Cristian Pughiuc, National Champion of the As Extrem Category 2024

For several years now, Cristian Pughiuc from Botoșani has been a constant presence on the national podiums in the Marathon category, with all its variations. He has already won 19 national trophies, and in the 2024 season, thanks to an exceptional female, he is once again the national champion.

Although he competes with both cocks and hens, Cristian Pughiuc admits that, at least for now, he "gets along" best with the hens. After becoming the national champion of the As Marathon two years category in 2022 thanks to a hen, Cristian Pughiuc has repeated the same performance in 2024. This time, he is the national champion in the As Extrem Marathon two years category, and again, the performance was achieved by a hen.

“The Blue Arrow,” a True Champion

Cristian Pughiuc's new national champion has the ring number RO-2022-0121202, is named "The Blue Arrow," and is a pigeon born to win. She competed at a very high level as a youngster, ranking well in several races in her birth year, including two long-distance races. At one year old, she performed excellently in marathon races, ranking in all three competitions she was entered in (957 km, 961 km, and 963 km), and narrowly missed the national podium in the As Extrem Yearlings category, placing 4th nationally. However, it wasn't for nothing, because the norm she achieved as a yearling helped her, following another outstanding performance in 2024, to become the national champion in the As Extrem Marathon two years category. She was entered and ranked in the same races as in 2023: Code (961 km), Birzai National (965 km), and Madona National (957 km).

“In 2021, I bought a hen from the Limburg Brothers in the Netherlands, who, in the spring of 2022, although late-hatched, paired up on her own with another late one, a grandson of one of my best pigeons named Blue Poznan. They raised two youngsters throughout the year, and in the fall, I entered them in competitions, even long-distance ones. I was surprised when, in the second long-distance race, the two siblings arrived first and second at the loft and did quite well in the race overall. I decided not to race the hen anymore because I liked her physically, and she more than rewarded me. She is an excellent flyer even in shorter stages, not just marathons, where she performed fantastically. In the first two marathon races, she competed while widowed, with her mate at home, and in the last race, she was entered while sitting on 4-5-day-old eggs,” explained Cristian Pughiuc.