Kenyan distance runner Edwin Mokua says he is ready to participate in Athletics Kenya's planned seminars on mental health by sharing his experience on how he has been coping after he was attacked by a hippo last year while training for a marathon.
The 2020 Trabzon Half Marathon champion suffered fractures on the shoulder and arms during the attack in Manguu village on the outskirts of Nyahururu town, where he was training for the Izmir Marathon in Turkey, alongside fellow athlete, Dennis Kipkosgei.
Mokua believes his story will encourage other athletes who are currently enduring mental health challenges.
"I have no problem if I am approached to speak out about my experience. There are AK officials who know where I live and are welcome to explain to me about what this campaign is about. I have been working closely with Peter Angwenyi (AK chair Nyanza South) to mentor upcoming athletes in Nyamira region," Mokua said.
He further hailed the idea to host the seminars as timely and a step in the right direction considering the turmoil many athletes are silently undergoing.
"It is something that needed to be done now rather than later because we go through challenges but can't speak up. I think the circumstances of Agnes Tirop's death brought to light just how much athletes deal with in their personal lives," he said.
The 2013 and 2014 Ekiden 10km champion added: "I suggest that this campaign be continuous and not one-off. Just like AK usually have a calendar of events for the year, there should be a similar one for such seminars. Athletes are always cropping up every day and this means mental health challenges will always occur."
Having known what it means to be down and out, Mokua's advice to athletes undergoing mental health challenges is to persevere in the knowledge and comfort that their problems are only temporary.
"Even babies do not begin walking immediately they are born. Before they learn to walk comfortably, there will be a lot of falling. It is the same with an athletes' career; there will be injuries, financial challenges and losses along the way. Don't lose heart...keep your head up and work hard towards your goals," he said.
Mokua says he does not yet have a fixed date to return to action but has recovered tremendously, one year on from his duel with the hippo.
"When I first resumed training, I could only run for 2km but now I can go up to 10km in one hour. It is not a high speed or intense training but a light one as I recover fully from the injuries and aim for peak physical fitness," he said.
