Ultrarunner smashes course record at 250-mile Arizona race by seven hours

After a rare DNF by Courtney Dauwalter 108 miles into this year’s Cocodona 250, and despite brutal weather over the first day and a half of the race, the eventual women’s winner finished fourth overall, decimating the course record by seven hours. Rachel Entrekin of Alabama, who also won last year’s race, ran from Black Canyon City (near Phoenix) to Flagstaff in 63 hours, 50 minutes, 55 seconds.

West Virginia’s Dan Green won the men’s race, also with a new course record; his time was 58:47:18.

The race began in a spring storm that brought rain, hail, mud and cold temperatures well into the second day. The race continues until Saturday.

In a few short years since its birth in 2021, Aravaipa Running’s Cocodona 250 has become one of the longest and most iconic U.S. ultras on the calendar. Its 256 miles (412.16 km) stretching from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff include more than 12,000 metres of vertical gain and a similar amount of elevation loss.

Green’s time–58 hours, 47 minutes, 18 seconds–was a little more than an hour faster than the course record set by Harry Subertas in 2024. (Subertas raced this year also, and led during the early part of the race, ultimately finishing fourth.)

iRunFar reports that when Dauwalter dropped at mile 108, Entrekin’s crew initially didn’t tell her, since she was already in second position and they wanted her to “keep her mindset of chasing someone down.” The previous course record was set by Annie Hughes in 2022 at 71:10:22.