 1,063 kilometers. But the miracle happens, and the hen 0685012-2019 arrives in the loft, after dark, at 23:34:21, being the only pigeon in the county that managed to arrive on the first day. The hen was played by the natural method, at Birzai Național with a young bird as the nest position. Her results are not purely accidental, she comes from a family of top flyers. Her father comes from the pigeons of the Turluianu+Pavel team, having as its origins pigeons from Nouwen Paesen, a pigeon present three times on the county podium in the Allround and Allround 2 years rankings categories, and her mother is from Liviu Paval and has Van der Wegen blood in her veins , also being a good flyer, taking the 38th place in the National Yearlings Marathon 2014. From this family of pigeons, many good flyers at national, provincial and county level comes from Sebastian Andron’s breeding loft.
The 2nd and 3rd places in the county are occupied by the pigeons of Adrian Maftei, pigeon fancier from Dumbrava Roșie, who at this stage had an aerial distance of 1,100 aerial kilometers. And to make the surprise even bigger, the two cocks 0096109-2018 and 0423654-2019 arrived together on the morning of the second day after launch, at 05:52:17 and 05:52:42, respectively, propelling his fancier to the county top.

Ionuț Pascaru, from the town of Zăneşti, was at the top of the Neamț County breeders ranking. For this flight, Ionuț prepared and employed a batch of 24 pigeons, managing to rank 15 of them, the first five pigeons arriving in the aviary being team pigeons, which proves how well this breeder knows his pigeons in the flight batch. As a curiosity, all three pigeons from the team are female and all are from 2020, and at this stage they had an aerial distance of 1,108 air kilometers to fly. The first arrival is the female with the series 0528308-2020. She arrived home on the second day of arrivals, at 07:18:27, and ranks 13th in the county, respectively 83rd in the entire launch. In his career, he achieved norms in the Palmares Marathon, As Marathon Extrem and Palmares Birzai categories. The second finisher has the series 0528249-2020, she finished the race at 08:13:40 and manages to occupy the 34th place in the county, being closely followed by the third hen from the team, series 0528254-2020, who he arrives two minutes after her, placing himself on the 35th place in the county. The last two hens who arrived also finished the season with the same norms, in the same categories as the first arrival, respectively Palmares Maraton, Marathon Extreme Ace, Palmares Birzai. We find another similarity in their origins, all of them having as their father a cock from the loft of Ionuț Pascaru, and as their mother they all have hens from the loft of Elisei Eacobuță, from different combinations.

From Cordu town, pigeon fancier Vasile Crăciun claims second place on the county podium in the fanciers category with his three strong cocks: 0416334-2019, 5023974-2018 and 0517762-2020. The pigeons took the 22nd, 26th and 40th places in the county ranking, arriving first at the loft from the aerial distance of 1,098 kilometers. In this race, Vasile entered a batch of 45 pigeons and ranked 10 of them. The first to arrive, the cock 0416334-2019, completed, in the 2020 season, the norm in the Yearlings Marathon Ace category in the 2nd county place, the 2nd county Yearlings National Ace, the 3rd provincial Yearlings National Ace and the 7th national Yearlings Ace in the national ranking. Vasile Crăciun has been competing since 2019, he bought the pigeons from his area, and currently he is very satisfied with the results he gets with them.
On the third step of the podium of Neamț county, in this category, climbs Adrian Maftei, whose batch proves an exemplary preparation for this race. The first to arrive is the cock 0423654-2019, who also took the 3rd county place in the pigeon category. The second member of the team is the cock series 0423673-2019, who placed 25th in the county ranking. Pigeon number three is a old hen, with the series 0096102-2018, on whose experience Adrian relied, his expectations being fully rewarded.

Iasi Rankings

We go to the Iași county ranking, where Dumitru Bezedică, from the town of Harlău, is causing a stir with his ambitious yearling cock who outranked all his county competition and settled at the top of the ranking with a story-like finish, close to midnight, recorded at 23:27:57. This young cock has the series 0033374-2021 and since the start of the season, both he and his brother have earned the fanciers’ trust with their repeated placings at almost every stage they have been employed. Both have, this season, ten rankings from eleven races, managing to complete the norm in the Yearlings Extreme Marathon and Yearlings Extreme Marathon Ace categories, giving the fancier great hopes for the future. As for origins, the two cocks, who at this stage had 1,043 kilometers to cover, have as their father an original cock Sorin Florea, and their mother is a Dutch hen, granddaughter of “Perfect Dolle”, having pigeons from the lines behind Aarden and Stichelbaut. As a method of play, all season they were competed on natural method, and at the National Birzai, the cock who won the first position went to the competition with a 10-day-old chick in the nest.

