Stendal National 2026 – An Extreme Marathon Race with Spectacular Speeds. Petru Gorcea and Vasile Beldea, the Main Performers

Extreme Marathon races are among the most demanding events on the pigeon racing calendar. Distances approaching or exceeding 1,000 kilometres put pigeons’ endurance to the test, particularly when temperatures are high and the wind is unfavourable. However, the Stendal National race, held on 20 July 2026, offered conditions quite different from those normally encountered in this category. A favourable tailwind played a decisive role in making the race exceptionally fast, allowing the pigeons to maintain very good speeds over most of the route, despite the distances ranging from 950 to as much as 1,200 kilometres. The result of this combination was one of the fastest Extreme Marathon races of the season, despite the considerable distances covered by the competitors. At the same time, it was still a fairly demanding race, with fewer than 50% of the entered pigeons having returned by the time the race was closed. In other words, even with favourable winds, a distance of around 1,000 kilometres remains a genuine challenge. In fact, only 118 pigeons managed to return to their lofts on the first day.

The liberation time for the Stendal National 2026 race, organised by UNCR-Columba, was 07:45. A total of 2,772 pigeons, entered by 513 fanciers, were present at the start. The entry brought together fanciers from 14 counties across Romania: Arad – 543 pigeons and 69 fanciers; Botoșani – 294/48; Iași – 27/4; Bihor – 268/58; Suceava – 343/69; Neamț – 25/5; Caraș-Severin – 400/84; Hunedoara – 3/3; Satu Mare – 282/51; Timiș – 299/51; Sălaj – 247/58; Maramureș – 15/6; Cluj – 6/2; Bistrița-Năsăud – 12/2; and Alba – 8/3.

Petru Gorcea (Arad) clocks the first pigeon of the race

Victory in the overall result went to Petru Gorcea, from Galsa, Arad County. His cock, RO-2025-0641531, entered at a distance of 997.2 kilometres, was the first pigeon to be clocked in the race. It arrived at 19:25:29, recording an average speed of 1,423.67 metres per minute. The Arad-based fancier also had an excellent performance with his entire team. Of the four pigeons he entered, three were successfully ranked, with two of them returning to the loft on the very first day. These arrivals also earned him second place in the overall fancier’s ranking.

Speaking about his pigeon racing career, training methods and results achieved over the years, Petru Gorcea said:

“I have been competing since 2014, starting with young bird races. My favourite categories are National Ace Pigeon, Marathon and Extreme Marathon. Over the years, I have achieved several important results, including 5th place National Ace Pigeon Old Birds in 2017 with hen RO-0541438-2014, 2nd place National Ace Pigeon Young Birds in 2018 with hen RO-3040757-2017, 2nd place county Marathon Young Birds in 2019 with hen RO-37843-2018, 4th and 6th places in the 2019 Leipzig race from a field of 3,494 pigeons, 1st place Berlin National in 2020 with hen RO-3040799-2017, 2nd place Marathon Ace Young Birds in 2021 with hen RO-83096-2020, 2nd place Stendal county Fanciers’ Championship in 2024, 3rd place Fond Ace in 2024 with hen RO-1034-2023, 3rd place county Dresda National in 2025 with pigeon RO-2049626-2024, 2nd place Fond Ace 2-Year Overall in 2025 with hen RO-1034-2023, 3rd place Marathon 2-Year Overall in 2025 with cock RO-2020131-2023, and now 1st place at Stendal National 2026 with cock RO-641531-2025, as well as 2nd place in the fanciers’ ranking. In my stock loft I have ten pairs, all bred for Marathon and Extreme Marathon. They are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and grandchildren of the hen that won Berlin National in 2020. My racing team consists of 80 pigeons, 40 hens and 40 cocks. This year I started the season on the natural system, but it did not prove suitable to continue that way until the end of the season, so after the first long-distance race I switched to the widowhood system. The pigeons’ preparation is based on daily training whenever the weather allows it. For feed, I use Gerry, Superstar and Sport mixtures from Mr Aurel Anghel. The pigeon that won Stendal National comes from raced pigeons I received from my friend Gheorghe Bragea. I am very happy to have achieved these results and I hope to continue along the same path in the coming years”.

