Nicholas Bett’s final journey

Police carry a casket bearing the remains of the late Nicholas Bett, former World 400m hurdles champion, on arrival at their home in Simat, Uasin Gishu County, as Bett’s wife Gladys Bett second (right) and mother Esther Boit follow on August 15, 2018. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |

What you need to know:

  • The hearse transporting Bett’s remains was at one time pulled out by a tractor after it got stuck in mud outside the athlete’s compound. Road constructing machines from the County Government of Uasin Gishu were on site.

Nicholas Bett will be buried at his Simat home in Uasin Gishu County in full police tradition.

The 2015 world champion in the 400 metres hurdles was a police corporal attached to the Kondele Police Station in Kisumu County. He died last week on Wednesday when his Toyota Prado hit a speed bump and rolled into a ditch along the Cengalo-Lessos-Kapsabet road in Nandi County.

On Wednesday, elite athletes escorted his body out of the Eldoret Hospital mortuary to his home. They included Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge, former world 1500 metres champion Asbel Kiprop, former 800m world champions Janet Jepkosgei and Eunice Sum, marathoner Sally Chepyego, former world junior 5,000m champion Augustine Choge and Africa javelin champion and record holder Julius Yego along with Bett’s coach Irma Reyneke from South Africa and Kurt Couto, a friend and training partner from Mozambique.

The hearse transporting Bett’s remains was at one time pulled out by a tractor after it got stuck in mud outside the athlete’s compound. Road constructing machines from the County Government of Uasin Gishu were on site.