Leila Blick on changing religion and undying love for two sports

KAMPALA. Taking part in at least two sports is still a preserve for Ugandan females. For Leila Mayanja, formerly Irene Blick, she doesn’t only participate but also shines at hockey and motor rally.
Clad in blue jeans and seated on a boda boda (motorcycle), Mayanja flashes her infectious smile on her late arrival for our interview at Speedway Motor Club, where she serves as Events Manager.
She quickly excuses herself for another 10 minutes, leaving us under the watch of her seemingly busy and disinterested brother - Arthur Blick Jr. The walls in Arthur’s office are dominated by our own SCORE magazine pictorials of different motorcross events.

On her return, Mayanja leads us to the compound garage compound as she tries unsuccessfully to escape the noise in the box office, where Unisan Bakunda, Arthur’s navigator, kept calling her ‘roll master’.
“Now that name (roll master) will also stick. My car overturned during the Mbarara Rally (last weekend) but my navigator pushed it back on the road and we completed the race,” she says in her modulated voice. They finished 15th.
This is the second time her car has rolled in a career that spans 12 years. The first was in 2008 as she tried to chase down Rose Lwakataka but the car was left damaged and she never completed.
She had already had a long day at home in Lungujja, one she has shared with husband and renown motor rally ace Omar Mayanja since 2006, therefore she wasn’t about to start competing with Bakunda to be heard.

Irene becomes Leila
The Mayanjas, who met in the late 1990s at a party in London, England, got married in 2006.
“We met when I was in my senior six vacation in England and when I came back here, we just kicked it off. We stayed together for a good time before we got married.”
Mayanja, 40, attended Gayaza Primary School in 1980s then moved to Gayaza High School, where she fell in love with hockey during the early 90s.
On her return from London, she joined Makerere University where she studied Food Science and Technology and joined Weatherhead Hockey Club (in 2000), where the defender has enjoyed more success than on the racing track.
Mayanja’s dream was to become a veterinary doctor but it was quashed before she left Gayaza. She now pursues a masters’ degree in Nutrition.

“I love animals. But the girls kept telling me it will take five years and students fail a lot so I gave up. I am not practicing nutrition yet but I keep chicken at home and I also sell nsenene (grasshoppers) during the off-season,” she shares.
After school, Mayanja, then Irene had no problem changing religion from a Catholic to a Muslim when the opportunity to get married to the love of her life came.
“Honestly, I am not a religious person. It is only during my days at Gayaza that I would go to church every Sunday. I was part of the church choir but during holidays, I never went to church.
“So when I was required to convert, it was easy but I am not a practicing Muslim though my children are learning the religion. I was just happy to get married to Omar and that is how I became Leila (Mayanja),” she shares.

Birth of ‘Blick Bullet’
The father of her three children has been the biggest influence and financier in her motorsport career.
“Rallying is a (Blick) family thing but I joined as a supporter before I started navigating for Omar in 2003. In 2004, (Ponsiano) Lwakataka organised a special event for ladies and I won it,” Mayanja shares. There has been no looking back since.
“I am competitive and the ladies in the game pushed me hard. Susan (Muwonge) called herself ‘Super Lady’. Rose (Lwakataka) was ‘Flying Chick’. So I needed a name of my own and I settled for ‘Blick Bullet’.
“It wasn’t catchy and since my husband kept introducing me as Leila, the story of my name has kept confusing people. In hockey, I’m refered to as Irene except when people are teasing. In motorsport they use what they want; from Leila Blick to Leila Mayanja and Blick Bullet.

Unfulfilled dreams
Mayanja received sponsorship from Bidco in 2010 but it didn’t last long.
“I still don’t know what happened that year. I had a four wheel Evo 2 but it kept breaking down in almost every rally yet the sponsors wanted results. They left and they have never explained why.
“Even with the popularity of the Blick name, it has been hard to find another sponsor. Even hockey has tried to use me source sponsorship but with little success. Maybe I’m not good at marketing,” she shares.
Omar’s four-year-long sabbatical till 2012 had given her a lifeline but he returned to the cockpit and now the two make-do with the resources they have.
“My husband has been meeting my rally costs and I am concentrating on keeping my rally expenses as minimal as possible. It is why I’m using a two wheel car with standard gauges yet my counterparts are using four wheel drives with competition gauges.
“If it keeps becoming costly, I will quit. I have thought about it already. I would want to quit after winning a championship of my own, like Susan,” she says with a chuckle.
Mayanja is quick to stress that she will never retire from hockey, however, she also harbours her own disappointments there.
“It bothers me that I have never represented the country yet I love team sports more. Here in motorsport, it is the car doing all the work.
“We have dedicated hockey players but it is a small sport and we don’t get the required financial support. There are younger players that I hope get the chance we never did.”

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