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Juli Kleinhans once had almost 100,000 followers on Instagram. She didn’t make a cent from them. Today she runs Gutsy, a fitness app and community for everyday women, with a far smaller following. And she’s convinced you can start a business with just 1,000 followers. Juli raced at nationals for the first time when she was 11. By grade 11 her coach sat her down over dinner and told her that if she ran under 60 seconds in the 400m hurdles, she could race internationally. She ran the time. That year, two other girls ran faster, and only the top two went. At university her new coach asked her a question nobody had ever asked her: why are you running? She burst into tears. At 20 she met her coach for coffee and could only get three words out: “I hate this.” It wasn’t the sport she hated. It was the pressure, and how her whole identity had been built around it. Around the same time her Instagram was hacked. She lost her sport and her following in the same stretch, and then lockdown hit. What came next is the part we didn’t expect. Home workouts during COVID led to a personal training certificate, then group classes at F45, a hiking community, and eventually the Gutsy app, which launched in September 2024 at R99 a month so South African women could actually afford it. Now there’s also her podcast, She’s Gutsy. In this episode Juli breaks down how to get brand deals with a small following: what a media kit needs, why your audience numbers matter more than your follower count, why she’d look people up on LinkedIn rather than send one DM, why doing your first deals for trade can pay off, and how a protein bar she melted in the microwave turned into a partnership with USN. We also get into what nobody tells young athletes about pressure, why she came back to the track four years later to race her younger self (“I miss everything except the pressure”), doing an Ironman 70.3 in their first year of marriage without owning a bike, and the burnout she’s dealing with right now, which is why she trains 20 to 30 minutes a day. Plus the time Sydney McLaughlin followed her back, and why she films weekly car reviews that have nothing to do with fitness. Juli’s first ever podcast as a guest. 🔗 Follow JuliInstagram: @julipoeli_officialGutsy app: @gutsy_appPodcast: She’s Gutsy Podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts) 🔗 Follow ATHCOInstagram: @athco.ccYouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow UsDaniel: @dannyjd_Jannis: @jannisrothermel

“I’m not an influencer, I’m a triathlete.” That’s what it says in Dylan Nortje’s Instagram bio. Dylan is a professional triathlete from White River who started racing at 16. He’s 29 now and, by his own count, still on his twelfth gap year. He never sat down and decided to go pro. He wanted to make it in cycling and didn’t crack it. Then he did one race in Joburg, and it kept going from there. Making a living from triathlon in South Africa is a different game, though. Brands here run on small margins, importing is expensive, and very few of them can put big money behind an athlete. One brand owner told him straight: sponsoring the package he asked for would mean cancelling all her marketing. So they met halfway. Two years later, they’re still working together. He’ll also tell you he hates Instagram. If he could delete the app today, it’d be gone. At the end of last year he decided to post anyway, on his own terms: he only shows products he actually uses, and gives an honest answer when people ask whether they work. When he started speaking up about depression, 15 to 20 guys messaged him privately within the first hour. In this episode Dylan gives his honest advice to anyone getting into triathlon, especially Dan, who’s only a few weeks into his own training. We get into why “you don’t race triathlons, you train for them,” why he hasn’t raced since December and still loves every week of training, and how running without a watch helped take his 5K from around 16:40 into the 15s in six months. We also get into why copying pro triathletes can make you slower. Instagram shows you the heat sessions in hoodies on a 36-degree day. It doesn’t show the nine hours of sleep and the 99% of unglamorous work behind them. Plus how Strava pushes people to run faster than their body wants, why work stress hits your body the same way a hard session does, and why he says that training alone, he’d have quit years ago. And fuelling the simple way: how many carbs per hour, how to train your gut, whether DIY sugar mixes are worth it, and why a Bar One makes it onto his long rides. An honest one about loving the process, and doing sport because it’s fun. 🔗 Follow DylanInstagram: @dylannortje97 🔗 Follow ATHCOInstagram: @athco.ccYouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow UsDaniel: @dannyjd_Jannis: @jannisrothermel

