behind register Eliud Kipchoge In the Berlin Marathon There is a whole team. Most of them are anonymous or don’t intend to stop. This is the situation Klaus Henning Schulk, a test volunteer from the German capital who won the trust of an athlete of Kenyan citizenship. It’s his water carrier in the race.
Klaus is 56 years old and has been a volunteer for the Berlin Marathon since 1998. He is also a marathon runner and triathlete, which allows him to be in great shape and be sought after by the stars of German racing. Eliud couldn’t catch him on the day he set his second world record: 2.01:09. The Water Bearer was already there on the first day, in 2018.
Before becoming a water carrier, he was a project manager for a construction company. It was her passion for athletics that drove her to volunteer for the marathon 24 consecutive years. He is the key member of a team of 30 volunteers and is responsible for helping the best marathon runner in history. His reactions after supplies are viral.
Claus’ role as water carrier is to give the runner a bottle of water at the refreshment points. Its function is as essential as it is indispensable, as the racing stars must hydrate properly and without diminishing their performance. Accuracy is required, in time. Every five kilometers – at each point determined by the organization – the water carrier must be ready there.
The effort he puts in is the maximum. At the end of the day, the race should be conducted just like a marathon runner. To do her job, she does it in her own way: by bicycle and at twice the speed of the participant. Klaus says he now has to pedal 25 miles every time he gets on the bike, so he ends up getting tired.
[Eliud Kipchoge, de campeón en la pista a leyenda del asfalto: los retos que le quedan]
In addition to being present at every connection point, the Claus job also requires the water carrier to know how to get the medium’s attention. Each resuscitation point is marked, but whoever gives the bottle should make sure they are seen. The delivery should be just as effective as the relay race.
Claus has something special that makes him an odd character: the way he celebrates every successful delivery to the marathon. In 2018 and 2022 celebrate them all. This year he went with a Go-Pro camera on his head and with it recorded his entire journey, although he hasn’t shared these photos yet.
Eliud Kipchoge and Klaus Henning Schulke after the 2018 Berlin Marathon
Kipchoge was the first to realize the value of Klaus’ work in Berlin. In 2018, he asked the Marathon Organization to move the water tanker to his hotel. Both were photographed and Eliud gave him a racing bib for his first world record. The poster carried a special dedication: “Dear Claus, without you I would not have achieved this world record.”
“My biggest memory in Berlin is the man who was giving me water. He’s still my hero. The way he treated himself was incredible,” Kipchoge recalls his achievement four years ago. The scene was repeated this Sunday: Eliud set another record and Claus was able to celebrate every birth. History of Berlin.
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