On the second step of the county podium goes Ionuț Ungureanu, from Pașcani, thanks to the very good performance in this flight of the hen with the series 3075453-2018, who arrived home late at night, at 03:10:04, managing to complete the 1,064 air kilometers with an average speed of 844.81 m/minute. At the Madona National stage, the same hen arrived first in the loft, also in the dark, at 23:43:05, thus achieving a norm with a very good score in the Extreme Marathon category. For this competition, she was prepared on natural method, going to the National Birzai on the 6-day egg position. The father of this hen is brought from Gelu Vochin, from Dolj, and her mother from Ioan Olaru, from Botoșani.

The 3rd place of Iași county in the category of pigeons is attributed to the strong hen with the series 0656910-2020, which belongs to the young pigeon fancier Constantin Răzvan Condurache, from the town of Muncelul de Sus, who has been active in the pigeon fancier since the 2020 season. This bird is not at the first nice result, last year, in the 2021 season, coming in 1st county place at the Vilnius marathon stage, organized on 10.07.2021. The hen was played naturally, motivated on a 5-day-old chick. Her father is brought from the Solovăstru Family loft, and her mother from Ionuț Pește. In this race, the hen, who completed the norm in the Maraton Ace Palmares category, had to cover an aerial distance of 1,077 aerial kilometers.
Ionuț Ungureanu, from Pașcani, adds another podium to his record, he also takes the 1st place in the county in the fanciers category. His first bird to arrive at the team is the hen series 3075453-2018, presented above, which won 2nd place in the county in the pigeon category. The second pigeon arrived at the team was the hen series 1156036-2018, which ends the season with the norm in the Ace Marathon Extreme category, she being a combination of Frans Peters pigeons with a good flyer from Ionuț’s loft. The method by which it was competed was natural, starting this race on eggs of 5-6 days. The third pigeon from the team, as a surprise, is also a hen, but this time a yearling, with the series 1067046-2021, which shows maximum ambition and determination, after this ranking completing the norm in the Super Ace Marathon category, ranking all four marathons she was engaged in this season. For the National Birzai, Ionuț Ungureanu prepared and boarded a team of 16 pigeons, ranking 8 of them.

Nicu Petrică Florea, also from the town of Pașcani, took the 2nd county place in the fanciers category, engaging a team of 23 birds and ranking 9 of them. He competes marathon pigeons from 2019, birds from an old line, a line he has owned for several years and which brought him a surprisingly good result, 3rd place in the County Yearlings Marathon Grand Prix. The fancier managed to pass on his beautiful passion to his son, the two of them are now involved in the training of pigeons. Their method of flight has always been natural and, as far as possible, they calculate that the hens hatch for 13-15 days before being basketed for the National Marathon stages, a decision that has proven to be inspired, with the birds ticking off outstanding performances, such as the case at this stage as well, where their team consisted of three hens. The first arrival from the team at the loft was the hen with the series 0147639-2019, followed by 0942404-2020 and 0528272-2020. The aerial distance that the pigeons from the Pașcani loft had to travel was 1,064 aerial kilometers.

From Vînatori-Iași, climbs the third step of the county podium Alexandru Martin, who sends to the National Birzai a team of 35 pigeons, ranking 17 of them. This time the pigeons were in great form, helping his team a lot. Thus, the first to arrive in the loft is the cock 0510284-2020, followed by 0447046-2018 and 0447056-2018. As for origins, most of the pigeons in this loft come from Bogdan Ciobanu, from Suceava, from where, in 2017, he bought three birds with Jelle Jelema origins, which soon became the basis of his breeding loft. Since then, a beautiful friendship has been forged between the two, and Alexandru ended up breeding many pigeons from the loft in Suceava, pigeons that come from direct sons, as well as grandchildren from the top birds imported by Bogdan. The birds brought, which left their mark in the aviary in Vînatori-Iasi, are grandchildren of Evi, Silke, Jef, Special One, Amadeus, Miss Milos, as well as other domestic champion pigeons.