We met Michael Brand by accident. We were organising an event at SaunaHaüs, he happened to be there, and when we asked if he trained, he said he did "a little bit of triathlon." Then he sent us his list. A self-made Ironman. A 100-miler. Top five at the Prom backyard ultra. Medals at the South African rowing champs. And the Cape 253. A 7.4km swim from Robben Island, a 138km cycle, and a 108km run over Cape Town's 13 Peaks with 6,500m of climbing. His mates told him it was the dumbest thing they'd ever heard. He did it anyway. Mike grew up rowing. For a kid with ADHD who didn't quite know where he fit, it was the first place where hard work showed up clearly in the results and the first time he found real confidence. Years later, struggling during his master's year, he went back to that lesson: pick something so difficult that it forces you to lock in every day. At 12, he'd written two things on his bucket list: do an Ironman without ever doing a half, and run an ultra before a marathon. When COVID shut down races, he didn't wait. He built his own Ironman between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek and added 8km to the run so it would count as an ultra. He weighed 102kg when he started training. His first run was 2km and gave him shin splints. Fourteen hours later, he'd ticked off both. Then came the Cape 253. On the run leg, three peaks in, around 3am, he partially tore his ITB coming down a rocky descent. He'd trained for ten months. So instead of stopping, he told himself: just one more peak. A doctor monitored his painkillers every two hours, friends joined for every leg, and he moved one peak at a time until he finished. 57 hours after starting. In this episode we get into why he only picks goals he'll probably fail, why the race itself is never the point, and why an ultra can feel like a whole year of life condensed into 35 hours. We also talk about hallucinating friendly spiders 36 hours into UTCT, why backyard ultras are the only format that gets harder the more you train, his strategy for running one, why "sport is about doing the boring things very well," and the 200-miler he's training for next. Plus ADHD and endurance sport, injury prevention, and our honest take on David Goggins. Recorded inside Sauna, Cape Town. 🔗 Follow Mike  Instagram: @michaelbrandrsa 🔗 SaunaHaüs Cape Town Book a session or say hi: @saunahaus.cpt 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Chanel Kruger didn't grow up a runner. At school she only played netball, and by her own admission she hated putting in the work. Her sister was the track star. That changed during COVID. Her sister kept training at home, so Chanel joined her, mostly just to spend time together. They worked through a Burnt Studios at-home program, one session led to another, and she never really stopped. She's been strength training consistently for five or six years now, and running came later. She was sharing her training online long before it was a "creator athlete" thing. And at around 5,000 followers, she reached out to Burnt Studios and HOKA herself. Almost four years later, she's still partnered with both. In this episode she breaks down exactly how she approached it. Why she bought and wore the brands long before she ever pitched them. Why you should "do what you would do if you were already a partner." Why staying within your niche matters more than saying yes to every offer. And why brands often see the value in you before you see it yourself. We also get into how to grow as a fitness creator in South Africa without chasing perfection: why most of Instagram is actually normal parkruns and ordinary 5Ks, the simple content ideas hiding in every beginner's running journey, the editing tools she uses, and why her own page has become more of a fitness scrapbook than a planned content calendar. Even though she now manages social media for six brands as a freelancer. Then there's the injury. Cape Town Marathon was her A-race. A week after Two Oceans, on an easy Saturday run with friends, she rolled her ankle and fractured her foot. She was back in the gym on crutches that Monday, missed the marathon, and slowly built back. Starting with two minutes of running and two minutes of walking, until her first continuous run of 12km. Plus HYROX, why it's really a running race with obstacles, why Cape Town's packed run club scene makes it hard to stick to a training plan, and why fun and goals can coexist. 🔗 Follow Chanel Instagram: @chanel_cronje 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

One in four children in South Africa is affected by childhood stunting. And if a child doesn't get the nutrition they need in their first two years of life, the effects can't be reversed later. Jeremy Cook is a motion designer with a nine-to-five. He's not an elite athlete, he's not running across a continent, and he doesn't have a big following. What he does have is a race calendar and this year he decided every event on it would be for something bigger than a medal. It started with a swim. Three years ago his boss introduced him to a foundation that funds high-protein daily meals for young children, and their annual fundraiser was the big swim: 7.5km through the Atlantic from Robben Island to Blouberg. With a competitive swimming background, he signed up immediately. He's done it every year since. The most recent one in rough chop that added an hour for almost everyone in the water. This year he started Strong Starts. Not a new NGO, but a way to connect the organisations already doing the work with people and companies who want to help. He set himself a goal of raising R100,000. He honestly didn't think he'd get to R20,000. He's past it. The campaign now builds to one race: the UTCT 55km. The mechanic is simple. 55 kilometres, 55 children fed for a full year, R55,000. In this episode we get into how he trains for open water endurance swims, the 15km river swim he signed up for almost on a whim, falling in love with trail running through the Running Late community, and why he'd rather swim in cold water with a wetsuit than risk the sharks on the other side of the peninsula. We also talk honestly about the content side of fundraising. Why good causes still need good content to get noticed. Why he started on his phone rather than waiting for the right gear. How his page grew 16% a month once he posted consistently. From just over 100 followers. And how he approaches brands by offering his motion design skills in return for their support, rather than just asking for money. Plus open water swimming tips for anyone training for their first triathlon, and the terrifying event he's shaken hands on for next year. You don't need to run across a country to make a difference. Sometimes you just need to put a reason behind the race you were already going to do. 