Camille Herron, a prominent American ultrarunner with numerous world records, and her husband Conor Holt, who also serves as her coach, have come under fire for allegedly altering Wikipedia entries.
The controversy stems from edits made to the profiles of top ultrarunners like Kilian Jornet and Courtney Dauwalter. The edits allegedly made by Herron reduced the prominence of their achievements and removed several accolades while elevating her own accomplishments. These edits have been connected to Herron’s email address and Holt’s IP address.
The couple has been using the Wikipedia handle “Rundbowie” since February 2024, after their previous account, “Temporun73,” was suspended for violating Wikipedia’s conflict-of-interest policies. Once “Rundbowie” was active, the pattern of edits resumed, promoting Herron while altering the profiles of other notable athletes.
Herron’s earlier account, “Temporun73,” was flagged multiple times for making promotional edits to her own page. Wikipedia administrators issued warnings, emphasizing the importance of maintaining neutrality and disclosing conflicts of interest. Herron’s account ignored these warnings, dismissing them as “abusive talk.”
In January 2024, a specific warning read: “Terms like ‘legendary,’ ‘prestigious,’ and ‘steely toughness’ are promotional language and not in line with Wikipedia’s neutral tone requirements.”
The “Rundbowie” account was active from February to April 2024, but paused while Herron attempted a six-day world record in early March. Activity resumed on March 19, with another removal of the phrase “widely regarded as one of the world’s best trail runners” from Jornet’s and Dauwalter’s profiles.
One of the more contentious edits involved removing the phrase “widely regarded as one of the best trail runners ever” from Jornet’s and Dauwalter’s pages, citing the need to remove “puffery.” At the same time, Herron’s page was updated to describe her as “widely regarded as one of the greatest ultramarathon runners of all time.”
Since 2017, the two accounts tied to Herron have made over 300 edits, with more than half targeting her own Wikipedia entry. Many of these edits involved enhancing her accomplishments while downplaying or removing achievements from other athletes’ profiles, such as 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden and ultrarunning icon Yiannis Kouros.
In another instance, Herron removed references to Danish ultrarunner Stine Rex’s 48-hour and six-day world records from the Wikipedia page for “Ultramarathon” in both June and September 2024. Though Rex’s performances surpass Herron’s, they are pending ratification by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), leaving Herron’s records in place for now.
Herron publicly questioned her record, accusing Rex of using illegal shoes and benefiting from illegal pacing—claims that many find questionable. The race, broadcast live on television, appeared to follow all the rules, and the organizer has confirmed that everything was compliant with the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) regulations.
Despite this, Herron made her social media profile private following the backlash, stating she needed to avoid online trolls.
There are additional instances where Herron’s records have been beaten but remain in limbo.
Japanese ultrarunner Miho Nakata, for example, who broke Herron’s 24-hour record at the IAU 24-hour World Championships nearly a year ago, has yet to have her achievement officially recognized. While there is no clear link to Herron, rumors circulate that she may have played a role in delaying the ratification.
Interestingly, Herron had previously posted a photo with Nakata, captioned “records are meant to be broken,” but the post has since been deleted or hidden.
On March 22, Wikipedia confirmed that “Rundbowie” was connected to the previously banned “Temporun73” account. Investigators traced both the email linked to “Temporun73” and the IP address associated with “Rundbowie” back to Herron and Holt.
Neither Herron nor Holt has issued a public statement on the matter.
