Claus-Henning Schulke: All you need to know about Eliud Kipchoge's 'Drinks Guy'

As Eliud Kipchoge breezed through the streets of Berlin to break his own record and set a new Marathon World Record on Sunday, one person was conspicuous throughout the race; his 'Drinks Guy' Claus-Henning Schulke.

With his first handover of the bottle at the first drinks station, Schulke celebrated, just like he did in 2018 as Kipchoge produced another brilliant performance to set the record he surpassed on Sunday.

Same 'Drinks Guy, same Kipchoge, two records, one bettering the other.

As small as the role of simply passing the drinks bottle to the World record holder seemed, Schulke was doing it for the second time and this time he was specifically assigned to the Kenyan by the race director, according to Stay The Course Leaders, perhaps due to his efficiency in 2018 as well as his experience as a volunteer in the marathon.

Schulke is a 56-year-old amateur triathlete who works as a project manager. He’s been volunteering at the Berlin Marathon since 1998 and was the senior member of the 30-person crew in charge of getting the elite athletes their drinks during the race.

Kipchoge smashes World Marathon record

In an earlier interview in 2018, the 37-year-old Kipchoge said that his best moment from the 2018 edition of the Berlin Marathon was his 'Drinks Guy' Schulke.

"My biggest remembrance of Berlin is the guy who was handling me water. (He is) still my hero up to now. The way he was handling and acting and talking was unbelievable," he said.

The two, Kipchoge and Schulke met at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport last week on Tuesday when the Kenyan arrived in Germany for the marathon, and they discussed their bottle-passing strategy for the race that would ensure efficiency in handling the bottle to allow Kipchoge to keep his pace.

Across the 13 drink stations, Schulke peddled his bike to a station, waited for Kipchoge, handed him the bottle, then hopped back on his bike to beat the marathoner to the next station, and the cycle continued.

It might have been Kipchoge's World record, but Schulke will definitely bask in the glory of it, for the second time.

According to an interview on Stay The Course Leaders, Claus, is a former marathoner who also participated in various triathlons during his active days. For his daily bread, he works as a Project Manager for a Berlin-based Construction Company. He has volunteered at the Berlin Marathon for over 20 years and is now a senior member of a 30-person volunteer crew that coordinates to ensure elite marathoners get their in-race fluids.

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