Grieving widow of Kelvin Kiptum's coach recounts last moments before fatal accident

Joan Chelimo had planned her week well.

Monday was supposed to be a special day as her daughter was to start schooling.

She shared pictures of her daughter in her school uniform with her husband, Gervais Hakizimana- the late marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum's coach.

Amid the excitement, they agreed to talk after 20 minutes; that was the last conversation before her world came crashing down.

Until this week, not many Kenyans knew Hakizimana, the man behind the success of the late Kiptum.

The two, who were more than just good friends, died on Sunday night in a road accident near Kaptagat Forest.

Two days later and Joan is yet to come to terms with the death of her husband. She says that after talking to him on phone a few minutes past 10pm, she never heard from him again as promised, only to be called by a friend more than an hour later.

"My friend told me that Kiptum had been involved in an accident. I got shocked because when he left he was with Kiptum. I hung up at first but my friend called again to ask whether I was with my husband but I said he left with Kiptum," said the grieving widow.

She then called her mother to go check on her husband since she lives near his training camp in Kaptagat. The camp was empty and neighbours joined in the search for the coach.

Joan would later receive another phone call that would completely shatter her spirit.

"My friend had by this time arrived at the scene and they gave me the bad news that my husband was no more," said Joan.

Joan says that her husband and Kiptum had known each other for a long time even before he became a coach.

As an athlete, the then teenage Kiptum was still in school and would chase Hakizimana in the forest during training.

"When my husband would meet Kiptum in the forest, he would chase him away but Kiptum would insist that he wanted to be a professional runner," said Joan.

COVID then brought them closer as coach and athlete because there were no competitions or travelling during the pandemic. Hakizimana was based in France but he put plans to relocate his family on hold to focus on nurturing Kiptum’s ambitions.

"When they started bonding, my husband told me to stay put in France for a bit. He said he wanted to train Kiptum to break the marathon record which he eventually did," said Joan.

Hakizimana's death has left a big gap in the family and even before his burial, Joan says she doesn’t know how to start living without her husband.

"I look at my phone every time thinking that my husband will call me. It's so hard since he used to call me often," she said.  

Hakizimana's family from Rwanda has already arrived in Kenya to plan on taking the coach back home for burial.