Haitian National Record Holder to Run for Haiti

Steeve Gabart holds the 5K and 10K records

Steeve Gabart (Gah-BARR) has two very personal reasons for being among the 8,000 plus runners expected for the Run for Haiti.

First, he is the Haitian national record holder in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters and has represented the island nation in international competitions.

“It will be right up there at the top of things that I have done as a runner to come up there and run for Haiti,” said Gabart, a former standout on the Florida State track team where he was the ACC 10,000 meter champion in 2009.  

Second, his mother, Ann Joseph, his father, Gene, and younger sister Laura, 14, were in Haiti at the time of the devastating earthquake. They all survived with harrowing tales to tell.

“My mother got outside of the house that she was in and saw the house crumble, “ said Gabart, who lives in South Florida. “My little sister was at a boarding school along with about 10 other girls and seven of them tried to get out the front door when the earthquake hit. She was pulled back and went out the back door with three others. The seven girls who tried to go out the front door all died.”

Even today, several weeks after the earthquake his father refuses to go back into his house in Port-a-Prince.

“This an astonishing event and that just shows what kind of nation we live in, that we can get people together so quickly to help out," Gabart said.  

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