Nicola Gildersleeve

About

Nicola Gildersleeve is a Canadian trail runner who grew up in North Vancouver, British Columbia and discovered the sport at age 21 when coworkers introduced her to trail running on the North Shore mountains. She quickly developed into one of Canada's strongest ultrarunners. In 2008 she became the first woman to finish the Knee Knacker ultramarathon — a challenging 48-mile race across Vancouver's North Shore mountains — establishing herself as a force in Pacific Northwest trail running. Her breakout international result came at the 2012 Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon in New Zealand's Rotorua region, where she won the women's race in a time of 10 hours 26 minutes 28 seconds, taking more than an hour off the previous women's course record set by Fleur Bromley in 2010 and setting a new benchmark that stood for several years. She also placed second at the Mountain Masochist 50 Mile Trail Run in Virginia in 8 hours 39 minutes 53 seconds.

Notable Wins

• — Tarawera 100k 2012 (women's course record
• — 10:26:28); Knee Knacker ultramarathon winner 2008; 2nd Mountain Masochist 50 Mile (8:39:53)

Race History