What our athletes have to say
Gill O’Connor from Johannesburg, South Africa
“I am so glad I joined Oliver’s training program. My goal was to run the London marathon in under 5 hours. I enjoyed the varied structure of his program and seeing results from following it diligently. With Oliver’s help and encouragement I managed to achieve my goal. I could not have done this without Oliver’s program. (I am 69 and and my last marathon was in 2018 where I ran 5.05). I would highly recommend signing up with Oliver. I continue training under his guidance.”
Jessica Thompson from Johannesburg, South Africa
“Complete Athlete is the reason I have been able to achieve the things I never thought I could!“
Lisa Selwood from Johannesburg, South Africa
“2022 was the first year I signed up with a running coach, for the simple reason that I didn’t know how to run a Comrades in August! I needed a flexible program that would fit in with my job and life as seamlessly as possible. And that is exactly what I got. As the year progressed, I learnt that coaching has everything to do with running….and nothing to do with running. I achieved times I never thought possible, I ran events I never thought I was capable of, and I had a kick-ass Comrades experience, improving my down run time by a staggering 45 minutes. I just missed out on a Bill Rowan but I finally learnt to trust in the program, trust in my training, trust in my coach and most importantly...trust in myself.”
Shirley Riddick from Johannesburg, South Africa
"I've never been much of a runner and hadn't ever run further than 10km when back in 2019 I decided to set myself a stretch goal in 2020 to run the Queenstown Half Marathon. COVID graced me with extra training time as the event was postponed twice. However by October of 2022, with nearly 3 years lapsed and very little base training, I was panicked at how unprepared I was and I was starting to doubt I would actually be able to run 21km. That's when I met Oliver and gave him the difficult task of coaching me for the half marathon. My ask was simple, finish the 21km, injury free and having enjoyed it enough to want to do another. Oliver was amazing! The first thing I gained from him was confidence, with all his experience, knowledge, and expertise I knew he would get me to the finish line. Each workout was uploaded directly to my Garmin and I could just focus on getting up and running without having to put too much thought into it. The workout's varied and kept me interested, Oliver checked in regularly with me, kept me motivated and tweaked my training as required. The best part was being accountable to someone else and I knew Oliver was "watching" all the time. Oliver worked a miracle and I absolutely loved my first half marathon, finishing comfortably and injury-free - everything I wanted to achieve. I've already signed up for another one in Feb 23 and Oliver has ramped up my training for a less leisurely run ;-)"
Dr. Claire Lownie from Johannesburg, South Africa
“I was referred to Oliver Ruhl of the Complete Athlete by a friend who had been training with him for 8 months prior.
I was struggling with multiple injuries as a result of Rheumatoid Arthritis at the time and was struggling to get to the 10km goal that I had set for myself.
Oliver took a few days to learn all he could about Rheumatoid Arthritis and then started putting together a training programme.
It has not been easy but by following Oliver’s training programme , nutritional guidance and various injury management techniques, I have managed to complete 3 half marathons on the road and a 22km trail run. My times have improved dramatically and in spite of a rheumatoid flare, I have managed to maintain fitness and increase my pace. Running is making me happy again.
Thank you Oliver for all you hard work in assisting me to achieve my goals”
Adam Smith from Cape Town, South Africa
“Great coach and mentor! I would highly recommend him.”
Gary Knight from Johannesburg, South Africa
“After starting running 4 years ago, my progress had slowed down and plateaued. I met Oliver through a friend and signed up after deciding that I would like to try and reach my full running potential. After consultation, Oliver guided me with my workouts to achieve the goals I had discussed with him. Since working with Oliver, I have surpassed the goals set and managed to achieve PBs in all distances from 1km up to 100 miles, improving my Comrades time by 2 hours and 10 minutes! I recommend Oliver to any runner who takes their training seriously and is looking for great results.”
Sarah White from Johannesburg, South Africa
“Amazing coach!”
Vicky Hulley from Johannesburg, South Africa
"Oliver saw the potential in me as one of his athletes and pushed me to achieve what he knew was possible. He is beyond passionate about running and has instilled in me a recognition of inner strength and ability. Make no mistake … there is no glory to be had without HARD work; Oli is disciplined and determined and expects the same from his athletes. This, together with his incredible gifts as a runner, mentor and friend has helped me enormously in life - for running is a microcosm in which life is reflected. Thank you Oliver - for many podiums and to many more 🙌"
Candis Lubbe from Johannesburg, South Africa
Comrades 2023: Although not my A-race for the year, running a good comrades was part of the coaches plan because "we are always to take races seriously!" I felt more prepared than I have in many years and had my head in the game albeit late in the season. Since I didn't do much racing this year, I started off in G Batch which was not my ideal starting point for where I planned to finish. I wormed my way through and took up trail running during the bottle neck session. At around 30 I had my first pit stop which is unusual for me, then again around 40 then 60km and 80km! Despite this I had a great race and fortunately felt strong in between all my pit stops. I cruised the hills nicely as I dislike down running. A 10:25 shows me if I continue to train and race properly I could enjoy some good rewards! As a believer in showing up for myself in life, coach as taught me how to do this by not letting myself off the hook!
Koen Rombouts from Johannesburg, South Africa
I wanted to thank you very much for all your support and continuous efforts to make me (and many others, better athletes). But not only that, I learn about myself every day and and it helps me to believe more in myself and it helps to deal with every day (sometimes less‘simple’😊)
As the last sentence of the book the Perfect Mile says: ‘Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans last minute. Sport is like life, is about taking your chances’ (Bannister).