🔗 Support & Follow Strong Starts: @strong__starts  Jeremy: @jeremy__cook__ Donate: https://www.givengain.com/project/jeremy-raising-funds-for-startwell-foundation-118624 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Cassandra signed her partner up for an Ironman 70.3 as a birthday present without asking him. She signed herself up too, then went back to work on a cruise ship and came home with three and a half months to train for a race she didn't fully understand. Her goal at Mossel Bay was simply to finish. She qualified for the 70.3 World Championships in Nice. First triathlon she'd ever done. In this conversation she takes us through how she trained around six-month contracts with no days off, why joining a community was the best decision she made, and the transitions and open water realities nobody warns you about. We also get into content creation, because she built her whole following on cruise ship content and switched to triathlon without losing her audience. She breaks down the four types of content she thinks every athlete should post, why she never trains around what would film well, and why there's no magic formula despite what every ad tells you. 🔗 Follow Cassandra Instagram: @cass_stefanie 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_  Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Vicky-Leigh Kruger wasn't sporty, was bullied for her weight, and hit a wall in grade 11, glandular fever, 21 days out of school, a colon infection, her gran passing, and five days away from repeating the year. Her words: she had no purpose and she was drowning. She found CrossFit at 16 through one guy's Instagram videos. At 18 she failed her Level 1 exam three times because she'd never actually coached anyone. So she started training people in her back garden for R95 an hour, buying one dumbbell at a time with each payment, dragging them indoors when it rained. By the time she walked into Virgin Active as a trainer, she arrived with fifty clients already on her books. In this conversation we get into how she built it from nothing, why practical experience beat theory every time, why she refuses to run the salesy funnels that would grow her faster, and her honest response to a creator who suggested people who don't look a certain way shouldn't be personal trainers. 🔗 Follow Vicky-Leigh Instagram: @_byvicks Coaching: @coached_byvicks 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Oscar Armstrong was a professional kitesurfer from 16 to 22. Sponsored, homeschooled, travelling the world on tour. Then he burnt out, moved to the Caribbean, picked up a camera and built an entirely different career. Since then: Indonesia, Sardinia, a van in Oregon, marine conservation documentaries, and a 50km surf ski from Hout Bay to Muizenberg in 7 hours 42 minutes. Now he's a fitness entrepreneur building Apex around strength, endurance, mindset and community. In this conversation we get into what it takes to build a body that actually holds up. Why bodybuilding-style training makes you stiff and less capable, where most people go wrong with hybrid training, and why he threw away his Whoop and refuses to let a recovery score decide his day. We also get into why he never picked one career, why he deliberately puts himself in positions where he's a beginner again, and his honest take that balance is a myth if you want to be genuinely great at something.  Follow Oscar Instagram: @oscar14rush  Apex: @os_apex 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Giorgia Wessels couldn't afford running shoes, so she showed up to sprint trials barefoot. A teacher asked why she was even there and she never went back. She walked into a gym at 17 instead, and that was over ten years ago. She was too shy to approach people on a commercial gym floor, so rather than face it she left the country. Two years in Bangkok, two in Singapore, working nine clients a day, six days a week, with seven days of paid leave a year. Then her visa was denied and she had 60 days to get out. She came home and walked straight into the commercial gym she'd crossed the world to avoid. In this conversation she gets honest about a decade in the fitness industry. Why so much online advice comes from people not telling you what they're taking, why confident-sounding advice is usually the worst, why the all-or-nothing mindset ruins progress, and why she refuses to comment on her clients' bodies. 🔗 Follow Giorgia Instagram: @giorgia.bw 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc  YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_  Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Kyle Schoonbee rowed at the Tokyo Olympics. Five years of work, a ruthless centralised program, two stress fractures he never told anyone about. Then three weeks out from the Games the squad overcooked it. He took two strokes off the start line and watched the entire field disappear. He walked away from endurance sport after that. Then HYROX came along and he couldn't stay out of it. Seven and a half minutes off his time between his first and second race. Sub-60 in Chicago. Now he's chasing Elite 15. In this conversation he breaks down what actually separates elite HYROX athletes from everyone else. Why his rowing background helps less than you'd assume, why he deliberately rows slower than he can, and why comparing HYROX times across courses is meaningless. We also get into elite-level training and recovery: why program completion should be a health metric not a goal, his honest take on ice baths, and the funding reality for niche sports in South Africa. 