This is Claus-Henning Schulke.
The 57-year old German is a civil engineer but — once a year — he morphs into an athletic legend.
How? Schulke bikes around the Berlin Marathon course and is the dude who keeps Kenyan super-marathoner Eliud Kipchoge hydrated.
Last year, he played a part in Kipchoge’s record-breaking marathon time of 2:01:09.
Per the LA Times, Schulke is an accomplished triathlete, having finished 6x Ironman events.
How did he get in with Kipchoge?
While other major marathon events let top runners grab water off of tables, Berlin pairs the best marathoners with a volunteer (who hand them bottles).
They first teamed up in 2017 and Kipchoge — the greatest marathoner ever — requested for Schulke in the following years.
After setting the marathon record of 2:01:39 in 2018, he signed his running bib and gave it to Schulke.
It read: “Dear Claus: Without you, I would not have managed to run this world record.”
Kipchoge has also called Schulke a “hero” for his efforts. The rest of the world calls him one of the most glorious nicknames ever: “Bottle Claus”.
The 57-year old German is a civil engineer but — once a year — he morphs into an athletic legend.
How? Schulke bikes around the Berlin Marathon course and is the dude who keeps Kenyan super-marathoner Eliud Kipchoge hydrated.
Last year, he played a part in Kipchoge’s record-breaking marathon time of 2:01:09.
Per the LA Times, Schulke is an accomplished triathlete, having finished 6x Ironman events.
How did he get in with Kipchoge?
While other major marathon events let top runners grab water off of tables, Berlin pairs the best marathoners with a volunteer (who hand them bottles).
They first teamed up in 2017 and Kipchoge — the greatest marathoner ever — requested for Schulke in the following years.
After setting the marathon record of 2:01:39 in 2018, he signed his running bib and gave it to Schulke.
It read: “Dear Claus: Without you, I would not have managed to run this world record.”
Kipchoge has also called Schulke a “hero” for his efforts. The rest of the world calls him one of the most glorious nicknames ever: “Bottle Claus”.
LA Times article is a great read: latimes.com
Full 10-minute video profile of Bottle Claus: latimes.com
Kipchoge did break the 2-hour marathon mark in 2019, but it’s not an official record because the course was tailored for him:
Full 10-minute video profile of Bottle Claus: latimes.com
Kipchoge did break the 2-hour marathon mark in 2019, but it’s not an official record because the course was tailored for him:
Signing Bottle Claus to a shoe deal is one way Nike can make up for losing Messi and Curry. readtrung.com
I can’t confirm, but think Bottle Claus yelling “Eliud, push” at this part of the course shaved off 0.5 seconds on the record marathon time.
Kipchoge and Bottle Claus
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