“Go slowly but don’t stop,” says a 31-year-old amputee runner.

This is the lesson that a 31-year-old man, who had his leg amputated four years ago, learned after completing his first Comrades marathon last Sunday.

Hilton’s Travis Warwick-Oliver, founder of Rejuvenate SA, a not-for-profit organization which helps disabled athletes, completed the race in 9:58:18 and received a bronze medal.

He was involved in a motorcycle accident that broke his right foot in 2020.

Speaking to the Maritzburg Sun about the race, he said there was a time when he felt like giving up.

There were few moments when I thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish line.

Luckily there were so many people along the route supporting you and that gave me the energy to keep going,” Warwick-Oliver said.

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He added that he had a stomach ache at first.

“I had a stomach ache about 10 km after the start. This got better at around 35km.

When my energy level dropped, I felt like I wasn’t going to make it and I had something to eat.

“Seeing my friends and family again has also re-energized me,” said Warwick-Oliver, a member of the Hilton Harriers running club.

He added that he sometimes had to stop to remove his prosthesis because of sweating.

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“I told myself, I’m going to finish no matter what.

“There was no time limit or pressure for me to finish. I also wanted to prove that anything is possible.

“It’s not because I live with a disability that I have to stop. I didn’t want to let a stomach ache stop me from finishing the race,” he added.

Warwick-Oliver encouraged future fellow marathon runners to start training now.

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“Take it slowly and don’t put pressure on yourself.

Make sure you do at least 1000km of training and you should be good to go. He said the race was an incredible experience.

The vibe from Durban to Pietermaritzburg was out of this world. You have people helping you who you don’t know.