Vasile Beldea, winner of the fancier’s championship

While Petru Gorcea recorded the fastest arrival, the fanciers’ championship was dominated by Vasile Beldea, from Livada, Arad County. He entered seven pigeons and managed to record two arrivals on the very first evening of the race.

The first pigeon to return to Vasile Beldea’s loft was hen RO-2023-0082377. She had 989.6 kilometres to cover and returned at 19:48:14, recording an average speed of 1,368.30 metres per minute. The result secured 2nd place in the overall race classification. The second pigeon in his team, hen RO-2022-0050897, arrived at 20:09:32, recording a speed of 1,329.16 metres per minute. With this performance, the hen finished in 13th place and played an important role in Vasile Beldea’s victory in the fanciers’ championship. The third pigeon ranked by the Livada-based fancier was hen RO-2024-0039415. She returned on the second day of the race, at 05:44:12, taking 190th place. The first two arrivals earned Vasile Beldea a final score of 5.41 penalty points and, consequently, first place in the fanciers’ championship.

Vasile Beldea has more than a decade of experience in pigeon racing competitions and has been a member of Voiajorul Arad Club since 2014. His journey in the Marathon category began in 2015, and the results achieved since then confirm the consistency of his pigeons in long-distance competitions. I have been competing with pigeons since 2014, when I became a member of Voiajorul Arad Club. In 2015, I started competing in the Marathon category and managed to achieve the Marathon Ace Pigeon standard with hen RO-646860-2013. She proved her quality in competition and subsequently became the foundation of my breeding loft. My first major results came in 2016, when I won 1st place county Marathon Young Birds and 1st place county Marathon Ace Young Birds with hen RO-435891-2015. In 2017, I achieved 3rd place county Marathon 2-Year Overall with pigeon RO-734482-2014. In 2018, hen RO-646860-2013 won 1st place county Berlin 4-Year Overall, and in 2019 the same hen continued to prove her quality, achieving 3rd place county Berlin 3-Year Overall, 1st place county Berlin 4-Year Overall and 1st place county Berlin 5-Year Overall. In 2020, I again won 1st place county Berlin 4-Year Overall with hen RO-435915-2015, while with hen RO-47742-2018 I won 1st place county Marathon Grand Prix Old Birds. In 2022, I won the Stendal race with cock RO-389635-2019, while with cock RO-3076077-2017, which already had 11 raced and successfully ranked Marathons to his credit, I achieved 4th place county Marathon Ace 3-Year Overall. In the 2025 season, I won the Dresda race with hen RO-50928-2022, in a competition with 5,156 pigeons. In 2026, I achieved 5th place at Nordhausen, from a total entry of 2,631 pigeons, while at Stendal National I managed to take 2nd place with an individual pigeon and 1st place in the fanciers’ championship. In my breeding loft I have approximately 40 pairs, from which I breed between 170 and 200 youngsters each year. During the racing season, I compete with a team of approximately 125–140 pigeons. My racing system is the natural system, and I prefer my pigeons sitting on eggs or feeding small youngsters, 8–10 days old. I try to maintain this system throughout the entire season because, so far, it has given me the best results. For feeding, I use the Premium range from Versele Laga, especially Champions and Energy Plus. As for supplements, I use products from Vanrobaeys, Röhnfried, Dr. Peters and Cest Pharma, both before basketing and after the pigeons return from races. I train the pigeons by car over distances of approximately 40–50 kilometres until the start of the racing season, in order to bring them into the best possible condition before the first races”.

These results show that Stendal National 2026 was a race in which speed and endurance went hand in hand. The favourable conditions allowed some impressive speeds to be achieved, but the percentage of pigeons returning before the race was closed clearly demonstrates that a distance of almost 1,000 kilometres can never be considered an easy task.