Three hens on the National Podium of the 2025 Yearling Speed Category

The 2025 season has produced an interesting situation in the Yearling Speed category: females clearly dominated the national competition. The top three positions on the podium are occupied exclusively by young hens, and 4th place also goes to a female. Looking at the top 10 positions, only four cocks manage to make their way into the ranking, the rest being taken by the “girls”.

The fanciers who managed to win the three national trophies awarded in this category are the Brîncuși+Mladin tandem, Maricel Iordache, and Petre Ungureanu. Below, we present their pigeons and the strategies that propelled them onto the national podium.

Brîncuși+Mladin Tandem (Gorj) – A Memorable Season

The Gorj branch, rarely present in national rankings in the past, has experienced a true revival following the change of the flight route toward Bulgaria–Greece. From Speed to Marathon, Gorj fanciers have captured several national trophies and even dominated certain categories such as Yearling Speed and Yearling Ace Speed. At the forefront of these results stands the Brîncuși+Mladin tandem, formed by pigeon fanciers Vasile Brîncuși and Adrian Mladin from Târgu-Jiu. The two became national champions in Yearling Speed, with a record score and a considerable margin over the next competitors. Their champion is the hen RO-2024-0643115, which achieved a coefficient of only 2.99 points, with the following results:

1/6,655 pigeons (214 km)

1/2,815 pigeons (250 km)

2/4,809 pigeons (145 km)

3/13,888 pigeons (145 km)

25/13,558 pigeons (171 km)

“The hen was purchased as a youngster from the Deftu Brothers of Prahova. She flew the first four races on the natural system, and the last one on widowhood. We entered her only in the first five races, because the excellent coefficient she obtained convinced us to stop her,” explained Vasile Brîncuși.

Maricel Iordache (Mehedinți) – National Vice-Champion

The 2nd place nationally also goes to Oltenia, through Maricel Iordache from Mehedinți. His hen RO-2024-0244883, the national vice-champion of the category, totaled exactly 7 penalty points, after the following results:

2/1,768 pigeons (283 km)

2/780 pigeons (155 km)

6/8,409 pigeons (210 km)

6/8,254 pigeons (155 km)

6/3,213 pigeons (154 km)

“Since 2024 I’ve been competing alone and trying to participate in all categories, although Marathon requires time to develop the pigeons. I keep around 30 breeding pairs, and my racing team consists of 60–64 pigeons, flown on widowhood. This hen is my most valuable pigeon at the national level. At the provincial exhibition I had four pigeons, three of which are siblings: the national vice-champion and two cocks – one provincial and county vice-champion in Yearling Middle Distance, and the other county champion in Yearling Speed,” the fancier explained.

Petre Ungureanu (Bucharest) – Multiple Champion in 2025, National Podium in Yearling Speed

The national podium is completed by Bucharest fancier Petre Ungureanu, with his hen RO-2024-0500400, which accumulated 7.82 penalty points. He had an excellent season, winning several national trophies. In the five stages that counted toward the ranking, his hen achieved four top-3 results in the release:

1/5,559 pigeons (236 km)

1/5,409 pigeons (171 km)

2/5,524 pigeons (201 km)

3/812 pigeons (308 km)

She completed the norm with an 11th place out of 3,226 pigeons (324 km).

“I only started taking competitions seriously three years ago. I consult very often with Mr. Petrică Cocoș, from whom most of my pigeons come. This season I flew on widowhood, except for the first two stages, which I flew on the natural system because of the cold. The hen has Leideman blood through her mother, bred directly from the famous cock ‘10800’ of the Cocoș Petrică+Mușat Robert tandem. Her father comes from a cock from Poenaru+Călin, son of Olympic pigeons, and a hen from Paul Porumbescu, daughter of the Olympic hen ‘215’. I should mention that this hen’s nest brother is national champion in Yearling Ace Speed, a category in which I hold the first two national places,” declared Petre Ungureanu.