Meet the versatile coach Bigingo

KAMPALA. His place in Ugandan athletics is secured by virtue of being an athlete that represented the country at the top level, won medals and nurtured athletes.
However, there is more to Nalis Bigingo than playing a role in the rise of Stephen Kiprotich, the world and Olympic marathon champion.
As an athlete, he set records and won four international medals in different races having mostly dominated in steeplechase.
In the midst of Kiprotich’s triumphant returns, Bigingo passed as an ordinary person. Not so much was written about him in the media.

Born to the late Vereri Bagumera and Ngenia Kabapurere in 1950, Bigingo says he started running around the age of 15 while attending St Mary’s Primary School, Rushoroza in Kabale. “I developed the passion for athletics at a tender age and upgraded before joining St. Leo’s SS, Kyegobe,” he says.
“By then, St. Leo’s was under the administration of Americans and they kept following me from primary school,” the former Uganda Prisons sports officer adds. “As I was progressing, Prisons kept on convincing me to join their club (Prisons Athletics Club) and indeed it reached a time when they won me over by promising me a lot. I accepted.”

First cut
In 1968, Bigingo joined the national team under Prisons where he concurrently served as an officer and athlete.
He recalls the commendable job of the then national coach, Malcolm Arnold, in grooming athletes from the moment he arrived in 1968.
“The Briton mentored us more, along with the late John Akii-Bua (then with the Police team) among others,” he reveals.
His first competition was the East and Central Athletics Championships in 1969 hosted in Kampala, where he finished fifth.
The event headed east to Kenya the following year and he didn’t improve from the Kampala edition.

“Kenyans and Ethiopians were unbeatable then as they dominated most of the races but it was part of the learning process for me.”
In 1971, he took a shot at the National Marathon that started from Entebbe via Nateete, Lubiri and concluded in Kibuli. Bigingo returned a champion.
“I believed I was a cross country runner and decided to take a gamble in marathon but to my surprise, I won and the prize then, was a Phoenix bicycle.” At the 1972 East and Central Championships in Zambia, he came fourth and booked a ticket to the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany with Akii-Bua.

But Bigingo didn’t make the trip after suffering an ankle injury that ruled him out of the Games.
After shaking off the injury, in 1973, he was picked for the All Africa Games in Lagos, Nigeria in the 3,000m steeplechase and he registered a fourth-place finish.
“I felt disappointed after missing out on the Olympics. I worked on recovering and indeed I pulled it off in Nigeria though I finished outside the medal bracket.”

Bouncing back
Bigingo bounced back in 1975 to win the National Cross-country Championships hosted in Fort Portal before heading to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for the East and Central Africa Championships.
He again finished fourth. In the same year, he was picked for the World Cross-country Championships in Germany but all African countries pulled out.
A year later, African teams pulled out of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada over the Apartheid rule in South Africa. “Those pullouts used to affect our chances of fulfilling our dreams when we had prepared well and were fit for the Games,” recalls Bigingo.

In 1977, Bigingo managed to take revenge against Kenyans and Ethiopians, who had dominated the 3,000m steeplechase race by finishing first and setting a new national record after clocking eight minutes and 33.11 seconds. “I became the first Ugandan to run under nine minutes and that record stood for 31 years till Benjamin Kiplagat broke it in 2008 after clocking 8:03:81.”
At the 1978 All Africa Games in Algeria, Bigingo settled for fourth position before going for a 42km Invitational Marathon in Swaziland where he won silver in 1979.
Now at peak of his career, Bigingo won gold in 5,000m when the ‘Ghana–Uganda Games’ were held the following year.

Ending on a high
Prior to the 1982 All Africa Championships in Egypt, he settled for fourth position in the East and Central Africa Championships in 1981 before claiming bronze in the 20km walking race. This was all happening after Bigingo was involved in an accident that hurt his ankle on May 16, 1979. As he was recovering, he was made the captain and coach of Prisons.
“That accident I can say brought an end to my career but I continued as a Prisons custodian, athletes coach for Uganda and a sports officer as well,” he said.
“The public service retired me in 2010 though I still wanted to serve as I still have a lot of ideas.”

BIGINGO’s FACTFILE
l Born to Vereri and Ngenia Bagumira in Kabale District 62 years ago, Nalis Bigingo went to St Mary’s Primary School and St Leos Kyegobe Secondary School.
l Due to his love for sports, Bigingo dropped out of school in 1969 after secondary school and joined the Uganda Prisons Service as an athlete.
l He is a father of seven, including Big Brother season 3 Ugandan representative, Morris Mugisha, and five girls. Married to Jane Bigingo, a bank manager.
l In 1972, Bigingo broke the national 3,000m steeple chase record by clocking 8:59. The earlier record (9:08) had been set by Vitas Ashaba (R.I.P).

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