Samuel Wanjiru - The absence of an Athletics godfather is still being felt
Continent Africa, despite of severe financial constraints, has been displaying its matchless potential in producing some of the world-class athletes for decades. The potential, talent and stamina depicted by African players are rarely matched by athletes
from other parts of the world.
Given the fact that how come the hunger stricken area is capable of producing such world-class athletes, one gets to know that despite of the scarcity of resources, the only reason why African athletes have been able to dominate the athletics world, is because
of contestants like the late Samuel Wanjiru, the young formidable athlete who died at the tender age of 24.
The loss of Samuel Wanjiru is perhaps great for the entire athletics world, but the ones who will miss him the most are the athletics ‘orphans’ from Nyahururu, who will now have to dwell upon the difficult questions of their survival and future.
Wanjiru was not only an emphatic runner, but also a generous man who used to assist a number of budding athletes, who had the passion for pursuing athletics as their career in his home town. While extending a helping hand, most of the time Wanjiru used to
provide them with milk and fruits. Moreover, he also helped them set up a training facility centre which he responsibility managed until the sad incident occurred.
Talking about the scale at which the legendary runner was serving the youth of his area, Ibrahim Kinuthia, a Nyahururu based coach said, “There is no budding athlete training in Nyhururu who has not benefited from Kamau’s (Wanjiru) generosity.”
An athlete of the area revealed that Wanjiru had been paying the fees of his child who has been studying in a private school. Moreover, he also used to help in his financial needs.
Kinuthia further shared that the gold medallist of the 2008 Beijing Olympics used to feed all the athletes in the Nyahururu Marathon Training Camp, whenever they travelled to Nakuru to opt for the low altitude speed building.
The coach said, “he would take the whole team of about 20 runners to a hotel and tell them to take whatever they wanted and he would end up paying a bill of up to Sh20,000.”
Sharing his comments over the sad demise, Anthony Kahuthu, a runner at the marathon camp sponsored by Rosa Associate run by an Italian doctor Gabriela Rosa along with his son Federico Rosa, who had also been the manager of Wanjiru, said that the athletes
who had been sponsored by the charismatic runner should continue to get support from other similar bodies.
While continuing to express his hopes for the sustainability of mentoring and scholarships facilities initiated by the late athlete, Kahuthu said, “We hope the camp’s foundation laid by Wanjiru including securing the sponsorship from Italy will be maintained.”
Airing somewhat similar thoughts, Francis Kamau, the in-charge coach of the camp hoped that the facility which had produced runners like world champion, Charles Kamathi, along with Monica Wangare, should continue to receive world support as an honour to
the departed long distance running icon.
Other prominent runners in the camp include Ann Wanjiru, a member of the national cross country team to Amman, along with the runner-up of last year’s Nairobi Marathon, Philemon Gitea.
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