Camille Herron Keynote Speaker

Camille Herron is an ultrarunner, scientist, coach, public speaker, model, and sports whistleblower. She is known for running with her hair down, a big smile, and eating tacos to fuel ultramarathons. BBC Sports called her the greatest ultra marathon runner of all time. Her tagline, “Let the magic come out!”, characterizes what she feels inside and making the most of her blessed talents as a human and athlete. She raises her arms at the finish line to symbolize “wings”, in celebration of who she dedicates each race to.

As a child, she was diagnosed with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder, didn’t have all of her hearing, and took speech therapy until she was 9 to learn how to communicate. She was also in the gifted program. Because of her inability to talk, she would smile to communicate her joy and happiness. Her parents put her in dance, sports, and music activities to help her overcome her shyness and develop her confidence. Learning to overcome her disabilities and body quirks have taught her to work hard, be kind, be a good human, and to stand up for herself and others. She has overcome numerous challenges in her life, including almost drowning when she was three, losing her home to a tornado in high school, seven stress fractures in high school and college, and survived a rollover car accident in 2019. She has gratitude for her life and making a difference in the world.

In 2024, she was late diagnosed as Autistic/ADHD, which deepened her understanding of herself and her passion for running. Since becoming a runner in 1995, she’s channeled her Forrest Gump-like focus to accumulate 116,000+ lifetime running miles so far, averaging 10.3 miles per day for 30+ yrs. She is figuratively “running to the moon”, which is 238,855 miles. She started a running streak in July 2021. Being Autistic, she is highly regimented, running twice a day or more most days and accurately maintains her lifetime mileage to six decimal places.

She committed to Ultrarunning in 2015 and has been honored as a four-time IAU International Ultrarunner of the Year, six-time USATF Ultrarunner of the Year, and an 9-time USATF Athlete of the Week. In 2024, she was inducted into the Road Runners Club of America Distance Running Hall of Fame.

She is the only athlete who’s won all of the IAU Ultra Road World Championships (50km, 100km, and 24Hrs). She is the first ultrarunner to win both the prestigious Comrades Marathon and Spartathlon. In 2023, she became the first woman to break 24 hours at the grueling 153-mile Spartathlon (22:35:31).

Since 2015, she has set numerous Ultra World and American Records/Bests between 50 miles and 6 Days- shattering time and distance barriers for women. She was the first woman to run sub 5:40 for 50 miles, 150+ km for 12 hours, sub 13 hours for 100 miles, 270+ km for 24 hours, 430+ km for 48Hrs, and 900+ km for 6 days. She is the first and only woman to run 100 miles under 13 hours and has done so on road, track, and trail.