Samson Cheruiyot, the father of fallen athlete Kelvin Kiptum has revealed that he last spoke to him on Saturday night.
According to him, they had talked about plans of building a house and his upcoming race, where he told him that he would run in under 2 hours.
“On Saturday night, I talked to him and he told me that he would go to Fluorspar and return home. When he returned, he told me that a man (a white man) would come to build us a house. He also told me that he would run for 1 hour 58 minutes (in the upcoming race) because he felt his body was in great shape,” Cheruiyot said in an interview.
At the same time, he also revealed that strange people came looking for Kiptum just 4 days before his death. The visitors however refused to reveal their identities but claimed to have come from the Statehouse.
“Unidentified people came to my house and told me that they were visitors,” he said.
Kiptum was the only child of his parents and his untimely death has left a huge hole in the family.
“Kiptum was my only child. Now he has left me and my grandchildren. His mother had a problem and the hospital advised us not to have other kids so we agreed to that. I do not know what to do. If the government can, it should help us. We are stuck now with no one who can help us,” he said.
Cheruiyot further revealed that his son declined to pursue electric wiring course for athletics.
“When he was at school studying wiring and got grade 3, I looked for a position at Eldoret Polytechnic for him to pursue Grade 2 but he refused. He told me that he felt in his heart that he needed to exercise and I agreed,” he added.
