You may know Bob Scholtes through social media, extreme sports, or community runs. At 22, Bobfitlx, as he calls himself on social media, already has quite a track record. In just 5 years, he has completed several marathons, ultramarathons, an Ironman, and the Last Soul Ultra, a backyard ultramarathon. Bob Scholtes trains twice a day and constantly sets himself new goals. He always carries his phone to bring his social media community along into his world.

But his daily life did not always look like this. Before he started working out, Bob Scholtes was the "chubby little kid" who "always ate well and was just happy", as he describes himself. And yet, one day, he looked in the mirror and "was not entirely satisfied" with his body. He turned to YouTube to find out how he could get into working out. From press-ups and pull-ups in his room, he moved on to running and quickly also to the gym. Seeing the first kilos drop off motivated him more and more to keep going, and when Bob Scholtes sets his mind on something, he "sees it through to the end."

After just one year of training, Bob Scholtes ran a marathon. Back then it was a "huge challenge"; today it feels more like a walk in the park, as he just completed a sub-3-hour marathon in Barcelona. Even at his first marathon, he realised he wanted to push further beyond his "limits", though less in the "fast direction, but rather longer distances, where I can push myself further".

"I know that I can endure pain for a very long time, and that is why I participated in the Last Soul Ultramarathon last year, where I finished in eighth place and ran more than 200km over 30 hours."

At the Last Soul Ultra, a so-called backyard ultramarathon, runners must complete a loop of 6.706km every 60 minutes until only one runner remains. An extreme sporting event that not just anyone can simply enter. The vast majority of runners are professional athletes backed by large teams and sponsors, including some of Bob's role models such as Kim Gottwald, who co-organises the Last Soul Ultra, and Arda Saatçi. Each year, however, a number of so-called "wildcards" are awarded. To receive one, Bob Scholtes submitted a social media video and got the chance to run alongside his role models and with an 8th place finish, he more than held his own.

He always carries his phone with him to document everything and show his followers how far he has come. Bobfitlx got started on social media after colleagues gave him the idea. With everything he had achieved in such a short time, he could "be proud of himself" and perhaps motivate other people to take up sport. His first video then "surprisingly went down well." And "there I got a few followers, a few likes, a few good comments, and that motivated me to keep going and it also motivated me through the slightly harder times, when I am not so motivated, to keep going anyway, because I know that people have been motivated through me."

What started as a small idea quickly turned into the goal of extending his reach on social media to get as many people as possible into sport. Bobfitlx shares that same aim with his colleagues from the social media profile "D'Ekipp". As influencers focused on sport, they wanted to take social media in Luxembourg "to a new level." The most important thing: working out together. Many people often lack motivation, and according to "D'Ekipp", the best way to find it is by pushing each other. Alongside the idea of setting new sporting challenges together and trying out new sports, the first "community run" quickly came about. Back then with around 50 people, "D'Ekipp" today, just under a year later, runs through the districts of the Luxembourg City with several hundred participants.

With several hundred people participating, it is no longer a small-scale event and that means catering, safety, entertainment and content for social media all need to be taken care of. Behind the scenes, there is therefore more organisation going on than one might think. Despite the work involved, the community runs are a lot of fun, says Bob Scholtes. Particularly rewarding is seeing participants' appreciation. Once at a community run, some participants even took on a two hour from Germany because they were motivated to take up sport by "D'Ekipp."

"That just makes me incredibly happy; it is really something you cannot put into words, when someone comes up to you and tells you that you helped them in their personal development. It is indescribable, that feeling is really, really something special."

But "D'Ekipp" does not only do sport, they also review kebabs in Luxembourg. After a fun video, they noticed that people simply "really love" watching their kebab reviews, so they kept doing them. However, eating that much does not quite go hand in hand with Bob Scholtes' extreme sport lifestyle. The day after a kebab, he can already tell that his "performance is not quite as good." As a result, he regularly takes breaks from the kebab reviews to focus on sport.

Bob Scholtes admits that social contacts do "sometimes slip more into the background" because he constantly has new "big goals" and wants to "achieve a lot and put his training first." Even though he takes time for his friends now and then, he simply has goals that require him to pull himself together.

Alongside smaller "side quests" such as marathons or powerlifting competitions, Bob Scholtes' main challenge this year is to take part in the Last Soul Ultra once again. "I took part last year and clocked two hundred kilometres. This year I want to go even further and reach an even more impressive number and go completely beyond my own limits. And that is what I am training towards now."

In the long run, Bob Scholtes wants to "build a legacy where I really manage to motivate a lot, a lot of people, to get into sport. Ideally bring a lot of young people to sport." Making a living from sport "would of course also be cool," Bob admits. "Earning money through sponsors and coaching - those would be my two dreams."

What does it take to achieve what Bob Scholtes has achieved? Above all, "perseverance." "I believe that if you really want to achieve something, you also know what you have to do and you know how much work you have to put in to reach that goal. And to achieve what I have achieved, you have to get up every day, do your sport every day, see it through, and also put in the work when you are not motivated."