A short time ago, the centralization for the National Columbophile Championship were completed, and the 2022 National Catalogue was done and published. Thus, the emotions of many pigeon fans were turned into joy. Therefore, today we will open a series of articles in which we will present to you all the pigeon fanciers who, through their work and the value of their birds, managed to get a place on the national podium in each individual category.

Paul Sorescu

In the first article, as usual, you will find the winners of the four National Trophies, trophies that open the National Catalog of this season. The “Carol I” trophy, which is awarded to the old birds or yearlings that occupies the 1st national place in the National Ace category, arriving this season in Buzău and is awarded to the pigeon 0740019-2020, which succeeded in the 10 designated stages to rank 5,385 aerial kilometers, accumulating a score of 587.67 points. The fantastic pigeon, which also receives the distinction of “Pigeon of the Year”, belongs to the young pigeon fancier Alexandru Sorescu, from Râmnicu Sărat, who together with his father, Paul Sorescu, forms a successful team. “Together with my son Alexandru, depending on the free time we have, we discuss and deal with our great passion, racing pigeons. Every year we approach the stages with a batch of 60-70 pigeons. In this season, at the first stage, we engaged 72 birds. We love all categories and approach each stage with great interest and utmost seriousness. We consider the National Ace category the most beautiful, but also the hardest category. As can be seen this season too, very few birds have managed to achieve it, and this motivates us in particular. Our cock 0740019-2020 has always shown consistency. This year, in the first stages, including the Long Distance ones, he played as a widower, and in the Marathon stages we changed the method to natural. On 7-8 days old chicks, he showed great motivation and athletic form. His family also includes other pigeons with very good results. He is half brother of 2019 national champion, series 21242-2018, in the Long distance Yearlings category. His father is a Stichelbaut pigeon, and his mother, the hen 26266-2016, is a special breeder in our loft and has the origins of pigeons from the Robert Venus (Fantast line) + Simons + Desmet Mathijs lines”, said Paul Sorescu.

Florin Petrache

Regarding the “Ferdinand I” Trophy, which is awarded to the pigeon fancier who occupies the 1st national place in the Ace National Fanciers category, it will be awarded, this season, to the pigeon fancier Florin Petrache, from Piatra Neamț town, Neamț county, who, with a total of 5,407 ranked aerial kilometers, he accumulated 710.13 points, enough to surpass all the competition. Florin Petrache is a well-known fancier in the Romanian pigeon fancier thanks to the top national results he achieves year after year. “Given the fact that this season, for the nominated team, the scores of three pigeons contributed to the flights in the Speed, Middle distance, Long-distance categories, as well as the three stages of the Extreme Marathon (in our case), the fight for this title it was not easy at all. This season, at the first stage, we engaged a batch of 56 pigeons. I tend to approach all the stages in the flight plan, my favorite categories being Long Distance, as Long and Marathon, but I also pay close attention to the Fanciers category. As a game method, I practice widowhood, and with a limited lot I go parallel to natural. I am very happy that I could get such an important trophy. Occupying the 1st place national Ace National Fancier is a very difficult thing to achieve, especially in this season, as evidenced by the small number of fanciers who were able to meet the necessary conditions. More than that, the Ferdinand I Trophy brings me the fulfillment of my pigeon-loving career, as it is also necessary for me to obtain the title of “Master Pigeon-Filter”, said Florin Petrache, who will also be designated the Fancier of the Year.

Viorel Tudoran

The “Maior Traian Niţescu” trophy is awarded to the pigeon that has placed the highest number of kilometers in its career (minimum one stage each year), the trophy being awarded only once for the same pigeon. This year, it will arrive in the showcase of pigeon fancier Viorel Tudoran, from Ostroveni, Dolj county. This is the owner of one of the longest-lived racing pigeons in our championship, namely the cock with the series 217030-2014, who, throughout his eight-year sporting career, managed to rank 29,086 aerial kilometers and accumulate 6,033.49 points. “I feel honored and at the same time very proud to get this wonderful trophy. It means a lot to me. In my pigeon fancier career I had only achieved one title at the national level, in 2019, when I obtained the 3rd national place in the Long distance Ace Palmares category with the cock 3007713-2016, his mother obtaining the title of Dolj County Pigeon of the Year in 2016. Cock 217030-2014 was a wonderful bird who served me faithfully for 8 years and delighted me year after year with his competition results. In 2014, the year he hatched, he was not competed, being late, but from 2015 until now he has been flown year after year in the Speed, Middle Distance and Long Distance categories, his favorite category being the Long Distance. This cock participated in two national exhibitions where he took the 6th national place in 2018 and the 15th national place in 2019 in the Long distance Ace Palmares category. In 2021 he took the 1st county place and the 1st provincial place in the Record category. His father comes from Cosmin Olteanu and was won in a raffle organized at the Dolj county award of the 2013 season, which took place in March of 2014, and his mother is the “62” hen from 2010. The categories that have brought the greatest satisfactions were Long distance and Long distance Ace. Every season, my flight group is about 60 birds”, said Viorel Tudoran.

Lungoci Mihai și Matei

Therefore, we arrive at the “Colonel Xenofon Roman” trophy, which is awarded to the fancier who obtained the best score in the Fanciers category, calculated by cumulating the points obtained in the Fancier Speed, Fancier Middle Distance, Fancier Long Distance, Fancier Marathon and Fancier Maraton Extreme categories. This year, he arrives in Suceava county, to the pigeon fancier team Lungoci Mihai and Matei, from Horodnic de Sus, who are active as pigeon fancier members of the “Voyajorul Rădăuți” club. The team, formed by the father, Mihai, and the son, Matei, whose pigeons are engaged from the Speed stages of the flight plan to the last Extreme races, managed to obtain this title with a score of 3,859.66 points. “Winning this extraordinary trophy makes us extremely happy, given the fact that it is also our first result at the national level and gives us the conviction that, in everything we do, we do quite well, and for the future it gives us the necessary confidence to continue with the same methods. We play the widow method in all distance categories, from Speed to Marathon Extreme, and this year we managed to achieve the team in all 26 stages we participated in, occupying 1st place in the Fanciers category several times. We place special emphasis on the health, nutrition and training of the pigeons, considering them the most important aspects. We do not take pedigree into account, we only rely on the value of the pigeons. In our opinion, although we do not have much experience, we have been active as fancier members only since 2020, we believe that there are very few really valuable pigeons and very many birds of low value. We are followers of the idea that the pigeon, if it does not perform in the Speed stages, it will for the Middle Distance, Long Distance, Marathon or Marathon Extreme stages. But if he doesn’t get the expected results in any category, he will leave our loft. Annually, our flight batch consists of about 100-120 pigeons. Birds that last in our loft after one season usually have 12-13 ratings. As origins, we own pigeons from several fanciers, some of them are even purchased from the market. If a pigeon seems interesting to us, we buy it, we get two chicks out of it and we race them. This is how we give the chance to any pigeon that meets our standard to reproduce, but if it does not rise to the expected level, it will be removed from the breeding compartment”, declared Mihai Lungoci.