Today we continue the series of articles dedicated to this season’s performers with the fanciers who secured a place on the national podium of the Middle distance category. Thus, the well-known Cristi Lemnaru, from the town of Brebeni, Olt county, a constant presence in the national charts in recent years, won the Middle distance Yearlings category.

Cristi Lemnaru

The pigeon that achieved the superb performance is the cock with the series 2002378-2021. He finished the norm in the Middle Distance Yearlings category by ranking 1,586 kilometers, with a score of 4.83 penalty points. His father, who has the series 1802672-2016, is a Dutch cock, 100% Jo & Florian Hendriks, and has pigeons from Jan Hooymans and Gaby Vandenabeele, and his mother, the hen with the series 833333-2014, named “Lady 333”, a former high flyer who managed no less than 23 rankings in 3 seasons. “Lady 333” is the daughter of the famous “Dolce Vita”, and she is a great champion in these distance categories. The flight batch from his loft was 80 pigeons, which he prepared all season using the widowhood method. “I pair the flight group around March 1st. I let them hatch one chick each, and after the second stage of the flight plan, I change for the widowhood. This year’s season was quite difficult, with a change of route, but in the end, the birds managed to bring me satisfaction by winning the 1st place in the national Middle distance Yearlings and the 4th place in the Middle distance Old birds. All the national trophies are an honor for me due to the fact that they place me and keep me in the pigeon fancier elite”, stated Cristi Lemnaru.

Team Laurentiu + Georgică

From the town of Cornu, Prahova county, Team Laurentiu + Georgică, consisting of Laurentiu Drăgoi and Georgică Plumb, manages to obtain the national silver of this category through the yearling hen with the series 1121307-2021. “De Super 307”, as she is called, achieved this norm with 1,602 ranked kilometers and 6.76 penalty points. “As well as the origins of “De Super 307″, it is based on Koopman, Leo Heremans and G. & P. Lindelauf pigeons that come entirely from our friends from Bucharest Constantin Dumitru, Ungureanu Sebastian and Vasi Ciprian (CIPALEX), who also they in turn purchased pigeons from the famous lines imported by the team Nicolaescu & Adi. In this way, we thank them for the very valuable pigeons they provided us, as well as for the useful advice they gave us to reach this remarkable performance. We started the 2022 season with a small number of pigeons, 30 to be exact, of which 14 remained at the end of the season. Our champion hen, «De Super 307», was competed as a widow, being left to raise a chick at the beginning for the season. This result means a lot to us because we are competing in a very strong county, with super value fanciers and with a large number of pigeons”, said Georgică Plumb.
The tandem Manole Victoraș + Răzvan from the town of Movila, Dâmbovița county, climbs to the third step of the national podium of the Middle Distance Yearlings category this season. The pigeon that brought them the national “bronze” was the hen with the series 0100619-2021. To achieve this performance, she covered 1,516 kilometers and accumulated 10.37 penalty points.

Two fanciers from Suceava on the national podium of the Middle distance Old birds category

Costel Vicol

The national champion of the Middle Distance Old birds category from the 2022 season is Costel Vicol, from Volovăț, Suceava county. The pigeon that managed to bring him the national gold in this category is the cock with the series 0909226-2020, which ended this norm with 1,502 ranked kilometers and 11.52 penalty points. “We purchased the parents of the champion from Rainer Puttmann’s loft. The cock is the grandson of «Hurricane 51», and the hen is a bloodline of «Super Dohmen 100» and «Hurricane 51». My flight lot this season consisted of 80 pigeons. I trained them and played widow all season. This trophy, as well as the 1st place Middle distance Ace Old birds category, obtained with the same bird, represents a great joy for me, being the first season in which I have been active and competed in this Columbophile Union. In the last two years I have been active within the F.R.S.C. My champion 0909226-2020 is a prodigious pigeon, who last season was also national champion at F.R.S.C, in the Long Distance Ace Yearlings category. My favorite categories are Speed, Middle Distance, Allround and Long Distance. At the arrival of the pigeons in these races, I feel the adrenaline at its maximum, because here we have a very large number at the launch, and in order to get a decent ranking, you got to have very prepared pigeons from all points of view”, said the fancier from Suceava.

