Ultrarunner Camille Herron of the USA attempted to sue Canadian Running Magazine’s (www.runningmagazine.ca) parent company, Gripped Publishing Inc., in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She failed.
The subject of the suit was from a story published in 2024.
The magazine wrote, “On Aug. 31, Judge Rosemary Marquez of the District Court for the District of Arizona granted the company’s motion to dismiss the suit because the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case in Arizona, since the company does not have business there.”
Herron filed the defamation lawsuit in late 2025 in Arizona regarding a story about a Wikipedia controversy involving self-promotional edits.
The controversy intensified when Conor Holt, husband and coach of Herron, admitted to altering the Wikipedia biographies of several prominent and competing (with Herron) runners. Holt stated he acted alone to boost his wife’s accolades while downgrading those of competitors.
The allegations
While Herron was preparing for and started the 153-mile (247km) 2024 Spartathlon in Greece, news erupted around the ultramarathon community that Herron and her partner Conor Holt had allegedly manipulated Wikipedia pages about her and her competitors.
The allegations are that she has fluffed her own page and accomplishments, while at the same time, removing positive information from her competitors, as well as famed ultramarathon athlete Kilian Jornet of Spain. The Americans faced a fallout from the WikipediaGate.
Conor Holt’s email to Let’s Run
Athletics Illustrated reached out to Conor Holt; however, it received no response from him. He did, however, send an email message to Lets Run.
Holt claimed that Herron had nothing to do with the alleged Wikipedia edits. He wrote, “Camille had nothing to do with this. I am 100% responsible and apologize for any athletes affected by this and the wrong I did.”
Herron’s email and IP addresses have allegedly been implicated more than once. Apparently, Wikipedia banned them for breaking its editing and contribution rules.
Holt claims that he was protecting Herron from bullying. He also claimed that he deactivated Herron’s social media profiles to protect her from bullying. Apparently, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Herron’s mother took to Canadian Running Magazine’s Facebook page, where the story was linked. She was busy defending her daughter against bullying and admonished the magazine.
Canadian Running Magazine broke the story
Canadian Running Magazine journalist Marley Dickinson exposed Herron and her coach for manipulating information on Wikipedia on September 23rd. Since then, the fallout has been global and vociferous.
Dickinson wrote, “Acclaimed American ultrarunner Camille Herron, who has more than 12 ultrarunning world records to her name, along with her coach and husband, Conor Holt, has found themselves at the centre of a Wikipedia controversy. It stems from several edits to the Wikipedia pages of ultrarunners Kilian Jornet and Courtney Dauwalter, which degraded their accomplishments, while also adding accolades to Herron’s own page. The edits have been traced back to Herron’s email and Holt’s IP address.
“The couple had been operating under the username “Rundbowie” since February 2024, after their previous Wikipedia account, “Temporun73,” was temporarily banned for violating Wikipedia’s conflict of interest policies for the edits to Herron’s page. Just hours after Temporun73 was banned, a new account under the name “Rundbowie” was created and resumed activity, making edits to Herron’s page and to those of other athletes.”
Lululemon drops Herron
Canadian company Lululemon swiftly dropped Herron.
Lululemon released a statement to Canadian Running on Thursday: “We are committed to upholding equitable competition in sport for all and intentionally partner with ambassadors who embody these same values. After careful consideration and conversation, we have decided to end our ambassador partnership with Camille. We want to acknowledge Camille’s achievements during our partnership and wish her well in her future endeavours.”
