Kenyan athlete Willy Chelawa found dead in his training base in Elgeyo Marakwet

The athletics fraternity has once again been thrown into mourning after an athlete collapsed and died at his training base in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Willy Chelawa, an upcoming athlete who competed in the Nairobi City Half Marathon where he emerged 65th, was found dead by his training partners, who did not see him in the morning for their usual training and were forced to look for him where he was residing at the Kaptagat Hotel.

In an interview with Nation Sport, William Rotich, a training mate, said that he was with him on Saturday before heading home and the deceased decided to stay at the camp since he comes from far away and he didn’t have a family.

But upon returning on Monday, Chelawa had not been seen and his training mates decided to check his house where they discovered his body. 

“We thought he had just collapsed and we tried to call him but he didn’t wake up. That prompted us to break the door to the house and we found out that he had died. The Police also arrived in a short while before taking the body to the Iten County Referral Hospital Mortuary,” said Rotich.

While confirming the incident, former Amsterdam Marathon champion Wilson Chebet said that he is still shocked to have lost a cousin who was coming up well in the running world.

Chebet said that he was expecting him to go to his house over the weekend but he decided to remain at the camp after telling his training mates that he was still tired after the race in Nairobi and wanted to have enough rest.

“It’s so sad I have lost a cousin who was promising in his career and I’m still shocked because he was in good health. He was coming up well and had a bright future but now we have just lost him that way,” Chebet told Nation Sport.

Ugandan marathon star Rebecca Cheptegei, who was allegedly set a blaze by her ex-boyfriend Dickson Ndiema, was buried in Uganda on Saturday.