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Caitlin Fielder is a familiar name on the Golden Trail World Series, the UCI World Tour (yes, you read that correctly), and soon, the 2025 Western States 100 start list.
Fielder, 32, has podiumed at OCC, Mont Blanc Marathon, and Zegama—three of the most competitive sub-ultra trail races in the world. The soft-spoken Kiwi is well known in those circles as a gritty and tactical competitor. And she may have one of the most interesting working resumes of anyone toeing the line in Olympic Valley on June 28.
Last October, Fielder moved up in distance for the second time in her career, coming from behind to take the win at the iconic 50-mile Grand Trail des Templiers over a deep field. In February she placed second at the Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB 100K, earning a Golden Ticket into the 2025 Western States 100 and finishing just six minutes behind Ruth Croft. Both were under the previous course record. She followed that up with a dominant win at the Ultra-Trail Australia 50K in a final tune up before the big dance.
Western States will be Fielder’s 100-mile debut and longest race by 40 miles. While recent results indicate that momentum is on her side, her build hasn’t been without hiccups, namely a foot injury aggravated at Tarawera.
“On paper my lead-in could have been better, but me being afraid of failing is not enough of a reason to not be on that start line,” Fielder tells Outside Run. “I will just write the script as I go and just see how the race unfolds.”
It’s a game plan Fielder is intimately familiar with—from leaving her homeland of New Zealand to settle in the tiny principality of Andorra, to starting her own business custom-painting cycling shoes for the sport’s biggest stars, she’s carved her own path at every turn.
From Rotorua to the Pyrenees
Fielder grew up in Rotorua on the North Island of New Zealand in a close-knit, outdoorsy family. She dabbled in a wide variety of activities, ranging from sailing to water polo, football, Australian netball, swimming, and orienteering, but didn’t start running until later on.
Fielder followed her older sister, Chelsea, to university at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, where they both studied biological sciences and lived together for three years. “My family is a pillar,” Fielder says. “Everything I’ve done was shaped by what my parents invested in us, which makes it hard living on the other side of the world. They’ll wake up in the middle of the night to watch my races, hoping to get a glimpse of me on TV.”
As a freshman Fielder jumped into the literal deep end, getting a scuba diving scholarship and taking a trip to Papua New Guinea to conduct reef diving surveys. She picked up boxing as her main sport, training two sessions per day for her first fight. After the fight she needed a break, so she signed up for the Old Ghost Ultra on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. “I had no clue what I was doing,” Fielder says. “I carried like 12 sandwiches, but I liked running.”
After graduating, Fielder got a job at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson, New Zealand, doing aquaculture research. This meant long, monotonous hours inside. “For oyster spawning you’d be in the lab for 12 hours each day, which wasn’t perfect for me,” she says.
Fielder’s boyfriend, George Bennett, convinced her to move to Spain where he was training as a professional cyclist. (He currently rides for Israel-Premier Tech, a pro team on the UCI World Tour.) “He had been a pro for five years and had a community,” Fielder says. “I wanted to figure out my own story and not just be the partner. That’s when I started my painting business and used running to hold me accountable.”
Today Fielder and Bennett live in a small town in Andorra, a tiny principality tucked between Spain and France in the heart of the Pyrenees. “It’s a weird mix of incredible mountain landscapes and a duty-free tax haven,” Fielder says, “an oxymoron almost. People wanting cheap alcohol and cigarettes and other people wanting unreal riding, trails, and mountains. For us, it’s amazing for altitude training. Even though it’s a strange place, I love it.”
Moving up in Distance
After four years on the Golden Trail circuit, the (relatively) short-and-fast, made-for-TV global trail racing series trying to bring the sport into the limelight, Fielder found herself tired of going to the same races. Visiting Chamonix twice each year for races went from thrilling to repetitive. She decided to test her luck in ultrarunning to see if she liked the longer distances and higher training volume. If she didn’t, Fielder kept the door open to return to shorter races—but only after giving ultras a real shot.
“I decided to try Templier and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it,” she says. “The same for Tarawera. I’ve wanted to race the 100K there for a while and I was ready with training, so I decided to try it. And the fact that it was a Golden Ticket race made me want to do it more. I don’t know if I’ll like running for 15 hours straight, but I’m not going to knock it until I try it.”
Along with her coach, Robbie Britton, Fielder built more volume into her training plan, around 80 miles of running per week, which she supplements with a hefty dose of cross training.
“I ride a lot too, like seven hours yesterday,” Fielder says. “I don’t see the benefit of walking the fine line of so much mileage. Cycling gives me a good balance with less risk of injuries. I know if I enjoy something I’ll want to keep doing it longer.”
A Professional Artist to the Stars
Fielder has long had a creative outlet, studying art in high school and selling a few pieces as a side hustle during university. After moving to Spain, art was the easiest way to start her own business while having the flexibility to travel with Bennett to races. “I decided to just try,” she says. “I started by painting pet portraits of dogs, cats, and horses, but that was such a saturated market.”
On Bennett’s birthday in 2016, Fielder painted him a custom pair of cycling shoes, which he wore during a stage of the Tour de France. “Back then not many people had customized shoes, so they stood out,” Fielder says. “It became a big thing, a lot of people reached out and the business grew organically. I know a lot of guys on the World Tour, which has been hugely helpful.”
Fielder’s big moment happened when Tadej Pogačar, one of the world’s best riders who’s won the Tour de France three times, wore a pair of her shoes en route to the podium at that race. She’s also painted shoes for Primož Roglič, Wout van Aert, and Mathieu van der Poel—some of the biggest names in the sport. The business has grown so fast that her wait list is nearly four months long.
Jumping Into the Unknown
From scuba diving to racing Old Ghost to moving across the world on a whim, Fielder has a proclivity to jump into things and make the best of whatever is thrown her way. This is a skill she’s been honing her life and will likely be her biggest asset at Western States, as she stares down a new distance with an imperfect build.
“If you don’t take opportunities when they are in front of you, you might not get another time,” Fielder says. “I’m lucky to be in a position to take big opportunities, to take calculated risks. If not now, when?”