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Lensahn, May 14, 2004

New world record in underwater walking

Report by Meike Carstensen

Wolfgang Kulow is once again world record holder in underwater walking. With support from BAUER KOMPRESSOREN on 14th May in the forest swimming pool of Lensahn (Schleswig-Holstein) the 53 year old extreme athlete regained his record which he lost last year. To achieve this he walked underwater for 48.7 kilometres within 24 hours and 24 minutes.

Kulow regularly participates in the toughest race in the world. He was the best German participant in the Sables marathon (230 kilometres with a backpack through the Sahara), in 33 hours he swam 90 kilometres around the island of Fehmarn and in the Race across America cycled 5,000 kilometres from Oregon to Florida in twelve days. Additionally he holds the world record in underwater cycling. To do this last year he cycled from Sierksdorf on the Baltic Sea to the Timmendorf beach.

In May 2003, Kulow was the first person ever to run an underwater marathon. This took him 24 hours and 24 minutes. In November 2003 his record was however broken. Holger Meironke in Lübeck ran the same distance in 24 hours and 22 minutes. Kulow decided to win his record back by running the marathon in a shorter time with a greater distance.

On 14 May the plan became a reality. The extreme athlete completed the marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres already after less than 22 hours and thus regained his record. Nevertheless, he continued to run until his old time of 24 hours and 24 minutes had elapsed. This made him not only the fastest underwater marathon runner, but also the runner with the longest distance.

During the first hours, Kulow was accompanied underwater by his friend Stefan Schlett with whom he already crossed the Takla Makan desert (466 kilometres). The 42 year old extreme athlete is actually a long-distance runner, parachutist, tri-athlete and mountain climber. Schlett holds various curious world records such as running in the treadmill (111 kilometres in eleven hours), in climbing stairs on the escalator (21,403 steps and 5,000 metres high in five hours) and in the ultra marathon underground (50 kilometres in a mine 700 metres underground). He was successful in a marathon on the Chinese wall (60,000 stairs and 1,600 metres high) or in the 1,000 mile run in New York. The fact that the well trained extreme athlete only managed 13 kilometres of underwater walking just goes to show how great Wolfgang Kulow‘s achievement is.

Also participating were the multiple Triathlon champion Kathleen Knaack and Kulow‘s trainer and advisor Matthias Plümer. They attained seven and 22 kilometres respectively.

After his three partners had left the water Wolfgang Kulow had to walk through the night alone. He only left the pool about every hour for a few minutes to exchange his empty tank of compressed air for a full one and to eat and drink something. Although he ate numerous müsli bars, lots of pasta, several bars of chocolate and much more, Kulow lost 4.2 kg during his marathon.

When he finally came out of the water after 24 hours and 24 minutes as a new world record holder in the underwater marathon, Kulow - together with his colleagues - had used 184,000 litres of compressed air. In total more than 100 compressed air tanks were filled using the MARINER 320.

The extreme athlete who had already achieved so many records under water, in particular praised the quality and the dryness of the breathing air. This had contributed to him being able to complete the marathon to the end at all, he disclosed whilst the television cameras were running.

Not only Wolfgang Kulow profited from the event. The sponsors BAUER KOMPRESSOREN and the BAUER dealer in Kiel, Poseidon, donated ten euros for every kilometre completed by Wolfgang Kulow. The total was rounded off so that Christoph Ullmann from BAUER KOMPRESSOREN and Werner Freidling from Poseidon were able to issue a cheque for euro 600. They handed this cheque over to Klaus Winter, the Mayor of Lensahn. The money is intended for the community's youth work.

After the underwater marathon Wolfgang Kulow still has not yet had enough. Currently, he is planning to cycle upside down on the ceiling of a frozen lake. Of course for this event too he will be able to rely on the support of BAUER KOMPRESSOREN.