Herron targets her World 48-Hour mark at the Taipei 48-Hour Ultra Marathon. 

American Ultra-runner Camille Herron will be targetting her 48-hour world record when she lines up at the Taipei 48-hour Ultramarathon in Tawan this weekend.

The race is set to start on Friday, 21st February, at 3 pm local time, 8 am UK time.

Live results updates will  be HERE after the race start

 News Updates can be found HERE

While the Mens 48-hour record has stood for almost 30 years, the women’s record has changed hands several times in that period and five times in the last six years.

 Herron currently has the International Association of Ultra Runners (IAU) best ratified 48-hour distance of 435.336 kilometres/ 270.505 Miles.

She ran this at the Sri Chinmoy 48-hour track race in Canberra on 24/26 March 2023.

Other runners to watch in the women’s race are New Zealand’s Fiona Hayvice and Japan’s Sumie Inagaki. Hayvice has represented New Zealand in 24-hour and ultra trail championships and is an experienced trail, multi-day and Backyard Ultra participant.  

The long-standing New Zealand 48-hour record, held by Sandy Barwick from 1990, of 326.542 km, is a possible target.

Iagaki is a previous women’s world record holder at 48 hours, with a previous best of 397.103 Km. Now 57 years old, she may be targeting the current master’s age 55 distances of Russia’s Galina Erimina from 2009 of 357.987 km (road)  at Surgeres in France and 360.750Km  run on an indoor track in Brno, Czechia,

Brief Women’s 48-hour history.

Herrons current record distance surpassed the previous record of 411.458 kilometres/ 255.668 Miles that Great Britain’s Jo Zakrzewski had set just 5 weeks earlier in Taiwan on a road loop.

Poland’s, Patrycja Bereznowska is the only other athlete with three ratified performances over 400km, twice improving the 48-hour world best.

In January 2018, she became the first woman to go beyond 400km in 48 hours, running 401.000 kilometres/249.169 Miles in Athens.

It bettered the 397.103 Kilometres/246.748 Miles run by Japan’s Sumi Inagaki, in May 2010 at the Surgeres race in France.

The Polish athlete surpassed this, with 403.320 Kilometres /250.661 Miles at Pabianice in her home country in May 2022.

Last year, in February 2024, running in the Taiwan race, she increased her personal best, recording the 2nd-best ratified 48-hour distance of 427.524 kilometres/265.651 Miles.

Women’s  all-time ratified 48-hour performances.

NOTE the following, all reportedly surpassed 400km at the GOMU//BUFF 48-hour race in Hungary from 31st May to 2nd June 2024.

Note Stine Rex (DEN),              435.564 Km

 Irina Masinova )RUS.                434.912 Km 

and Viktoria Brown (HUN/CAN),405.045 Km  

The IAU has still not ratified these performances, as the race was not licenced by the Hungarian Federation, a prerequisite for any ratification of performances.

I wrote about this for IRunfar HERE

Since setting the 48-hour best in March 2023, Herron has gone on to break the 6-day record when she ran 901.768 km/560.332 Miles in March 2024, at the Lululemon Further 6-day race in California, USA.

Like Kouros with the men’s records, she can lay claim to holding the 24-hour, 48-hour and 6-day records at the same time. A remarkable feat by any standard.

Herron also has the distinction of being the only female runner to have won IAU championships at 50km, at Doha in 2015, 100km, at Winschoten, also in 2015 and 24 hours at Albi, in 2019.

You can read the 2025 Mens Taipei 48 hour race preview HERE

You can read about Camille Herron reflecting on her 2023 48 hour record HERE

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Adrian Tarit Stott.

The author is a former GB 24-hour ultra international with over 100 ultra race completions.  He has also been involved in organising ultra-distance races for over 30 years.  Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and the Mountain and Trail Advisory Group. He also contributes as part of the selection and team management for both Scottish and GB ultra teams. A freelance writer in his spare time, he contributes articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.