Two beers, a meal and mystery woman: Inside Kelvin Kiptum's last 48 hours

As you join the two-lane Eldoret-Kaptagat road at night, one of the first things you see are the culverts spaced about half a metre from each other, and trees lined sparsely on either side of the road. 

There are not so many cars, even by day, and by night you might drive for kilometres on the 30-kilometre stretch without meeting oncoming traffic. It is a narrow road, especially if you are used to the dual carriageways and highways of towns like Nairobi and Kisumu, but at night the street lights shimmer like lace against a black sky. This is likely one of the last images Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana ever saw. 

The short ride from Grand Miarmir, where Kiptum and his coach had just had a healthy dinner of matoke, ugali and beef, to the accident scene at the junction at Flax, had not been particularly stunning. No river, hills or stunning cliffs that could tempt a driver to look sideways. No shining towers or billboards that could distract the eye and cause loss of concentration.

Three people were in the car: Kiptum on the driver’s seat, coach Gervais Hakizimana to his left on the passenger seat, and Sharon Kosgei, Kiptum’s female companion, in the back seat. Behind them — it isn’t clear how far — was a motorcycle rider who was carrying a pillion passenger. 

Seconds later, there was a loud crash. Witnesses say it was like an explosion. It would soon reverberate around the world, but for a few minutes in the still night, there was only the persistent wailing of Sharon, the only survivor of the crash, and then, later, a chorus of loud wailing from villagers and first responders. 

Trapped inside the wreckage, Sharon was fully conscious and clinging tightly onto her phone. She had suffered injury to her head and blood was covering part of her face. It is her moans that summoned the boda boda rider who had just dropped his passenger and was heading in the opposite direction, from Chepkorio. The accident scene was just six kilometres from the one-roomed rental house where Kiptum lived while in training camp, in the same building as his coach Gervais. This is where the trio was headed. 

On hearing Sharon’s cries, the boda boda rider quickly turned back, but by the time he arrived at the scene, two men lay dead on the ground, their bodies thrown outside and to the right of the Toyota Premio Kiptum had been driving. The car was a mangled wreck and its roof had been completely ripped off on impact. It had come to a stop after hitting a huge tree and was positioned at a right angle to the road. 

The rider panicked but did the right thing; he called the police, and when he checked his watch immediately after making the call, he saw that it was 10.59pm. Thousands of kilometres away at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, the Africa Cup of Nations final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast was just about to begin. 

Here is how the disastrous 48 hours unfolded:

5am. Saturday, Feb 10. 

Training begins as usual for Kiptum and his compatriots, including Timothy Kiplagat, captain of the camp and his closest training partner. They go through their routine in Kaptagat, supervised by their usual coaches. Being a weekend, the schedule is not so rigorous and by 8am they are done with the morning session. They retreat to camp for breakfast before dispersing for the weekend. There would be no evening session on this day.

“He was in high spirits and cracked a joke,” says Timothy. “I can’t remember about what, and we really laughed. He then asked the coach to join him in taking photos and they all huddled together and took pictures. I didn’t know that would be our last laugh together. 

“Since we had gone for a long run, I was very tired. I didn’t take pictures that day. I was bent over and panting heavily. I was very tired. Kiptum then informed me that he would go to Flourspar Hills the following day for personal training and asked me to join him. I told him, “I don’t train on Sundays. Sunday is my day to go to church. Let me not lie to you that I will join you tomorrow. Let’s meet for usual training on Tuesday."

2pm. Saturday, Feb 10.

Kiptum arrives at his rental house in Chepkorio Small Town, and is believed to have slept all afternoon for rest and recovery. 

7pm. Saturday, Feb 10

Kiptum is spotted by neighbours in Chepkorio buying dinner at the shopping centre. His wife Asenath Rotich and their two children lived in Chepsamo village, about two kilometres from Chepkorio town, where he later drove to that night.

“I met him at the stall, holding some eggs, I think they were five eggs, and he was buying tomatoes at the mama mboga. He chatted with me and other people who were near the stall like he always does, and we laughed a bit,” says his friend and neighbour Collins Kipkemboi, who saw him on that last Saturday.