Vaslui rankings

 

In Vaslui, the county ranking in the pigeon category is led and won by the team Grapa and Niță, from the town of Bădeana, whose winning hen, with the series 0590843-2020, ended the season in the style of a grand champion, obtaining beautiful standards in the category Long distance records, but also in the Old birds Marathon category. At the Madona National stage, he made another excellent flight, arriving in 3rd place in the county. Between the stage of Madona National and Birzai National, she was engaged in a long-distance stage, which she finished with a 7th place in the county. As origins, her father is from Daniel Sărăcutu, and her mother is an original hen Jelle Jellema. The flight method in Grapa and Niță’s aviary at the Birzai stage was the natural one, the hen having to cover a distance of 1,192 kilometers to the loft.
Second place on the county podium goes to yearling cock with the series 1126910-2021, who had to fly home a distance of 1,146 air kilometers. This bird belongs to Vasile Cordeanu, from Chitoc. This yearling comes from a grandmother-grandson inbreeding, from a super family of marathon pigeons. His father is a good brother to the national champion in the category Marathon Yearlings 2021, with the series 558729-2020 “Bella”, and his mother being the hen series 01014110-2021 “Regina”, who was the 1st place national Palmares Maraton Ace 3 years in the year 2017 and 1st place provincial Palmares Ace Maraton 4 years, also in 2017.

The 3rd place in the county is occupied by the hen series 0590065-2020 of Gheorghe Șerban, from Bârlad, a fancier with a lot of experience in the pigeon field. He owns pigeons for over 30 years, birds that come from old pigeon lines, which during his pigeon racing career have brought him good and very good results, year after year. The distance that the pigeon with the series 0590065-2020 had to travel to the loft was 1,187 air kilometers, she arrived home on the day after the launch, at 09:22:08. By origin, her parents are half-siblings on her mother’s side, she being a very inbred product. Her father has the Cattrysse + Nouwen Paesen + Houben blood lines and her mother is a Nouwen Paesen + Houben combination. The flight method in this aviary has always been natural, the hen series 0590065-2020 leaving for Birzai Național as a 5-6 day old chick.

The pigeons from Vasile Cordeanu’s team, who entered 12 birds for this competition and managed to rank 9 of them, were positioned at the top of the Vaslui county ranking in the fanciers category, which means a very good percentage of rankings. The first bird from the team is the cock with the series 1126910-2021, who also takes 2nd place in the county ranking in the pigeon category, the second bird from the team is the hen 0558745-2020, she being the daughter of the national vice-champion in the Marathon Ace category Palmares 2018, in combination with a cock from Gheorghe Preda, son of the double national vice-champion at Marathon Palmares 3 years old and the national champion in the Record category. The third pigeon arrived at the team is also a young cock, with the series 1126944-2021. His father is a son of the Ivanciu Brothers Olympic pigeon and his mother is a daughter of the national champion “Regina” paired to the national 6th place Ace Marathon Ace Yearlings 2017. All three pigeons were basketed for this important race on 10-day.
The 2nd place in this category goes to Gheorghe Șerban, through the hen series 0619311-2019, which ranked 6th in the county in the pigeon category, being the second to arrive in the loft. In fact, all the birds that arrived first at the team, but also in the loft, are hens. At this stage, the hen with the series 0619311-2019 5-6 day old chick, and as origins is a Cattrysse + Van der Wegen combination. The second arrival to the team has the series 0590013-2020 and was basketed on 15-day-old eggs, as origins being a combination of Van Wanroy + Van der Wegen pigeons. The third hen from team 0619303-2019 arrived at a distance of two minutes after the second from the team, obtaining the 11th place in the county. She was basketed on 4-5 days old chick. Her father is a combination of the Janssen + Cattrysse + Aarden lines, and the mother has Van Wanroy blood. For this stage, Gheorghe Şerban basketed a batch of 50 pigeons and ranked 19 of them.

Daniel Codreanu from Stanilești, Husi, takes the 3rd place in the county in the fanciers category with his small team of pigeons, it is about a number of six racers, of which he placed three. The first to arrive in the loft is the cock 0596863-2020, who had to travel home the aerial distance of 1,152 kilometers, ranking 9th in the county. He was also basketed in the Madona National race, where he also placed, and his father is from Ioan Feștilă, while his mother comes from Iulian Malinche’s breeding loft. He went to the National Birzai on a position of 12-days chicken. The second bird that arrived is also a hen, with the series 0597582-2020, which is based on 50% Ioan Feștilă + 50% Iulian Malinche, being the granddaughter of the parents of the first to arrive in the aviary. Like her mate, respectively the cock who arrived first at the team, the nest position was a 12-day-old chick. Pigeon number three arrived in the loft is the cock 0596832-2020, which is a brother to the first arrival. Like his brother, he also competed at the Madona National stage, where he managed to rank the race.

