Bernadette Benson

Bernadette Benson is a Canadian born athlete specialising in ultra distance events.

Bernadette Benson holds dual citizenship in Australia and has competed in numerous road, track, and trail events around the world. At her first 24 hour event, the Australian National 24 Hour Championships in Brisbane, Australia in June 2010, she was the first woman outright winner of the event in 25 years. She broke the Canadian 24hr W40 record with her distance of 200.886 km. In November 2010 Benson won the Victorian 6 Hour & 50 km Track Championships outright with a distance of 70.406 km. In April 2011 she broke the Canadian W40 100 km record while racing at the Coburg 24 hr track race in Victoria, Australia. In November 2011, she broke the FKT (Fastest Known Time) record for the 1,000 km Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia, completing it in 15 days 9 hours 48 minutes.

A highlight in 2012 was her winning the female division of the Coast to Kosci 240 km race, considered by many as Australia's premier ultra. Her time was the fastest of any Australian woman in the history of the event. In May 2013, Benson competed at the 10th International Association of Ultrarunners World 24 Hour Championships, where she ran 216.343 km, breaking five Australian and three Canadian records along the way, including the Canadian female open 24 hour record. However, at the Coburg 24 Hour Carnival and concurrent Australian National 24 Hour Championships in April 2014, Bernadette bettered that performance with 238.261 km, breaking her own Canadian open record as well as the Australian 24hr open record. Her 100-mile split time of 15hr 38min 18sec broke both the Canadian and Australian open 100 mile records. In June 2019, at the Sri Chinmoy 24 Hours On Track (Campbelltown, AUS), Bernadette bettered her 100 mile best time with a run of 15hr 24min 44sec. This performance earned her the Australian Ultra Runners' Association Helen Stanger Award for 2019, for greatest single best ultra running achievement by a female under the age of 60.

In early 2015, Benson won the Australia Day Ultra 100 km road race, finishing in a Canadian national W45 record-breaking time of 8hr 32min. In 2018 she bettered that with a run of 8hr 27min 39sec.

Benson's trail racing achievements include wins and course records at the 6 Inch Trail Marathon (Western Australia), the Kep Ultra (Western Australia), and Lost Soul Ultra (Alberta, Canada). She placed 3rd at the 2013 Swiss Alpine 78 km race in Davos, Switzerland. In 2011, she was part of Team Canada at World Trail Championships, where the women won a bronze medal. In 2015, Bernadette finished 7th at Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). In early 2016, Bernadette became the fifth woman ever to finish the 300 mile Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, taking over 24 hours off the female course record with her first-place finish. 2018 trail achievements included 3rd place (1st age group) at the Tenerife Bluetrail, 9th place (1st age group) at Matterhorn Ultraks Skyrace, and 2nd place women's masters team at the TransAlpine-Run multi-day stage race. In 2019, Bernadette won her age group category at Sierre-Zinal.