Riga National – the Benchmark Race of the 2026 Season. Gherasim & Dobândă Partnership and Ionuț Aga Take the Top Honors

Season after season, the partnership of Marius Gherasim and Marius Dobândă continues to strengthen its position among Romania's elite marathon pigeon fanciers. Their impressive record, built over the past years and enriched with national titles and victories in some of the country's most prestigious marathon races, is a testament to the quality of their loft. In the 2024 season, the duo claimed the prestigious Berlin International race, winning both the Overall Pigeon Classification (7,608 pigeons, including 6,443 from Romania) and the Fanciers' Classification (1,123 competitors, including 966 from Romania). Recently, they added another milestone to their outstanding résumé.

The partnership between Marius Gherasim and Marius Dobândă was established in 2019. Since then, they have focused exclusively on Marathon and Extreme Marathon racing, steadily building a highly competitive loft based primarily on exceptional bloodlines. The quality of their pigeons, combined with years of experience and a well-developed racing system, has now produced another remarkable achievement: victory in the prestigious Riga National Extreme race.

1st Place Against 20,345 Pigeons

The Riga National race, classified as an Extreme Marathon event, was held on June 20 and represented the first national race of the season for the Moldova Province. The level of interest among fanciers was reflected in the outstanding participation: 20,345 pigeons entered by 1,175 fanciers from the Romanian counties of Suceava, Botoșani, Iași, Vaslui, Bacău and Neamț.

The Gherasim–Dobândă partnership entered a team of 47 pigeons, the majority being experienced old birds with proven long-distance performances. Liberation took place at 04:55 a.m., with every competitor facing a distance exceeding 1,000 km, while some lofts had to cover more than 1,200 km. In a race of this caliber, victory is every fancier's ultimate objective. For the loft from Șendreni, that ambition became reality, as they secured 1st Open and added yet another prestigious achievement to their record.

Victory Secured by a Two-Year-Old Cock

The winner of the Riga National race was the two-year-old cock RO-24-0595147, which covered a distance of 1,107.2 km—one of the longest distances in the competition. He was clocked at 19:11:25, achieving an average speed of 1,292.86 m/min.

"The cock comes from a family with outstanding genetics, something clearly reflected in his pedigree. This season he competed in one middle-distance race and one long-distance race, after which he remained at the loft with the rest of the team for four weeks. During that period, the pigeons completed one or two training tosses each week between 80 and 100 km, with only one training toss of 150 km. We race on the natural system, and the cock was sitting 14-day eggs when he was basketed. For feeding we used Vanrobaeys mixtures 53, 57 and 35. Winning this race brought us an incredible level of satisfaction, comparable only to what we experienced after our Berlin victory. We are also delighted that the other fanciers from our local club achieved excellent performances as well. This result confirms that we are heading in the right direction. We continuously invest in quality pigeons, work extremely hard, and carefully analyze every acquisition we make", said Marius Dobândă.

Ionuț Aga Wins the Fanciers Classification

Equally impressive was the performance of Ionuț Aga, who won the Fanciers' Classification. The fancier from Dornești, Suceava County, entered only 14 pigeons and nevertheless finished first among all 1,175 competitors. His pigeons had to cover a distance of 1,036.1 km. His first two hens, carrying ring numbers RO-24-0055554 and RO-24-55589, were clocked at 18:46:10 and 18:54:54, taking 51st and 107th Open respectively. Together, they accumulated only 7.78 penalty points, enough to secure 1st place in the Fanciers' Classification. Overall, Ionuț Aga successfully clocked nine of his fourteen entered pigeons.

"I have been involved in pigeon racing since 2010, a passion inherited from my father. Until last season I competed in the General, Long Distance, Marathon and Extreme Marathon championships, but from this season onward I decided to focus exclusively on Marathon and Extreme Marathon racing. My breeding loft consists of 20 stock pairs, while I started the season with a racing team of 70 pigeons. I race on the widowhood system, a method I trust completely and one that has consistently delivered excellent results. For feeding I use Vanrobaeys mixtures No. 39 and No. 816 Clique, complemented with Beyers Jellema Power and Vandenabeele mixtures. Before basketing, during the final three meals, I supplemented the feed with Energie-Oil and RO 200 from Rohnfried. Regarding preparation, the pigeons completed only one 50 km training toss, carried out in the evening. Two weeks before Riga Extreme they competed in the Jonava race, covering 836 km, so I considered additional training unnecessary. My first scoring hen is bred from an original cock from Gagea Ionuț & Cristi, while her dam descends from the pigeons of Nistor Cristi and Doru. The second hen is also a daughter of an original Gagea Ionuț & Cristi cock, with the dam coming from Petru Schirod's loft. Although I am currently working abroad, this result made me feel back home again, together with my pigeons. The emotions after my second scoring hen arrived were overwhelming. I kept following the progress of the other competitors, and as time passed without anyone overtaking my score, I realized the true value of this achievement. The joy was simply immense", recalled Ionuț Aga.