Michael Proulx🏃 🚴 ⛷ ⚽️ 🏡

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”.