Rachel Entrekin spent her first day on the Cocodona 250 doing something no woman has ever done at the race: leading every man in the field across central Arizona.
As reported by Run247, after 24 hours of running on the 253-mile point-to-point course, the American was clear out front, more than half an hour ahead of reigning 200-mile Triple Crown champion Kilian Korth, and on pace to demolish the course record she set last year.
Entrekin already owns the women’s title from each of the last two editions. Her 2025 winning time of 63 hours, 50 minutes and 55 seconds was a course record. She finished 11th overall in 2024 and fourth in 2025. Through the opening day this year, she was running about three hours faster than her own pace at the same point twelve months ago.
A fast opening day
Roughly a quarter of the race’s near-39,000 feet of climbing comes in the first 30 miles, and the field had already started to splinter by the aid station at Crown King, 37 miles in. Entrekin came through in 6 hours, 47 minutes, ahead of a lead group of men that included Korth and 2022 Cocodona winner Joe McConaughy. Her split was 12 minutes faster than her own time at Crown King last year, according to Run247.
Behind her, the race for the women’s podium was already opening up. Courtney Dauwalter, who has called this race one of the boldest challenges of her career, was the second woman through Crown King, 22 minutes back. Heather Jackson sat third, another 15 minutes behind Dauwalter.
By Kamp Kipa, 61 miles in, Entrekin and Korth were still trading the lead. That changed by Whiskey Row, where Entrekin pulled clear and built a 20-minute gap on Korth, who was running with McConaughy. Both of Entrekin’s closest women’s rivals lost time around this stretch after taking a wrong turn, Run247 reported. Jackson found her way back to the course first and moved into second among the women.
A statement at Jerome
By the time Entrekin reached the Jerome aid station in 23 hours and 26 minutes, she had covered roughly half of the total distance. Korth got there at 24 hours and 8 minutes. Dauwalter had led the overall race at a similar point in 2025 before fading and pulling out at mile 108. Entrekin’s gap on the men, and the pace she has set against her own record, makes her position different from anything the race has seen before.
Plenty can still go wrong over the second half. The Cocodona 250 sends runners north through the Bradshaw Mountains, the Mogollon Rim and the high country around Flagstaff, with sleep, weather and altitude all in play before the line.
Dauwalter’s recent form on the trails — including a win at UTMB’s relocated Tuscany race — makes her the most credible threat to chase Entrekin down. For now, though, the numbers tell the story.
No woman has ever won this race outright. None has ever been this well placed to do it.