“I had previously asked him to take me to town, so I reminded him and he said that since the Rotterdam race was coming up, he would not get too many chances to go to town. I asked him: ‘Why don’t you take me with you tomorrow?’, and he said: ‘Yes, in fact I will be going to town tomorrow. There is a match I am going to watch. You can come with me.’ 

“I agreed eagerly and returned home, planning to meet him in the morning so that I could accompany him to town. This was our last conversation. In the morning, an MP was visiting the area and was giving people Sh100 each, and I was derailed by this and didn’t go to Kiptum’s house. I later learned that he went alone. Had I accompanied him, maybe I would have died with him in that accident.” 

It is not clear at what time he left his rental house, but in an interview his wife Asenath Rotich revealed that on the eve of the tragic accident, Kiptum slept at their family home in Chepsamo village.

Read: Collins Kipkemboi: How Sh100 handout saved me from accident that killed Kelvin Kiptum

5am, Sunday, Feb 11.

Kiptum wakes up and prepares to leave for Flouspar Hills for training. It is a Sunday, and not all athletes train on weekends. He has two vehicles, a pick-up and the Toyota Premio. Ordinarily, he uses the pick-up when he is going for training since he can carry more people, usually training mates. But on this day, he takes the saloon car. 

Every Sunday he usually goes to Flouspar for training. The alarm goes off, and he wakes up, dresses up and calls his brother-in-law to accompany him. 

“He told me: ‘Wake up and shut the door’,” remembers Kiptum’s wife, Asenath. That was the last time she saw him.” It was at around 4am. Then he left. I heard the smaller vehicle’s engine running and wondered why he was not using his pickup, but I didn’t think anything of it.” 

10am. Sunday, Feb11. 

Kiptum wraps up training and calls his wife, informing him that he would call her later. He then leaves Flouspar. To where? Nobody knows for sure.

Read: ‘I will still make my wedding vows without my husband’ Kiptum widow 

5pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

The evening begins for Kiptum with two White Caps at Talex Inn, a small bar and night club Opposite Kipchoge Stadium on Iten Road, Eldoret. He is seated in a white, high-backed chair, phone in hand, just below the DJ’s booth. 

At around 5.12pm, Kiptum is seen on CCTV cameras arriving at the bar aboard a boda boda. The bar has an upstairs section with a pool table -- and Kiptum loved to play pool -- but he sits in an open area downstairs. He is wearing a cap and facing the wall.

“He arrived alone,” says Doris Majimbo, the woman who served him at the restaurant. “I didn’t recognise him at all and neither did any of my colleagues. He was wearing a cap and seemed like he knew exactly where to sit. The only thing I remember about him were his shoes. He wore really nice, classic shoes. I have never seen such shoes before and I remember asking him about them, and he told me: ‘One day, God willing, I will bring a pair for you.’” 

6pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

A man is captured on CCTV driving in Kiptum’s blue Toyota Premio. He parks it right next to the exit and lingers in the car after killing the engine. This man, we have found, was a car wash attendant named Andrew. Kiptum had left his car in his care at a car wash station near Moi Girls’ High School. After parking, he calls Kiptum, and CCTV footage shows the marathoner stepping outside, walking to the car, picking the car keys from the man, and then heading back to the restaurant. 

6.19pm. Sunday, Feb 11. 

Kiptum is still seated alone. He finishes his drink in one, big gulp and summons Doris, the waitress. He enquires on how to pay and proceeds to key in the Paybill number. His bill is Sh500, which he pays via M-Pesa. He then leaves immediately. 

7:30pm. Sunday, Feb 11. 

Kiptum arrives at Well Irish Pub and Restaurant inside Rupa Mall, this time in the company of a woman, Sharon Kosgey. They sit at the counter, on high-backed, wooden seats with metallic backs. Here, unlike at Talex Inn, he is well known since he is a regular patron. 

Kiptum orders dawa (a mixture of ginger, honey and lemon), while the woman orders a cup of tea. They then settle down to watch an English football game as Manchester United play Aston Villa. 

