Yearling Marathon 2025 – Hens Dominate the National Podium

The 2025 Romanian pigeon racing season produced a remarkable outcome in the Yearling Marathon category, where hens clearly ruled the national rankings. The entire national podium was claimed by hens, while four of the first four positions and six of the top ten places were secured by young hens. Looking at the geographical distribution of the champions, the first two positions were won by fanciers from the Moldova Province, while third place went to a loft from the South-East Province.

The National Champion Yearling Marathon 2025 title was won by Mircea Cardei from Suceava, racing in partnership with Italian fancier Furlan. The National Vice Champion title went to Viorel Iuriet from Botoșani, both competing on the same race program. Completing the podium is Cristian Ștefănescu from Vrancea, who secured 3rd National while competing on a marathon program organized from Poland.

National Champion: Mircea Cardei & Furlan – A Top Hen with an Exceptional Coefficient

The National Champion Yearling Marathon 2025 was achieved by the Cardei – Furlan partnership with an extremely low coefficient of 1.53 penalty points, thanks to a superb young hen RO-2024-0505049. Her decisive results were: 4th place against 11,087 pigeons – Seta Marathon (748 km) and 18th place against 15,432 pigeons – Kaunas National (745 km). Interestingly, the hen did not participate in the first marathon race of the season, yet this did not prevent her from securing the national title. Mircea Cardei’s situation is somewhat special. For most of the year he works abroad, returning home only during the racing season. During his absence, the pigeons are carefully looked after by his wife. The loft houses around 30 breeding pairs and approximately 150 pigeons in the racing team. The birds are raced mainly on the widowhood system, after a short natural period at the beginning of the season. For feeding, several high-quality mixtures were used, including Vanrobaeys Dynamik, Sport Ultra Pro Revolution, Gino Clicque, and Gerry from Versele-Laga. At home the pigeons train twice daily for around 45 minutes, and between marathon races they receive two training tosses of approximately 50 km. The champion hen also competed in the Birzai race, where she was placed but with a higher coefficient. Being a late-bred, her last flight feather was still developing at that time, which likely affected her performance. Pedigree-wise, the hen combines several strong marathon bloodlines. On the dam’s side, the grandmother is a close breeding between the Aparaschivei Brothers and the Gagea Brothers lines, which when paired with an original Kipp cock produced the champion’s dam. The sire is a De Smeyter–Restiaen cock, bringing additional proven long-distance quality.

Viorel Iuriet – A National Vice Champion at the Start of His Career

Second place nationally goes to Viorel Iuriet from Botoșani, a relatively new name in Romanian pigeon racing. Iuriet started racing with young birds in 2022, and in 2023 he competed with old birds for the first time. The 2025 season was therefore only his third competitive year, making this achievement even more impressive. The result was achieved by the hen RO-2025-0832510, which recorded two excellent marathon performances: 3rd place against 11,087 pigeons – 782 km (Seta) and 35th place against 8,943 pigeons – 859 km (Jonava). These results produced a total coefficient of 4.18 penalty points. Unlike the national champion, this hen was raced on the natural system. At the first race she had a youngster about one week old, while at the second marathon she was sitting on eggs only a few days old. The loft races approximately 40 pigeons, divided between shorter races and marathon competitions. After losses in the first long-distance race of the season, the team was switched from widowhood to the natural system. In terms of breeding, the vice-champion hen is a combination of Etienne Meirlaen and Aarden bloodlines, both well known for their strength in extreme long-distance racing.

Cristian Ștefănescu – A Strong Presence on the National Podium Again

The third place nationally goes to Cristian Ștefănescu from Vrancea, already a multiple national champion in the Long Distance categories during the 2025 season. With 4.26 penalty points, he secured another national podium in the Yearling Marathon category with the hen RO-2025-2017211. The performance is particularly noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, the fancier is only in his second season competing in marathon races. Secondly, his marathon team was extremely small, with: 3 pigeons at the first race, 8 pigeons at the second race and 5 pigeons at the third race. The podium hen only competed in the last two marathon races, where she delivered outstanding performances: 32nd place against 8,811 pigeons – Terespol National (718 km) and 4th place against 6,382 pigeons – Terespol (718 km). The marathon pigeons followed the same preparation as the long-distance team, racing on widowhood after being separated two weeks before the first long-distance race. Feeding was based on Beyers Diet, Energy and Sport Light mixtures, while the pigeons received a weekly training toss of around 40 km. In pedigree terms, the hen is actually more of a long-distance type. The dam comes from an inbreeding to the 4th National Long Distance Ace Pigeon Palmares 3 Years (2023) paired with his own daughter. The sire originates from a 3rd County Ace Long Distance Palmares line and is a half-brother to several county champions, but he also proved himself at marathon level, finishing 4th County Marathon Old Birds and 5th County Ace Marathon Old Birds in 2023.