A long-awaited race of great interest, which took place at the end of this season with old birds, was the Extreme Marathon race, Vilnius National, organized by Buzau county. Counties from the South and South-East of the country such as Argeș, Bucharest, Dâmbovița, Teleorman, Ialomița, Prahova, Vrancea, Galați, Brăila, Călărași, Giurgiu, Constanța and Tulcea were present at this competition, along with the organizing county Buzău, with a number of 616 fanciers and a total of 6,358 pigeons basketed. The release was a “special” delayed release and took place on 05.08.2022 at 9:30 in Vilnius, Lithuania, from where the first pigeons managed to reach their lofts on the morning of the second.

Ionel Purice

The 1st place in the general ranking of this competition in the pigeon category was won by the hen 0488180-2020, which belongs to the pigeon fancier from Liești, Vrancea county, Ionel Purice. The fancier from Vrancea prepared and basketed at this stage a batch of 17 pigeons, all played by natural method. The champion hen had to travel 1,044 air kilometers to the loft, arriving home the next morning at 05:36:53. She managed to develop an average speed of 1,435.90 m/minute in the air. As for origins, the sire of the champion is the cock with the series 0509944-2016, the 100% male Yvon Deneufbourg, obtained from two original pigeons, imported from Belgium by Florin Balcan. This cock, in his sports career, ranked a number of nine marathons with distances of over 900 kilometers, of which three Birzai stages with distances greater than 1200 aerial kilometers are worth mentioning, in the period 2018-2020 occupying the 6th place in the county ranking Vrancea in the category Palmares Marathon ace 3 years. The mother of the champion, the hen series 0386862-2017, is an Ionel Purice product, being a top flyer who achieved good rankings in the Marathon stages of over 1,000 kilometers. In 2021, he achieved the norm in the Marathon Ace category, after the year before he had the norm in the Marathon category, achieving a successful ranking at the Birzai stage (1,209 kilometers), 7th place out of 13,443 pigeons.

Marin Talabă

The second place in the general rankings for pigeons category was occupied by Marin Talabă from Focșani, Vrancea county, with his hen series 0395718-2017. On this flight, he had to cover the distance of 1,034 kilometers to the loft, managing to arrive home the next day at 05:25:17. Talabă is one of the oldest and most experienced pigeon fanciers in his county. Among his top results is the title of national vice-champion in the Long Distance Yearlings category, in 2004. From the line of this national vice-champion hen, the pigeon that won second place at this stage, being her granddaughter, also comes from this line. 0395718-2017 was competed in natural method, on 10-day-old eggs. This season she managed to rank all three Extreme Marathon stages, accumulating a score of approximately 180 penalty points for the Extreme Marathon Ace category. At the first stage of the Extreme Marathon, Tribonys managed a nocturnal finish, on the first day of the competition, at 23:11. At the same time, with the top ranking at the Vilnius stage, he manages to complete the norm in the Marathon Ace Palmares 3 years category. As I wrote above, she is the granddaughter of the runner-up in the Yearlings Lond distance category of Marin Talabă, and her grandfather was present in 3 National Exhibitions, placing 3rd, 5th and 24th, also in the Marathon categories

Adrian Pleștiu

From Nicorești – Tecuci, Galați county, the pigeon fancier Adrian Pleștiu, climbs to the third step of the podium of the general ranking of this race, in the category of pigeons, thanks to the cock series 0851758-2020, which managed to arrive home, after a flight of 1,009 kilometers , the next morning, at 05:26:39, he being also nominated to the team. This cock, this season, proved that he is a good runner, making a good figure also at the stage of the National Medynai Marathon, where he finished 15th in the competition and also first in his loft. This will be the number one contender for the county title of the Extreme National Marathon category. His mother is one of the best breeders in the loft, she has origins from the Hagens Brothers, being the mother of the second pigeon that arrived at the team, the cock with the series 0851773-2020, who placed ninth in the competition in this flight, and of the yearling cock 0510056-2021, which at this stage arrives 19th on the release and other good marathon flying pigeons.

