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Races with tens of thousands of pigeons entered are no longer just a dream for Romanian fanciers. We no longer have to look at rankings from Belgium or the Netherlands to witness such events. For several years now, fanciers from the Moldova province have been able to organize competitions that, not long ago, seemed impossible—races with over 25,000–30,000 pigeons entered. This year, they did it again: at the long distance race Sterdyn, on June 7th, a total of 29,070 pigeons and 940 breeders from Suceava and Botoșani counties took part!
With such a large number of pigeons and fanciers participating, finishing 1st in either of the two rankings is worth at least as much as a provincial trophy—if not more. On the other hand, when you take part in such a race, seeing yourself as the winner can feel like wishful thinking. But for Marian Tampău, that dream became reality—he is the proud winner of 1st place out of 29,070 pigeons!
The Winning Bird: RO-2023-2014880
In the Fond Sterdyn stage (Poland), which for Marian Tampău, from Burla, Suceava County, covered a distance of 595 km, he entered 72 pigeons flown in widowhood. Among them was RO-2023-2014880, an experienced cock that, at just one year old, managed to classify in all four marathon stages he participated in and ranked 6th county-level in the Gold category. Released at 06:04, the first pigeons started being recorded after 2 PM, flying at a speed just over 1,100 m/min. In these rather tough race conditions, Marian Tampău’s first arriving pigeon was the aforementioned cock, recorded at 14:44:47. With a speed of 1,143.57 m/min, his pigeon immediately took the provisional first place. However, since there were also fanciers with greater distances, anything could have happened. But within minutes, it became clear: 1st place was secured by Marian Tampău. Thus, the Suceava fancier added to his record one of the most prestigious victories possible—and at the same time, a historic result: 1st out of 29,070 pigeons!
Picture taken immediately after arrival
The Kind of Result That Keeps You Going, No Matter the Sacrifice
As many pigeon fanciers know, the sport requires many sacrifices—and Marian Tampău is no exception. Currently living in England, he relies on the help of Gabriel Botnar to be able to compete. In such conditions, with considerable financial and personal effort involved, Marian Tampău’s result in this Fond stage is nothing short of a small reward from his pigeons in return for his dedication. “I’ve been racing pigeons since I was a child, but I became more serious around 2019–2020, even though I still live in England. My colleague Gabriel Botnar, who manages the loft, and my mother help me enough so that I can compete at a high level. This year, I had 110 pigeons in the racing team, flown on widowhood. The system, inspired by Luc & Hilde Sioen, involves letting the pigeons sit on a round of eggs before being separated at the first middle-distance race. We feed them Beyers Sport Light Galaxy mix, which we enriched in the week before the Fond with about 25% Clicque Golden Racing mix. For preparation, we trained the pigeons four times over 50 km, but they only saw each other once. The winning pigeon is a solid racer from our loft. He’s already had good results, and we hope he will continue to perform,” explained Marian Tampău.
In terms of lineage, the winning cock is a combination of Joel Verschoot and Gero Dijk bloodlines.
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