Meghan Canfield from Corvallis, Oregon, is known as “The Queen” in ultrarunning circles. Over her ultrarunning career on trails and roads, she has accumulated at least 26 wins and has finished Western States in the top-10 ten times. She has inspired runners in the sport for decades and has demonstrated and taught others how to continue to excel at running as one ages.
As a youth growing up on a farm, Meghan was very involved in sports such as volleyball, basketball, track (hurdles) and horseback riding. She started running in her 20s as a way to get some exercise and then started to compete in 5Ks and 10ks to test herself. In her 30s, after running several 20-mile runs with a friend training for an Ironman, she discovered that she enjoyed longer distances. She started running marathons, found a coach, and brought her times down to 2:45, qualifying her for the Olympic Marathon trials. When she turned 35 in 1996, she ran her first ultra. She hated that first experience, feared running at night, and put ultras on the shelf for seven years. Into her 40s, in 2003, she ran another 50k and loved it. Ultras became her running home. She immediately became a very competitive runner, winning 50ks.
Meghan went on to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials four times. As still a rookie ultrarunner, she finished Western States for the first time in 2006 at the age of 45, with a sub-24-hour finish in eighth place. She went on to finish 13 times, with 10 finishes in the top-10, all but one under 24 hours and four under 20 hours. In 2014, she moved to Cool, California, for about eight years to be closer to the Western States Trail and other trails in the Sierra.
Meghan was very active on the USA 100k teams. She competed in the World 100k Championships for an amazing nine consecutive teams, placing in the top-3 for the team eight times. She is the current world-record holder for the 100K age group 55-59. She also hold age-group records for 50K and 50 miles. She contributed significantly to the sport by remaining heavily involved in supporting the USATF teams for many more years.
Megan would always go into her races with the attitude of finishing. A DNF was never an option for her, and she only had to drop out early due to injury twice. In 2023, at the age of 62, she finished the iconic Spartathlon (246k) in Greece, finishing in an impressive 21st place, setting a race age-group record. Into her mid-60s, she still is running ultras extremely well, consistently wining her age group. She also actively coaches others, including those trying to transition into aging.
She once wrote, “We can quit running altogether or we can find a way to meet the challenge and remain a part of our sport.” In recent years, she has also contributed to the sport by writing encouraging articles in Ultrarunning Magazine. She wrote, “I hope to maintain my love for racing and be an example to all aging athletes. I want to hold onto the excitement, adrenaline, fellowship of shared suffering and most of all, a shared accomplishment of a job well done, resulting in stories, friendship and a sense of awe for what the human body can accomplish.”
Meghan has had a special connection with New Zealand, having visited as an exchange student to Lincoln College in 1982. Described as “one of the best life experiences” she’s had, her time in New Zealand led to lifelong friendships and a deep love for the country that ensures she keeps returns regularly. She finished at least five ultras there, including Old Ghost 85k in 2025, and Tarawera 100k in 2024.
Her personal bests include: 50km: 3:45:29, 50 miles: 6:16:06, 100km 7:41:52, 100 miles: 18:50:19 at Western States.