Coach Gervais Hakizimana first met world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum in 2016, but it was not until 2019 that the two started training seriously for road races and marathons.
Then Hakizimana, who had retired as an athlete in 2013 and took up coaching soon after, then started monitoring other athletes in training with Kiptum in Chepkorio, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, an area associated with high altitude training.
But what got Hakizimana interested in visiting Kenya?
“When I finished third in Kigali Peace Marathon in Rwanda in 2006, Hakizimana met me at the finish area and as a fellow athlete, he became interested in visiting Kenya so as to learn know more about athletics,” former athlete Elphas Maiyo, who was a great friend of the late Rwandan coach, says.
Maiyo had met Hakizimana in Kigali at the finish area just after the medal ceremony of the 2006 Kigali Peace Marathon.
At the time, Maiyo, a teacher by profession, was a student at Ndejje University in Uganda and had gone to Kigali to compete in the race, emerging third.
He didn’t know that he would meet a man who would become a friend and part of his family.
Ahead of Hakizimana’s burial tomorrow in Kigali, Maiyo has embarked on a 16-hour journey by bus to Kigali to bid his friend farewell.
Coach Hakizimana died in a road accident on February 11 alongside Kiptum, who was driving his vehicle before veering off the road along the Eldama Ravine-Eldoret road.
On that fateful day, Hakizimana had called Maiyo asking if they could meet the following day, to which Maiyo agreed before changing his mind and meeting the coach the same day in the same day in the afternoon.
Was he bidding his best friend goodbye before he died?
“Hakizimana has been more than a friend, and my wife calls him our first born because I’m the one who welcomed him to Kenya in August 2006 when he was still an active athlete. I introduced him to a camp run by (two-time Boston Marathon champion) Moses Tanui in Kaptagat, and we would meet on various occasions for training,” said Maiyo.
The Sunday Kiptum died, they had met in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County, and discussed a lot, including plans of the coach’s engagement ceremony.
Hakizimana was keen on knowing more about the Kalenjin culture.
“Hakizimana wanted to legalise his marriage, and he wanted to know more about our culture but that was after fulfilling the world record mission in Rotterdam Marathon, where Kiptum had planned to run the marathon in under two hours.
He also wanted to relocate his family to France after legalising his marriage, but all that has been cut short by the accident,” added Maiyo.
In 2007, during post-election violence in Kenya, Maiyo housed Hakizimana until things cooled down, and the he returned to Rwanda.
Hakizimana would later return to Kenya to train with Maiyo, and they shifted base to Chepkorio in Elgeyo Marakwet for further training.
“When he came back to Kenya, I hosted him in my home for two months before we went to Chepkorio where we rented a house and went on with training together until 2012 when I retired from the sport,” he said.
Maiyo narrated how he managed to teach Hakizimana Swahili language which he learnt with ease.
Their friendship grew stronger and Hakizimana would consult Maiyo before doing anything. To maiyo, Hakizimana was a polite man who wanted nothing but the best for his friends.
In 2010, Hakizimana acquired a laptop and started learning the basics of managing athletes, as well as coaching. He would mostly seek races in France and in other parts of the world for local athletes.
“When he retired in 2013, he told me that he had seen two athletes who would in future break world records and he went on to monitor them.
In 2019, he linked up with Kiptum, and results came in Valencia Marathon where the Kenyan runner won in a course record,” said Maiyo.
Maiyo says Hakizimana’s favourite food was potatoes, which was available in plenty in Chepkorio. He loved cooking Rwandan delicacies. Maiyo’s wife Caroline says she treated Hakizimana as her own son.
“He was like a son to me. When he arrived, my son was about four years old and their bond became strong. When he went to Rwanda because of 2007 post-election violence, I gave birth to another baby boy whom I named Leon after a place where he lived in France.
“We have lost an honest man who loved everybody. He came over to our house during Christmas and brought us potatoes and some cash, something he has been doing for many years,” she said.
