American ultramarathon runner Camille Herron is chasing a fifth Guinness World Record in Canberra this weekend.
Already holding the record for the 12 and 24-hour events, the athlete is confident her third attempt at the 48-hour marathon mark will see her add her name to the history books.
The task involves Herron pushing herself to her physical and mental limits in pursuit of the record at the AIS track in Bruce.
Twenty-six hours into the run on Saturday, Camille was just shy of 250 kilometres covered and was on track to beat the previous world record of 411km by Joasia Zakrzewski, set in February this year.
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As the aim of a 48-hour marathon is to run as far as possible, competitors may approach the race however they please, taking food and sleep breaks as often or as little as they choose.
This means competitors have set up tents either side of the AIS track just to get precious minutes of sleep or to refuel before they are back up again and running.
Aiming to take minimal breaks through the effort, Herron has not yet stopped for more than an hour and is looking to keep it that way through the marathon, stopping just to eat or sleep for no more than 35 minutes.
Partner and coach Conor Holt admits he and Herron were not confident early in the race as she hit a "low-point" just eight hours into the run. The first big hurdle usually comes around the 12-hour mark.
"She took a few sleep breaks which is not unusual but it was a lot earlier than before," Holt said. "We talked about 'let's reassess our goals and let's just get to 100 miles' that's a big milestone.
"We got to 100 miles and she took another sleep break then we said 'OK let's get to 200 miles' and she got to 200 miles and started feeling a bit better."
Despite having discussed stopping at 24 hours, Herron and her coach decided to push on to complete the entire 48 after seeing a rise in her performance from about the 19-hour mark.
"The 48-hour in my opinion is the hardest record because it is constantly running for 48 hours. You don't really get a break, you're mentally drained," Holt said.
"This is probably the most challenging one but she wants to break all the records."
In her efforts on Saturday, she was running alongside both male and female 24-hour runners, many of which were walking by midday, while Herron consistently runs by truly making it look effortless.
Holt said the duo had been wanting to come to Australia to run for some time now, but that was delayed due to the pandemic.
Event organiser Prachar Stegemann has been a part of many ultramarathon events in his time but said he is blown away by what Herron is currently achieving in Canberra.
"It's truly awesome, she's right on the edge of what's humanly possible," Stegemann said.
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