Suceava and Botoșani, a Middle-Distance Race “at Western European Level”

Among the first major middle-distance races of the season was Medyka 1 (Poland), organized by the Filiala Columbofilă Suceava. Held on May 10th, the race stood out both for its massive participation and for the high competitive standard.

This season as well, fanciers from Suceava are competing on two separate race programs in the Sprint, Middle-Distance, and Long-Distance categories. On Program 1, the first middle-distance race has already taken place, organized jointly with the fanciers from Botoșani. The partnership between the two associations produced an impressive event, with 21,783 pigeons entered by 507 lofts.

A Proven Marathon Champion Wins 1st Open

Unstable weather conditions forced the organizers of the Medyka 1 race to liberate the pigeons at 08:40. Even under these circumstances, the race proved demanding, especially for inexperienced birds. Nevertheless, the first arrivals were clocked after approximately six hours of flight. Although the first pigeons were recorded in lofts from Suceava County, 1st Open was ultimately won in Botoșani County by Cristian Pughiuc, one of the well-established names in the Marathon and Extreme Marathon categories. The winning hen, RO-23-2029635, had already distinguished herself with important performances in the Marathon Ace and Extreme Ace categories, including 15th Open against 2,181 pigeons in the Birzai National race from 965 km. At Medyka 1 she competed over a distance of 350 km and was clocked at 12:48:17, achieving an average velocity of 1,410.45 m/min. “The race was a difficult one, mainly because of the low cloud ceiling and rainfall. The moment this hen arrived first, I realized it was going to be a tough race. Still, the situation was not as complicated as it initially seemed, even though the team was only fully completed almost entirely the following day. At the moment, the pigeons are feeding large youngsters of around 15 days old and are on a relatively light system. The widowhood period is coming next, where the discipline will be much stricter. I did not aim for any special preparation for this race because I do not want them to peak too early. However, they did complete a 45 km training toss three days before basketing. The winning hen is bred from Lady Berlin, the hen that won 12th Open in the Berlin National 2020 race from 1,174 km. Her sire is a son of Miss Vilnius, an Olympic Long-Distance hen and winner of the Vilnius 2021 race against 16,463 pigeons over 828 km. The experience of this hen clearly made the difference,” declared Cristian Pughiuc.

Mihai Iriciuc, Remarkable Success in the Fanciers’ Rankings

In the Fanciers’ Championship, Mihai Iriciuc took top honors, despite still being at the beginning of his pigeon racing career. A member of Phoenix Bucovina and based in Pătrăuți, Mihai Iriciuc achieved an outstanding performance in only his second competitive season. With a penalty score of just 1.15 points, he secured 1st place in the Fanciers’ Classification. At Medyka 1 he entered 79 pigeons (33 counted for the result), managing to clock 31 of them in the result list. His first two arrivals were the team cocks RO-24-0304300 and RO-24-1248808, clocked at 12:39:09 and 12:40:20 respectively. “I still consider myself a beginner. Last year I competed for the first time with a team of 45 pigeons, while this season I started with around 80 birds. The team mainly consists of marathon pigeons that will compete on the natural system and in the long-distance races. I did not follow any special preparation for this race. We completed two training tosses of 80–90 km, and for feeding I use Vanrobaeys mixtures,” stated Mihai Iriciuc.

At Suceava branch level, the Individual Pigeon Classification was won by Malinovschi M. Andrei in competition against 12,706 pigeons, while in the Botoșani Fanciers’ Classification, Marian Chiriac secured first place out of a total of 218 participants.