🔗 Follow Kyle  Instagram: @kyle.schoonbee 🔗 Follow ATHCO  Instagram: @athco.cc  YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us  Daniel: @dannyjd_  Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Vicky Van Der Merwe thought about the Olympics every day from the age of eight. She got there at 34. A hip injury cost her 2012. Glandular fever cost her 2016. By 2020 she'd stepped away, finished a law degree and moved on. Then her son was born in 2022 and two weeks later she told her husband she still wanted Paris. Her last international race had been seven years earlier. Almost everyone thought she was crazy. Five months postpartum she was eight minutes down at African Champs. One year later she won it by three minutes. In this conversation she explains how she did it on far less training than her competitors because with a newborn, broken sleep and a business to run, more hours weren't an option. Instead she made every session count and kept a list of every mistake after every race, fixing them one at a time. We also get into the chaos of that campaign: getting hit by a car mid-race, her race bike written off the night before a qualifier, and what it's actually like inside an Olympic village. 🔗 Follow Vicky Instagram:  @vickyvandermerwe 🔗 Follow ATHCO  Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us  Daniel: @dannyjd_  Jannis: @jannisrothermel

We started ATHCO to answer one question: can you turn a passion for sport into a full-time profession in South Africa? Twenty-seven episodes later, we have an answer and it's not the one we wanted. This is just the two of us being honest about what we've found. Why the best SA creators still have full-time jobs even at 40,000 followers. Why brands here don't have creator marketing budgets. The brutal market maths that makes the numbers not work. And why South African creators are grafting twice as hard for a fraction of the return. We're also open about our own situation. Burning savings, flying back and forth, pivoting business models, and possibly having to tap overseas markets just to keep building something here. But it's not all bleak. We get into the real value that comes from a personal brand even without the money, and why documenting your life tends to make your life better. No six-step formula. No secret hack. Just where we're actually at. 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_  Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Cameron Tripney is 22 and one of the fastest stand up paddle sprinters in the world. Junior World Champion at 18 on his first ever international event. Bronze in the Pro Men's division at 21. World Cup gold in Italy. He gets almost nothing for it. No government backing, no salary, none of the support paddlers at his level receive in South America or Europe. And the hardest part isn't the training. It’s that being world-class isn't enough anymore. Results don't get you sponsors. Content does. And he'd rather be on the water than behind a camera. In this conversation we get into how a kid who was terrified of water became a world champion on it, how an ACL injury accidentally turned him into a sprinter, why his left arm is double the size of his right, and what it really takes to reach the top of a sport, plus why paddling lost its golden era and whether he'd move to Europe to chase it. If you've ever been great at something nobody was watching, this one will hit. 🔗 Follow Cameron Instagram: @camerontripney 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Amish Kooverjee was lonely during COVID. His cricket career had ended and he was running alone, feeling like something was missing. So he invited a few cricket mates to do a 5K and grab a coffee. Only two showed up but five strangers found the Instagram page he'd made that day, and ten people ran. Five years later, Running to Coffee is in four cities across South Africa. He accidentally built one of the country's OG run clubs, back when run clubs weren't cool. In this episode, Amish shares the philosophy behind a community that lasts. Why chasing numbers is the wrong goal and why the best advice he got was that people come to your crew for one reason: you. He opens up about his first Comrades, impulsively registered at 10pm with a McDonald's, and why a self-described "normal guy" who isn't the fastest runner ends up working with big brands. One of the warmest conversations we've had about what running communities are really about. 🔗 Follow AmishInstagram: @keeping_up_with_koovers 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel

Twelve months ago, Jake Bird had never owned a bike and couldn't swim 25 metres without stopping. After a few beers at a New Year's Eve party, he signed up for an Ironman 70.3 on the spot. Eight months later, with no athletic background, he qualified for the 70.3 World Championships. He documented the entire journey on Instagram from day one and four months into posting, off a single race, he landed an ambassadorship with Ironman itself. His first brand deal came at 6,500 followers. In this episode, Jake breaks down the whole playbook: how he used seven years of managing influencers to grow his own following, why talking-to-camera content beats viral videos, why a focused niche is more valuable to brands than a huge audience, and the brutal reality of training 16+ hours a week alongside a full-time job. Part comeback story, part social media masterclass. 🔗 Follow Jake  Instagram: @jakeebird 🔗 Follow ATHCO Instagram: @athco.cc YouTube: ATHCO 🔗 Follow Us  Daniel: @dannyjd_ Jannis: @jannisrothermel