The champion's running mate

The East African, Kenya
Monday, October 29, 2007

The champion's running mate 

By ODINDO AYIEKO 

HE IS THE FAMILIAR BUT unknown figure running besides Kenya's champion blind 
runner Henry Wanyoike.  

His name is Joseph Kibunja. He is not only a guide but a childhood friend too, 
both having been born and brought up in Kahuho village of Kikuyu Division. 

Kibunja has for years been Wanyoike's "eyes," and is proud of his role which he 
says is a calling.  

The two run side by side with one mission only - to succeed. They started out 
together as cobblers, earning less than Ksh100 ($1.49) a day and today, 
Wanyoike holds the world marathon record for blind athletes, the world 5,000m 
and 10,000m titles, feats that have made him the face of Standard Chartered 
Bank's Social Corporate Responsibility anti-blindness project.  

Yet the man who runs by Wanyoike's side, guiding him to these achievements 
remains just that - a guide. 

Kibunja, a trained carpenter, worked for a construction firm in Kikuyu township 
in Central Kenya earning less than a dollar a day and his friend Wanyoike was a 
cobbler - before he lost his eyesight in 1995. "Construction work was not 
bringing money so Wanyoike invited me to work with him in repairing shoes. But 
when he lost his eyesight, I felt like I had also lost a part of my life. He 
had to start life all over again as a visually impaired person. I went back to 
construction work dejected," says Kibunja. 

But sometime in 1999, Wanyoike invited Kibunja to be his running guide. "I was 
shocked when he told me he had decided to venture into athletics. How was a 
blind man going to run? How was he going to know the direction to take, and how 
was I going to go about being his guide?" 

He adds, "But I was not about let my friend down despite the fact that I had 
never considered myself to be athletic." 

Kibunja started training in earnest. He started by training on his own and then 
slowly, the two of them started running as a pair, with Kibunja holding a 
string with his left hand, tied to Wanyoike's right hand. "It is important that 
the visually impaired runner moves both hands freely, even if it means that the 
guide has to curtail their own hand movements to accommodate him," Kibunja 
explains. 

By the time Wanyoike entered the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Kibunja was not yet fit 
to be his guide, so he sought the services of John Kyalo and he won the 5,000m 
gold medal. Kyalo later moved to France.  

Kibunja started running with Wanyoike immediately after the Sydney Olympics. "I 
was tense in the beginning but now I am accustomed to being a guide and we have 
had many successes together," he said.  

According to Kibunja, there is a shortage of athletics guides worldwide. 
"Different countries often have to share guides in major events," he said.  

A microchip in Wanyoike's shoes makes it possible for them to talk to each 
other as they run. "I have to tell him to charge when we have to overtake other 
runners, or when we are approaching a bend, a dip and so forth. 

"I also have to keep looking at my watch to update him on our progress. Before 
the race starts, I have to ensure that the microchip in his shoes, which also 
records the time, is firmly in place." 

What if the blind athlete is faster than his guide, or what happens when a 
guide is injured or falls sick and has to drop out of the race? "When the 
latter happens, the guide signals a replacement who comes from behind, takes 
the string, just as what happens in the relays with the baton, and goes ahead 
with the race." 

Kibunja says this transition must be handled very carefully to avoid disrupting 
the blind runner, mentally or physically. 

While they are running, Kibunja acts as the time keeper and regulator. He 
directs Wanyoike and tells him when to increase his speed. 

"I think he is the best guide in the world today, given the level of success we 
have had together," says Wanyoike of Kibunja. 

Not having gone beyond primary school, Kibunja is thankful to Wanyoike for 
helping change his life for the better. "I do not mind his name being splashed 
on newspaper headlines whenever we break records because I am just his guide. 
After all it is his name that is entered for the races," says Kibunja. 

ON WHETHER HE INTENDS to run in ordinary races one day, Kibunja says, "No, I am 
in this with Wanyoike. I know that I have the capacity now to race with 
experienced athletes. But I am not interested." 

Wanyoike, who had excelled in athletics since primary school, realised that 
losing his sight did not hinder him from running. His passion only grew deeper 
and he practiced even harder.  

On the other hand, Kibunja had no interest in the sport and had never imagined 
himself as a runner. And when Wanyoike invited him to accompany him on daily 
runs in the village he reluctantly accepted.  

However their passion for athletics grew and Kibunja eventually became 
Wanyoike's training guide. 

Kibunja, a father of two spends his spare time working at the Henry Wanyoike 
Foundation, through which they help the needy in society. 


http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Magazine/291020077.htm
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