Fanciers from Galaţi dominated the Fanciers category of the Vilnius National stage

Adrian Pleștiu also wins 1st place in the general ranking of the fanciers category at the Vilnius National stage, dominating this race. He basketed 28 birds, managing to rank 20 of them. The excellent arrivals of the two cocks, 0851758-2020 and 0851773-2020, who are also brothers, supported by the very good ranking of another strong cock 1114450-2020, who arrived 7th on the stage, brought another important trophy for Adrian. The father of the two good brothers 0851758-2020 and 0851773-2020 is a cock with origins Arjan Beens and Marc van den Berg, who, paired with the imported cock from Hagens Brothers, produced many good racing pigeons. The cock 1114450-2020, has as his father an original Noel Peiren, nephew of “Tarbes”, and the mother is the granddaughter of the national champion Marathon Yearlings from the Netherlands of the well-known tandem Harrie and Roger Wijnands. It should be noted that Adrian Pleștiu is not at the first stage of Vilnius National where he records good arrivals, he managed in 2019 to rank 10 pigeons out of the 16 basketed, 6 of them arriving on the first day, occupying then also the 1st place in the fanciers category on launch, from 4580 pigeons and 331 fanciers.

Săndel Stoian

Among the 6 arrivals on the first day were 517809-2016 and 669959-2015, who are the parents of 0851769-2020 who placed 8th in the competition at this year’s edition of the Vilnius National race. Adrian’s pigeons were prepared for this natural flight, all leaving on eggs for 6-8 days. His cock fully managed to show their true sporting class, managing to place themselves in the ranks both in their own breeding and in the provincial rankings of this flight.
The 2nd place in the general ranking of the fanciers category belongs to Săndel Stoian from Negrilești, Galați county. For this flight he prepared and basketed a batch of 74 pigeons, ranking 46 of them. At this important stage, the pigeons had to fly an aerial distance of 1,008 kilometers. The first bird from the team to arrive in the aviary is cock 0880079-2020, who took 10th place on the launch. He is the son of 0202089-11, “Călțatul”, who is the son of “099-Champion” and the famous “004817-09-Olimpica” of Daniel Cobzaru, and his mother is a hen that obtained the 12th place in the national Marathon. The second pigeon arrived at the team is cock 0960100-2019, which took 50th place in the competition. His father’s origin is another son from “004817-09-Olimpica”, and his mother is the hen 3083014-2017, none other than the national “Champion” of the Extreme Marathon category from 2020, with 1.37 penalty points. The number three pigeon arrived for the team from Negrilesti, the cock with the series 0880039-2020, managed to rank 73rd on the stage. His father is a son of the famous couple “Olandezul+Peto”, and his mother is a daughter of the double national champion in the Marathon Ace category, the hen with series 0750032-2012, from Daniel Cobzaru.

Vicențiu Scripcaru

As a game method, all the birds were prepared for widowhood. This season they have participated in a Long Distance stage and four Marathon races. At the Marathon stages this season, these runners scored very well for the team, achieving good standards, being contenders for the national podium in the Extreme Marathon Fanciers category. For pigeon fancier Săndel Stoian, the Vilnius National race was a successful stage, with group arrivals, where his cock showed a very good sporting form.
Olympian Vicentiu Scripcaru from the town of Tecuci, Galați county, is on the third step of the general ranking of the fanciers category, a county that owns all three positions of the podium in the fanciers category of this competition. This beautiful 3rd place of the Vilnius National stage is due to the 3 pigeons that arrived at the team, the hen 5016687-2018, the cock 0005509-2017 and the cock 0280021-2020, which are also the first three travelers that arrived in the loft. The cock 0005509-2017 also managed in the 2019 season, also at the Vilnius National stage, to arrive home on the first day from 1,020 kilometers, only 2 birds being timed that evening in that area. In the 2020 season, in the same race, he ranks 6th out of 2155 pigeons, and in 2022 he ranks 46th in the competition. Also in the past seasons, he also participates in the National Birzai stages, where in 2020 he ranks 159th out of 3,128 pigeons, having the aerial distance of 1,180 kilometers in that race, and in the 2021 season he ranks 706th out of 13,443 pigeons. Being a consistent pigeon in stages over 1,000 km, he prompted Vicentiu to nominate him for the team this time. In terms of origins, the experienced male is a father’s brother with 1st place in the Long Distance category in the Olympics that took place recently in Oradea.

