Article Published: 19 November 2009
Article By The Big Grizzle Cock


Leslie Blake is a veteran with more than 50 years of racing pigeons. He started as a 13 year old under the guidance of Tukko Capes and as a junior he would often beat the seniors. Leslie has seen it all, from bicycle training, to running to time at a single clock placed at a central venue, to the era of electronic clocking. He has always been a competitor of the highest caliber. He has raced in various unions and had a 12-year break from 1976 during which time he packed up and sold all his pigeons. It was through his brother in law Cyril Plato that he came into contact with Joop Knoop and till today the Knoop pigeons is the backbone of his loft. This friendship has had a major impact on the success of LG Blake.
Leslie is currently a member of the Evolution Flying Club.

Racing Performance
To list all Leslie’s wins or speak about his results is not something that he is comfortable with. Here are his results over the last five years.

2005 – 3 Fed wins, Union Champion
2006 – No Fed wins, 9th Union
2007 – 3 Fed wins, 3rd Union
2008 – No Fed wins, Union Champion
2009 – 4 Fed wins, Union Champion

The 2009 season also included 2 combine wins in the SWPC, which consist of WPHU, SPHU and WDHU.
He was 3rd in the SWPC.

Health
Leslie’s health regime is pretty basic and he tries to cover all the potential health threats. He prefers individual treatment to flock treatment where possible. He believes in herbs and tea on a regular basis.

Training
Leslie believes in basket training before the birds are taken on the road. He follows a programme which includes: 3 X 5km, and then jumps in 5km at a time giving as many tosses up to the 20km mark. Private training only takes place in front of the mountain. During the season he makes use of road training should an opportunity arise, training against the wind.
Leslie circles his pigeons for 1 hour both morning and afternoon and he controls the pigeons with his white stick. His pigeons circle with gusto and this is a sight to all fanciers want to see when they circle their pigeons.

Feeding
Leslie prefers to mix his own food. He uses a depurative mix on race day. He believes that good quality food is a must. He buys his peas in bulk two years in advance and allows the peas to dry out before he uses it in his mixture. He has in the past traveled to the Free State (1000km) to buy his mealies. He always tries to secure the best available food.
He feeds his race birds twice a day and any food not eaten is given to the stock pigeons
On Sundays the birds are fed plenty of greens and will get 7 drops of lugols iodine per 2 litres of water. A constant part of his feeding regime is dry herbs and tea.

Breeding
He breeds about 30 babies from his stock, which is predominantly the Wegges from Joop Knoop. He has birds from the 2008 SWPC champion Ewald De Vries that has had an impact on his results. He does on the odd occasion bring in new blood from local fanciers but does not stray from his tried and tested Wegge line.
Breeding takes place in separate pens.

Racing
Leslie races to the perch but does use various nest positions to motivate his pigeons. Leslie races pigeons week after week as long as they maintain form and race to the front of the loft. He does not subscribe to the many theories and believes that the quality of the Blood will always lead to success. He is a top selector of the pool bird and has won a fair amount of money at all levels. He looks for a narrowing of the eye, for puffed up ear feathers as well as down on the tail. His good friend Frans Williams built his new loft and he feels the new loft has had a positive impact on his 2009 season. The ideal size of his race team ranges between 60-70 pigeons

Main Results 2009
1st Laingsburg (635 p - 240km)
1st Beaufort West (572 p - 420km)
1st BWest - SWPC - 130 members
1st Victoria West (420 p - 520km)
1st Victoria West (471p – 520km)
1st VWest – SWPC – 130 members

Winning all of the WDHU averages except the long distance. Plus many other positions in WDHU and SWPC.
Leslie won 11 club races as well.

Pigeon Philosophy
He believes that one must enjoy the competitive nature of pigeon racing, yet remain humble in the wake of good results. Leslie believes that Hard Work leads to Success. The basis of his pigeon racing is the three P’s. Be Punctual, Persevere and most of all be Patient.

He is of the opinion that newcomers should approach a reputable fancier in his area to obtain pigeons. Rather spend big on one or two quality pigeons than bringing in too many pigeons at cheaper rates.

No race at WDHU is called as won before we know the clocking times of Leslie Blake. He is a fierce competitor who has achieved measured success in a number of different pigeon unions.