Coach Hakizimana’s body heads to Kigali public cemetery for final rites

In Kigali

Gervais Hakizimana, a top Rwandan athlete and coach who perished in a road accident which also claimed the life of world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum, will be laid to rest on Wednesday at the Rusororo Public Cemetery in Kigali.

A family member, Uwase Sharon, told Nation.Africa that all funeral arrangements have been finalised for the burial at 2 pm, Rwandan time (3pm, East African Time).

“I don’t have the exact recollections of the last conversation I had with him, but he was in Rwanda a few months ago and I met him,” Uwase said.

“One thing that stands out about him is that he liked to help people, those he knew and those he didn’t know,” said Uwase, the late Hakizimana’s niece, who was also among the people who repatriated his body to Rwanda.

According the funeral ceremony programme, friends and relatives will have a final viewing and bid farewell to Hakizimana from Wednesday morning from 08:00 to 10:30 (9am to 11.30am EAT) after which a requiem mass will be held at St Pierre et Paul Masaka up to 1 pm.

The cortege will then proceed to Rusororo for the burial ceremony that is expected to be attended by top government officials, active and retired athletes, relatives and friends from different parts of the world, as well as Rwanda’s sports fraternity.

Messages of tribute for the fallen coach have been pouring in from members of Rwanda's sports fraternity, those who worked closely with him and those who admired his career.

“Go well Kelvin Kiptum and coach Gervais Hakizimana. We will surely miss you in the Paris showdown. Sending my deepest condolences to families, friends, teammates and the athletics fraternity. May your souls rest in peace”," wrote Bonnie Mugabe, a former Rwandan sports journalist, now a Fifa executive working in Zurich.

“Hakizimana was the only Rwandan who understood modern athletics. Today's athletics is different from what we did; it involves science and technology. Hakizimana was not just one of the best coaches in Africa but globally as well.

He was a quiet and soft-spoken man. He was still young, it's hard to accept that he has left us,” Dieudonné Disi, a retired Rwandan athlete, said.

“We ran together at APR Athletics club five years ago. It's a heartbreaking story. I still can't believe he's gone,” he added.

“He was a very supportive person. I remember when he told me that athletics is a challenging sport that requires hard work and patience, but which, at the same time, can give you a life, he was a great advisor and a motivator,” said Marthe Yankurije, an athlete.

The two died after the car they were traveling in lost control, with Kiptum was driving, veering off the road and hitting a tree a few metres away.

The third person who was traveling with them in the same car, Sharon Kosgey, survived with minor injuries.

Hakizimana had been Kiptum’s coach since 2019.

He led him to breaking the world marathon record at the Chicago Marathon last year (two hours and 35 seconds), among other accolades.

Born in Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, Hakizimana started his athletics career with APR athletics club, and joined the national team before making a transition to coaching and talent scouting in 2008.

He travelled to different countries including France and Kenya, searching for talented athletes.

Hakizimana has collaborated with UniRun, an organisation dedicated to talent development, founded by French coach Philippe Plancke.

The highlight of his coaching career so far was discovering a young boy, Kelvin Kiptum, who he groomed into an international marathoner and world record holder.