Ilie Manea and the Ciuparu Cosmin + Dragoș team, champions of Buzau county

Ilie Manea

In the ranking of the organizing county, Buzău, the leader of the pigeon category is pigeon fancier Ilie Manea from Mărăcineni, through the hen series 0747485-2020, who flew in this competition with an average speed of 1,241.92 m/minute. He had to travel an aerial distance of 1,087 kilometers to the loft, managing to beat the 1,009 pigeons engaged by the 96 fanciers in his county. With this ranking, the hen completes the norm in the Ace Extreme Marathon category. In the first two Marathon stages of this season, she started from the position of a widow, and for the Vilnius National race she was prepared naturally, leaving on eggs for 7 days. Both her parents come from Alin Dunarințu, the father being a Freialdenhofen original, while her mother is a combination of Kipp & Sohne and Sam de Jong pigeons.
Cristian Guriță from the town of Râmnicu Sărat, has a stage with dream arrivals, where two cocks from his team take the 2nd and 3rd place in the county on the podium of the pigeon category, with two excellent arrivals. The cock series 0613460-2019 returns from the competition the next day at 07:57:26 and crosses the 1,067 air kilometers with an average speed of 1,229.54 m/minute, closely followed by the cock series 0720113-2020, who took the place 3 county. The two birds were also nominated to the team.

Ciuparu Cosmin+Dragoș

The hens from the Ciuparu Cosmin + Dragoș team from Posta Calnău fight very well as a team and manage to bring them the 1st county trophy in the fanciers category. In this contest Adrian sent a batch of 13 birds and placed 9. His first arrived hen has the series 0745001-2020, she was recorded by the clock the next day at 10:17:15 and managed to ranks 18th in the county. As origins, it is based on Jos Thone’s pigeons. Hen 0745029-2020 is the second to arrive both in the loft and in the team, ranking on the next step in the county ranking, occupying the 19th place. And to reinforce the fact that origins are very important, this is the granddaughter the first hen to join the team. The third bird is a yearling hen 0503325-2021, which took the 35th place in the county, managing to cross the 1,082 aerial kilometers with an average speed of 1,022.55 m/minute. Like the origins, it is a combination of the pigeons of Marian Dumitrache and Jos Thone.
The same Cristian Guriță also obtained the 2nd county place in the fanciers category, a stage where he sent 5 birds, ranking 3 of them. The first two arrivals are the pigeons presented above, the cocks series 0613460-2019 and 0720113-2020 which arrived in the 2nd and 3rd place in the county, and the third arrived bird is the hen 0674229-2020. She managed to cover the 1,067, to the loft, with an average speed of 931.43 m/minute. The game method by which Cristian prepared his pigeons for this race was the natural one. Most of the marathon birds bred in his loft have Gelu Vochin origins.

Frații Costea și Ianis

The 3rd county fanciers place claimed by the Costea Brothers from Râmnicu Sărat, a team formed by the twins Cătălin and Mădălin, who have been passionate about racing pigeons for a long time, as well as Ianis, Cătălin’s son, who, since he was born, enjoys being among the pigeons. The first pigeon from the team and also the first one detected has the series 0747848-2020 and arrived the next day, at 09:49:06, taking 15th place in the county ranking. He was employed at the Vilnius National stage, even though he had achieved the norm in the Marathon category, missing the norm in the Marathon Ace category as well due to a delayed unsealing of the watch. It should be mentioned that his nest brother, “47”, obtained the 1st place out of 730 pigeons in a rather difficult Long Distance stage, in the season of 2021. The two brothers were bred from two original Şelaru Familia pigeons from a crossing of pigeons Sam de Jong x Iurieti Relu. The second bird arrived at the team is the cock 0747877-2020 received as a gift, with no ring on its foot, from the Selaru Family, from his flight team. In the 2021 season, he managed to obtain the norm in the Yearlings Marathon category, and in 2022 he achieved the norm in the Extreme Marathon category, narrowly missing the classification for the Ace Extreme Marathon norm. The team was completed by the pigeon with series 0747839-2020, 72nd place on the county ranking. It also comes from 2 pigeons purchased from the Şelaru Family, but with 100% Daniel Cobzaru blood. In this race, the twins Cătălin and Mădălin basketed 17 pigeons, and 6 of them managed to rank it. 5 of the 6 ranked ones arrived in the first hundred pigeons of their county.

