Soon enough, he could beat the boys as well and has never looked back.Īfter winning a World Junior title in 2010, Yves decided to make a life for himself in Canada and settled in our nations capital. Yves was determined to succeed and kept training, and eventually was able to run faster than the girls. He recounted how he struggled with speed early on, and was actually relegated to the girl's team by his coach to train until his skills improved. Sikubwabo has enjoyed much success as a competitive runner, capturing a World Junior Championship title, two back-to-back Ontario High School Championships and most recently, helped the Guelph Gryphons once again secure team titles in both the OUA and CIS, but the sport didn't come naturally to Yves. Eventually, his coach was able to educate Sikubwabo that running was more than just chasing air, that running could be just as challenging and rewarding as playing his country's most popular sport and he decided to give it a try. So when his coach at the time suggested he consider running due to his long and lean physique, Sikubwabo couldn't understand why anyone would swap soccer practice to train for a foot race.
![gryphon class runabout gryphon class runabout](https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/images/3/38/Runabout_size.jpg)
"In my country, when you're a teenager, you want to be a soccer player," said Yves.
#Gryphon class runabout professional#
Instead, Sikubwabo had aspirations of becoming a professional soccer player and described himself as the type of kid who liked to move around a lot and loved soccer. Transportation wasn't available where Yves lived, so he had to run about eight kilometers a day to get to and from school. Sikubwabo began running at an early age, but it wasn't because he had a love for the sport, it was out of necessity. Since then, Sikubwabo has come along way, accepting that running does serve a purpose and has since immigrated from his home country of Rwanda to live and train permanently in Canada.
![gryphon class runabout gryphon class runabout](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/3f/2d/2b3f2d2bf2c930c1aab657a32f1276a5.jpg)
"People who run are crazy, they run for nothing, they are just following air," was Yves Sikubwabo's response to his childhood coach after he suggested that Yves consider becoming a runner.