There was lots of laughter and teasing at the ringing out of the 50th Anniversary Legacy Pigeon Race this weekend.

The race, which was organised by the Mitchells Plain Homing Union (MPHU), saw 7 500 pigeons from dozens of Mitchells Plain lofts fly roughly 475km to try to bring home the legacy trophy.

While the union takes part in dozens of races annually, and the Mitchells Plain lofts fare well in most of them, the Legacy Race was done in commemoration of Mitchells Plain 50th anniversary and the union’s 46th year of existence.

Winners

At the ringing out event on Saturday 15 July, at West End Primary School in Lentegeur, Gavin Kleinschmidt was declared the winner of the seniors race. His winning pigeon flew 474km in 14 hours, 36 minutes and 27 seconds, at a velocity of 1 408.8304 (metres per second).

Riedwaan Jefferies claimed the second place spot.

Among the junior racers, 14-year-old Shakeen Breda’s pigeons won both first and second place while Melvin Gordon (16) came third.

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Daniel Sylvester (12) also won a merit award.

Shakeen said he learned pigeon racing from his father and grandfather who would sit on the roof to watch for their pigeons during races.

Legacy

Alicia English, of the Mitchells Plain Legacy Project, said it moved her to see positive fatherhood in action at the basketing ceremony which had been opened to the public on Thursday 23 July at the Portland Indoor Sport Centre.

“I really want to applaud you, because what our young men need is to be among their fathers and their grandfathers and you are instilling in them a passion. Julle is die regte Fancy Boys,” English said to laughter, using a play on words for the official name for the sport, pigeon fancy, and the name of a gang in the area.

“What you are doing is passing the baton to them and that is what we are trying to do with the Legacy Project. We are trying to see what Mitchells Plain is going to look like 50 years from now. I would like to think that we are still going to be flying high,” she said.

Niggie Pearl

The race was organised by MPHU chair Faizel Flowers, of Strandfontein.

One of Flowers’ pigeons, a social media star called Niggie Pearl, has helped to bring attention to the sport. Flowers said there has been an explosion of interest since his wife, Sandy Schuter, started posting funny videos about the hand-reared pigeon on social media.

Initially he thought the bird would never be a racer and asked his wife if she wanted to raise the severely injured and dying chick only because Schuter had previously asked for a bird. Ordinarily, severely injured birds are culled, Flowers said. However, when he realised that the fully recovered and domesticated pigeon’s parents were prime fliers, he changed his mind.

Attempts to return her to the loft, however, were met with fowl play. Flowers said Niggie Pearl “screamed and performed” when she was put back in the loft but calmed down and accepted her fate only after she met three boyfriends there.

Schuter said the bird is currently behaving like a typical teen and has become very interested in watching her own videos on TikTok, over her mother’s shoulder.

“She’s a little bit of an actress,” Schuter said.

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