Season Finale in Style – Berlin International 2025

The 2025 season for old racing pigeons reached its grand finale last weekend, concluding with the most eagerly awaited marathon stages of the year. Among these, the Berlin International stood out as one of the crown jewels of the competition calendar, organized directly by the U.N.C.R.-Columba.

This marked the 15th consecutive year the Berlin stage has been held in Romania, and since 2023 it has taken on true international status. This year’s race began on August 1st at 08:10. Conditions proved unforgiving—no pigeons managed to reach Romania on the first day, turning the event into one of the toughest challenges in recent memory.

With 789 Romanian fanciers from 30 counties entering 4,846 pigeons, plus 62 competitors from Slovakia with an additional 783 birds, the Berlin International gathered an impressive 851 participants and 5,629 pigeons in total—making it the largest and most prestigious race on the national calendar.

National Champion – Ciprian Prelipcean

Every region of Romania was represented at the starting line, requiring the organization of eight boarding centers nationwide. Moldova led the way in entries, with 118 fanciers sending 960 pigeons. It is also from this region that the 2025 national champion emerged—Ciprian Prelipcean of Horodnicul de Jos, Suceava County.

Ciprian Prelipcean entered three pigeons in the Berlin race, and victory came thanks to his hen RO-2021-1041027. Covering a grueling 1,123 km, she returned to her loft at 08:07:32 on the second day. Remarkably, this was her third Berlin appearance, having achieved top rankings in the previous two editions as well. Flown in the natural system while sitting on freshly laid eggs, she is the product of a cock from A.P. Owerwater (via Liteanu Ioan) and a hen bred by the renowned Măgirescu + Ojog + Dorneanu partnership.

Fanciers Champion – Adrian Morariu (Timiș)

In the fanciers overall category, the crown went to Timiș-based competitor Adrian Morariu, who achieved a flawless result—classifying all four pigeons he entered. Such a feat was made possible by his meticulous preparation, deep knowledge of extreme marathon racing, and careful bird selection. Though only in his third season competing in the Extreme category, Adrian Morariu has already built an impressive record. His first arrival was the cock RO-2022-1147950, clocked at 08:36:32 on day two and finishing 19th overall—one of the standout extreme-marathon pigeons in Romania’s western region this season, and a strong contender for multiple provincial titles. Next came hen RO-2021-0549810 at 09:29:03, becoming the only pigeon in Timiș County to achieve the Extreme Palmares 3-year standard. Both were raced in the natural system—the cock on eggs a few days old, the hen on 3–4 day-old chicks. Together, they accumulated just 13.01 penalty points over a 972 km course. The remaining two pigeons arrived at 12:18:06 and 15:46:45, both also making the classification and sealing Adrian Morariu’s perfect score.