Kiptum was an avid Chelsea fan and often came here when there was an English Premier League match. He always watched the games from this counter.

8pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

Coach Gervais Hakizimana arrives alone, spots Kiptum and Sharon at the counter and heads over to meet the two. On seeing him, Kiptum summons one of the waiters and asks to have their drinks transferred to another table at a corner that is more secluded and has more comfortable cushioned seats. They stay watching the match, and leave immediately after the final whistle. Here, just as in Talex Inn, Kiptum makes the payment via M-Pesa at exactly 9.38pm. 

Read: Kiptum was eyeing 1:58 in Rotterdam, reveals Cheruiyot

9:50pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

Coach Gervais, Kiptum and Sharon arrive at Grand Miarmir Hotel, record their car details at the gate, and proceed to the bar. On their way in, they meet patrons who are in high spirits and they chat them up a little bit. 

Because of the attention, and since Miarmir is a smaller establishment, the trio choose to sit inside, in a secluded VIP lounge, where they close the door as they wait to be served.

“He had called about 20 minutes earlier instructing us to make his food, so it was almost ready. He wanted boiled bananas, meat and ugali.  He did not order any drink, but Sharon and the coach both ordered sodas, which we brought to them,” says Elphas Sitienei, the manager at Miarmir Restaurant. 

This was the duo’s last supper. The waiters’ accounts are that by the time Kiptum was leaving, he was sober, and his gait was steady.

“They really enjoyed their meal and finished it all. They were chatting throughout, although they didn’t stay for long. After their meal they all left together, but as they were leaving they engaged some of the patrons who were basically wishing him well in his upcoming race and telling him how proud they were of all he had achieved,” says Sitienei.

10.25pm. Sunday, Feb 11. 

The car carrying Kiptum, Gervais and Sharon leaves the Grand Miarmir Hotel, according to records at the gate. They follow the bumpy murram road that leads to the main road from the restaurant before turning right onto the main road. They then join the Eldoret-Kaptagat road, brightly lit by well-positioned street lights.

Being a narrow, two-way road, the approach is dangerous at high speed. It is an incredibly long, straight stretch with very few cars. It is hard for any driver not to floor the accelerator pedal while driving here at night. But then, there is a quick dip as you approach the junction at Flax. 

Minutes after the car joins the main road that leads to Kiptum’s and coach Gervais’ rental houses in Chepkorio, at Flax Junction, it veers off the road and leaps to the trench on the left, striking the 13th culvert. The car continues moving on its left, off-road course, even though there is good space to steer right and back onto the road. 

Police officers, in an interview with the Nation at the scene last week, said had Kiptum swerved to the right, he would have steadied the car and stopped. 

The car left 60 metres of skid marks, a possible indication of high speed, from the point at which it veered off the road to the one where it came to its tragic stop. The fact that he applied brakes but did not manage to stop the car, even though he had a 60-metre allowance, is what led police to conclude that car was speeding dangerously. 

“He drove about 60 meters in the trench, and then just where the tree is, there is space on the right. If the vehicle would have gone to the right, the impact would have been different. But the car went to the left side of the tree. And then the left wheel climbed up the embankment, which of course made the driver lose control,” says Keiyo South Sub-County police commander Dahir Abdulahi. 

One of the questions that many Kenyans have asked was whether he was drunk. Initial reports indicated that Kiptum was a tee-totaller, but during this investigation we discovered he had taken at least two bottles of beer on the night he died. A toxicology report would have determined whether or not he was drunk when the accident occurred, but Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor Thursday told the Nation the results were not ready.

“I haven’t released the toxicology report because I also haven’t received it,” said Dr Oduor. “What happens is that we take samples and send them to an agency that does the actual tests. The agency then brings us the results which we share with interested parties. That process takes a minimum of three months. It is this report that will shed light into the state he was in at the time of the accident.”

On impact, Kiptum’s car rolled over to its right, and here, its roof hit the tree which was to the right side of the car. The roof was ripped off on impact, and so were coach Gervais and Kelvin Kiptum. According to police, neither of them was wearing a seatbelt, which is perhaps why the airbags did not deploy. 

