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World 50/100km champion heading to Comrades

Berkeley - On December 4, Camille Herron won her second World Championship of 2015 at the IAU World 50K Championships in Doha, Qatar by an impressive margin of more than seven minutes.

On Thursday the Nedbank Running Club announced that Herron will represent the club at the 2016 Comrades Marathon on May 29.  

“I can’t wait to return to South Africa for Comrades,” commented Herron.

“Not only is it the largest, most prestigious ultra-marathon in the world, but I also have unfinished business there.”

In 2014, Herron fell ill the day before the race and dropped out after 83km.

A lot has transpired since then, and 2015 has been a breakout year for Herron.

In September, she won the IAU World 100K Championship title in Winschoten, Holland with a scorching fast time of 7:08:35, the fourth fastest women’s 100K time in history.

In doing so, she also led a powerful American women’s team to the team Championship and clocked a 50-mile split of 5:38, two minutes faster than the current world and American Record for 50 miles.

A month later, Herron followed up with her second U.S. National Championship of 2015 (she also won the 100K Championships to qualify for the national team) at the Fall 50 Miler in Door County, Wisconsin. Her time of 5:38:41, run in rainy and a windy conditions and on the rolling course, is the fastest time ever run by a woman and will be recognised as a World “Road Best”.

“I am very excited and honoured to have Camille part of our Nedbank Green Dream Team line-up for the 2016 Comrades Marathon. We are a winning team and believe to support likewise athletes. The Nedbank woman's athletes won the last two Comrades marathons and we plan to dominate the Comrades again next year,” said Nick Bester, National Manager of the Nedbank Running Club.

“Camille will also be big motivation for our local athletes and will be asked to plough back some of her valuable knowledge to our development athletes while here in South Africa”

While Herron is a relative newcomer to ultra-marathons, she has distinguished herself as a competent and frequent road marathoner, with a personal best time of 2:37:14. She has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials three times (2008, 2012, 2016) and represented the United States at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she finished ninth (1st American). She has 20 marathon victories to her credit, including: the OKC Memorial Marathon (2012, 2014, 2015), Mercedes Marathon (2011, 2013), Route 66 Marathon (2012), Napa Valley Marathon (2011) and the Dallas White Rock Marathon (2010).

When she’s not running, Herron works as a Research Assistant in osteoimmunology at the University of Oklahoma and is an avid home brewer. She is married to (and coached by) Conor Holt, Head Track and Cross Country Coach at Oklahoma City University.

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