Nicolae Valentin Staicu

Nicolae Valentin Staicu, pigeon fancier from Boldești-Scăeni, Prahova county, is this season’s national vice-champion of the Middle Distance Old birds category thanks to the hen with the series 0863751-2019, who covered 1,491 kilometers and finished with 14.92 penalty points. “As an origin, my champion is a combination of the pigeons of Rudy Van Reeth and Cyriel Lambrechts, the hen being a sister to the father of the 1st place Olympic Lot Romania category F 2022, a pigeon that got 2nd place in the Olympics. The mother of this hen is the foundation of the fancier, being the mother and grandmother of several 1st place pigeons, both in pigeon lofts and in the championship. As a game method I practice widowhood. I bring the food I use from Istvan Bartoș and combine the assortments depending on the stage. My flight lot consists of 80 pigeons every year. I breed a lot of young birds, in the first phase they are selected by hand, then they are competed. In the fall, I select them once more by hand and stop a number of chicks equal to the boxes available in the flight lot. This national trophy gives me the satisfaction and fulfillment to be able to consider that my work has not been in vain. For me, this year was extremely difficult, a season with a lot of losses even among the top pigeons”, said Nicolae Valentin Staicu.

Tugui Mihai şi Lucian

The national podium of the category is completed by a father and son team, Mihai and Lucian Țugui, from the town of Voitinel, Suceava county. Their champion pigeon is the cock series 0032599-2020, which completed the norm in this category with 1,454 ranked kilometers and 16.44 penalty points. “The cock 0032599-2020 is bred from 100% Ciprian Prelipcian pigeons. As a method of flight, widowhood is practiced throughout the year, with both cocks and hens going for the races. I have been racing pigeons since 2018, and the results appeared right from the first year, when I got 2nd place out of 28,000 pigeons at one stage. A great credit for these great results goes to Ciprian Prelipcian, who helped me a lot, both with very valuable genetic material and in the training of the pigeons. This year was our best year in pigeon racing, winning 5 national trophies. Our preferred categories are Middle distance, Allround and Long distance. The 3rd national place for the Middle distance category gives me great satisfaction and I consider this title a thank you for all the work we have done this year and it gives me great confidence in the pigeons I own”, said Mihai Ţugui.

Close fight in the rising ranking

Cosmin Dobre

From Bucharest, the famous team Stănescu + Dobre prevails this season in the Middle Distance Fanciers category, winning the 1st national place with a score of 335.14 points, thus managing to add another precious trophy to their record. One of the birds that worked hard to achieve this result is the hen 0599068-2021, who this season dominated the flights in the Middle distance category, finally obtaining the 2nd national place in the Middle distance Ace Yearlings category. She is a 100% Gaston Van de Wouwer bird. Another important pigeon from the team, which supported very well the vice-champion from Middle distance Ace Yearlings, is the hen series 700320-2020. In the previous season, the hen climbed the national podium, occupying the 3rd place in the national Middle distance Yearlings, and this year she obtained the 5th place in the national Middle distance 2 years rankings. As origins it is a combination Van Den Brande + Dirk Van den Bulck. Another pigeon that stood out in the races in this category and climbed to the 7th national place in the Middle distance 2 years rankings 2022 category was the hen with the series 700258-2020. She has pigeons in her blood by Marcel Wouters and Bart Geerinckx. This season’s flight batch of the Stănescu + Dobre team, for all distance categories, consisted of 150 pigeons, the birds being trained and prepared by the widow’s method. “This year we had a challenging season because of the conflicts in Ukraine. We had to adapt on the fly and accept the changes that occurred. The weather wasn’t the best either, which is why there was extra pressure. However, we managed to overcome all this with flying colors, and the end of the season also brought us some top national results in several categories. For us, these trophies represent the crowning of the work done and the pigeon-loving passion in one place”, said Cosmin Dobre.

Lucian Bercea

Cristian Mihai, from Lazu, Constanța county, climbs to the 2nd national place in the Fanciers category, thus obtaining the silver medal, with a score of 369.25 penalty points. At the first stage of this season, Cristian engaged a number of 94 pigeons.
The third step of the podium of this category is claimed, with the score of 395.80 penalty points, by Lucian Bercea from Constanța. “Like the origins, my pigeons come from Janssen pigeons, purchased in 1996-1997. The two pigeons that helped me a lot in the team this season were two good brothers, the cocks with the series 441449-2021, who managed to get the 1st place in the Provincial Middle Distance Yearlings, and 441422-2021, the latter also became national champion in the Middle Distance Ace Yearlings category. The method used was widowhood. We started the current season with a batch of 70 pigeons, 12 of them being old birds, the rest being yearlings. The trophy obtained represents the achievement of the goal I set myself at the beginning of the season, that of winning at least one national trophy. This year we had a difficult season, with three very difficult stages, where valuable birds made the difference”, said the fanciers from Constanta.