The first edition of the Hamburg National race

There is no doubt that, in Romania, the national marathon races are starting to be the most important contests of the competitive year. It has already been several good seasons since we have two national races in each province, and in the 2024 season, the number of national races has increased with one more, the Hamburg National, really organized according to all the rules of such a competition.

National Hamburg is a race organized for the first time this year by the National Union of Columbophiles from Romania (Columba), where each of the pigeon breeders in our country could hire a maximum of 5 pigeons. Boarding centers were organized in each of the country's pigeon fancier provinces, and at the end of the boarding procedures, a number of 1,033 pigeons engaged in the race and 259 participating pigeon fanciers were registered.  Also, the launch time was also a special one, Hamburg National being a race where the pigeons were engaged at 12:00.

The winners are Dranca Ionuț and Sons, from Suceava

Pigeon fanciers from 20 counties of Romania participated in Hamburg National. At the provincial level, the largest participation was registered in Moldova, where 830 pigeons were boarded. Regarding the distances, we have to mention distances like +1,400 km for pigeon fanciers from Oltenia, +1,100 km in the Western area and 1,300 km in the Moldova area. Even though they had among the longest distances, the winners of the Hamburg National race are precisely from Moldova, from the Suceava Branch, in the person of Ionuț Dranca, who competes with his sons in the tandem of Dranca Ionuț and Sons. The winner is the hen with the series RO-2022-1391698, who arrived on the second day of the contest, at 14:27:50. He had 1,282 km to travel, a distance he traveled at an average speed of 1,118 m/min.