Bacău rankings

We go further to Bacău county, where the county ranking in both categories, pigeons and fanciers, is clearly dominated by the trio Măgirescu + Ojog + Dorneanu, who won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places of the county podium in the pigeon category, as well as the 1st place in the county in the fanciers category. They trained and entered a batch of 66 pigeons for this race, of which they placed 54, their pigeons taking 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 18th , 20, 21.

The first two arrivals in the loft arrived late at night. The first bird to arrive in the loft, but also in the county, has the serial number 0261043-2020 and was recorded by the clock at 00:53:41, managing to cover the 1,140 aerial kilometers to home with an average speed of 1,015.06 m/minute. She is the daughter of “1 Madona” and the hen “DE 036”, who is the sister of “004” and “005”. The second pigeon to arrive in the loft is the cock series 0706756-2019, being the first to arrive at the team, which arrived home at 03:39:25. This is also a son of “1 Madona”, who after this stage finishes the norm in the Extreme Marathon category with a score of only a few points, being a contender for the national podium in the Ace Marathon Extreme category and Palmares Ace Marathon Extreme 3 years. The third pigeon to arrive in the aviary is the second to arrive at the team, he being a young cock, series 0207598-2021. This yearling is the son of “DE 255” good brother to “004” and “005” and “DE 249” , daughter of Super Velden. The third bird arrived at the team is a young hen with the series 0207720-2021, which by its ranking propels its owners to the 1st place in the county in the fanciers category.

The young pigeon fancier Eduard Bălan, from Comanești, who competes with racing pigeons starting from the 2020 season, is in second place among fanciers in the county. He also has a good percentage of rankings, basketing 12 pigeons at this stage and managing to rank 9 of them. His air distance on this flight was 1,152 air kilometers. The first bird to arrive in the loft is also the first to arrive at the team, the hen series 0702009-2019, whose parents are pigeons brought from Elisei Eacobuță’s loft. Her father is a half-brother to the 1st place marathon Vilnius 2019, while her mother is a good sister to the 1st place marathon Seta Provincial 2018. It should be noted that the hen, who after this race completed the norm in the Extreme Marathon and Super Ace Marathon categories, arrived also the first on the loft and at last season’s stage of the National Birzai, occupying the 24th place out of 15,735 pigeons. The next two arrivals to the team are the hen 1005709-2019 and the cock 1005713-2019, who are good brothers, their father being a cock from Florin Vartolomei, who is a half-brother to the mother of the 1st place in the 2021 National Madonna race, and their mother she is the aunt of Elisei Eacobută’s “Fantastic 617”. These two brothers repeated the performance at the National Madona flight this season, where they arrived first on the loft, helping the team again. Eduard Bălan, played the pigeons using natural method, basketing them at this stage on 7-day-old chicks.

Ioan Lupu, a pigeon fancier from Bacău, obtained the third place in the county in this category, basketing for this competition a batch of 50 pigeons that had to fly home a distance of 1,130 air kilometers, ranking 23 of them. The first bird that arrived at his home is also the first from the team, being a strong and ambitious yearling with the series 0205202-2021. After this flight he fulfilled the norm in the Ace Extreme Marathon category, with a good score, being a contender for the national top 10 in this category. This yearling comes from famous pigeon families, the father being an incest of the great fancier ‘Super Velden’ and the hen ‘Cheta’, who is the sister of ‘Super Velden’, and her mother was bred from the terrible 1st place Gdansk, from Florin Heres, pigeon flew 3 stages from Gdansk, with the distance of 1,040 air kilometers. The second member of the team is cock 0264629-2020, who ranks 26th in the county. As origins, it is a 100% product of Ko van Dommelen’s pigeons. The third pigeon from the team is hen 0264532-2020. The mother of this hen is brought from Dr. de Weerd’s loft, being a daughter of Miss Cahors.
As is known, the counties of Vrancea, Buzău, Galați, Brăila and Tulcea also participated in the National Birzai race, but they could not compile county rankings. In this competition, these counties had the longest distances, entering the ranking of the 3rd distance zone.