Ionel Purice and Ionel Cornea dominated in Vrancea

Lucian Bîrsan

Vrancea County can be proud of the first two birds in the county ranking in the pigeon category, because these birds are the champion and vice-champion of this stage: hen 0488180-2020, of Ionel Purice, who took 1st place in the entire competition, and hen 0395718- 2017, which belongs to Marin Talabă, occupying the 2nd place on the entire release. Another valuable hen, series 5001971-2018, belonging to Lucian Bîrsan from Focșani, climbs to the 3rd place in the county. In this contest, she took 5th place on the entire launch, a stage in which she had to fly 1,033 aerial kilometers. Last year, this bird finished 2nd in the county norm in the Long distance Ace old birds category, and this season it also flew well in the Tomaszow stage. The pigeon originates from the Aarden line, which Lucian tries to cross with pigeons brought from his friends: Vasile Tuvenia, Aurel Novac, Narcis Ivanciu and Nicolae Potlog. The game system by which he prepared his pigeons for this race was natural.

Ionel Cornea

Ionel Cornea from Garoafa wins the title of champion of this stage in Vrancea county in the category of fanciers and ranks 5th in this category in the entire competition. The first pigeon arrived is a cock with the series 0488211-2020, which took 12th place in the county, he being the grandson of the second pigeon arrived at the team, cock with the series 0333757-2019. Both pigeons are bred from pigeons brought from Nicu Potlog, as are most of the pigeons from which Ionel formed his flock. These pigeons are from the Florizone, Devos, Carteus lines, pigeons that fly with very good results in his area and beyond. The team’s number three pigeon is also a cock with the series 0488202-2020, which arrives in the loft five minutes after the second and manages to fly the 1,021 aerial kilometers at an average speed of 1,152.99 m/minute. Nine pigeons were entered for this important race, six of them managed to rank it. The method by which they were prepared was widowhood. On the occasion of this article, Ionel Cornea wanted to thank Nicu Potlog for the wonderful pigeons he gave him, as well as his entire family for the help and support given.
The 2nd place in Vrancea county and the 6th place in the whole contest in the category of fanciers is occupied by the team formed by father and son, Baltă Dima + Cornel from the town of Maluri. Their first pigeon arrived the day after the launch, at 06:48:07, is also the team’s first, being the hen 0396247-2017, which ranks 12th in the entire launch. In his sports career, he managed to place several Long Distance and Marathon stages, some of them in leading places. Like her origins, her father is a cross between Hagens Brothers pigeons with Vanbruane, brought from Ciprian Cozma, and her mother is a daughter of Dinu Moise’s “Super 23” Olympic pigeon. The second arrival is the cock series 5001834-2018, which, with this ranking, completes the norm in the category Palmares Maraton ace 3 years.

Baltă Dima Cornel

He covered 1,050 air kilometers, managing to rank 45th in the contest. As an origin, he also comes from the pigeons brought from Ciprian Cozma. And at the first stage of this season’s Extreme Marathon, these two pigeons arrived first in the loft from Vrancea. The number three pigeon in the team is a hen 0484802-2020, who is a paternal cousin to the first arrival, and her mother is a combination of Ionuț Smeu and Dinu Moise’s pigeons. The Baltă Dima + Cornel team engaged 10 pigeons trained by the widow’s method at the Vilnius National race and they managed to rank 6 of them.
The 3rd county fanciers place was won by the same Ionel Purice, the champion of this edition of Vilnius National. His first pigeon arrived at the team is the champion 0488180-2020, which, as I mentioned above, got the 1st place on the launch. Second to the team also arrives a hen, series 0488124-2020, which occupies the 62nd place on the launch. In the 2021 season, this pigeon placed 2 Long Distance stages, and in 2022, besides this flight, she also placed the stage of the National Bielsk Marathon. This is reproduced in the Ionel Purice loft, her father has the norm in the category Palmares Long distance 3 years and is based on the pigeons of Lucian Iordache from Bucharest, and her mother is from the pigeons of Florin Balcan from Tecuci. Cock 0358511-2017 is the third pigeon to join the team. It was received as a gift from the team Andronachi + Popa from Sălaj. In his 4-year sports career, he managed to place 4 stages in the Long distance category, 3 stages of the National Birzai and 4 stages of the Vilnius National.