“I suppose the airbags did not deploy because there was no frontal impact,” Mr Abdullahi says. Some modern car airbag systems are linked to another sensor on every seat belt, which is only activated if the belt is worn. The fact that both Kiptum and his coach were not wearing their seat belts could also have caused the non-deployment of the airbags.

As the car rebounded off the tree, and with its roof now completely torn off, the duo of Gervais and Kiptum were thrown out. They bounced off the edge of the trench, to the right of the car, and by the time they fell back inside the trench, they were immobile. Dead. 

The car then flipped and came to a rest on its wheels again, this time facing the road at a right angle. There was no impact on the front, but there was massive damage to its sides. 

For the marathon great, after the spectacular city lights, there was only darkness. Surprisingly, the only blood that could be seen on site was inside the car, where Sharon lay, shocked and screaming madly. Kiptum and his coach mostly suffered internal bleeding.

10:55pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

Fredrick Mutai Songio, a motorcycle rider, has just dropped a passenger and is heading back to his base in Chepkorio when he hears the awful bang as the car crashes into the tree. Fredrick says there was this huge, violent, terrifying crash followed by the lone voice of a woman, first moaning, and then screaming hysterically. He turns back and heads to the accident scene, and what he sees shocks him to the core. Two men lie dead in the trench, while a woman is trapped inside the wreckage, crying for help. 

“I thought I could help, but when I arrived, I immediately realised that it was beyond me. I stepped back, and called the OCS, Kaptagat Police Station.” 

Read: Shock as World Marathon record holder Kiptum, coach die in road accident

Fredrick’s phone records show that he made the call to the OCS at 10.59pm.

11.20pm. Sunday, Feb 11.

Police arrive at the scene of the accident. Kiptum and his coach are dead. Sharon is conscious and screaming. And the car is a crumpled mass of metal and glass.

Police officers, after realising that the two men are dead already, move to help Sharon. Together with Fredrick, they force open the door to the wrecked car and pull her out. Sharon is fully conscious and on her phone. 

“The police then asked me to rush Sharon to the nearby dispensary, then called for an ambulance, which met us at the dispensary. The ambulance took her to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. I then returned to the accident scene and found so many people swarming the car,” Fredrick says. 

Friday, February 23. 

Kelvin Kiptum is laid to rest after a grand state funeral that drew millions of Kenyans together in a an emotional expression of grief and gratitude, as they bade farewell to a marathon record holder who was at the cusp of greatness and seemed destined to define marathon running. 

Thousands of people lined the route of the cortege past the landmarks of Eldoret. Around the country, thousands more watched the service on television as hundreds of others lit candles as they escorted the black hearse, others strewing flowers in its path as the marathon champion’s coffin was driven to his father’s home in Naiberi, where he was buried. 

It was the end of a truly catastrophic moment for world athletics. Kelvin Kiptum is relevant now as he has ever been, and that is in part due to his stellar performances and his promising form that left the world awaiting the grand, glorious morning when he would meet face-to-face with Eliud Kipchoge, aka The GOAT, a man whose records and achievements Kiptum was ready and determined to surpass. 

3pm. Wednesday, March 6. 

We are at the junction at Flax where the horrific crash happened. Everything about the accident site seems destined to be etched in history. There is a handwritten sign saying KIPTUM ROAD, and pointing in the direction the late marathon record holder was heading, towards Chepkorio. 

Mementos, placards and posters are hung all around the tree. There is also a pair of running shoes with many signatures and the words ‘Rest in Peace Kiptum, You Will Forever Remain in Our Hearts’ scribbled on its side. 

It is about a month after the disastrous accident, and a fortnight after he was buried, but every now and then a car slows down as a driver cranes out to get a glimpse of the crash site. Every now and then, people on foot come to pay their last respects to the fallen champion. 

On the ground are clothes believed to be among those worn by the accident victims, as well as two Balozi beer cans, both empty and crashed flat. 

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